Landfill search is on again

As questions continued to swirl about Mark Hacking's recent past, including alleged use of an alias, investigators with cadaver dogs returned to Salt Lake County's landfill Wednesday night to search for the body of his missing wife, Lori.

Mark Hacking, who was arrested Monday for investigation of first-degree criminal homicide, was asked as part of the standard Salt Lake County Jail booking procedure whether he had ever used any aliases.

Hacking replied that he had used the name "Jonathan Long," Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Rosie Rivera said. The jail was not obligated to confirm whether Hacking had actually ever used that name or to find out when, where or under what circumstance he might have used it.

Seeking to clarify the situation, Hacking's attorney, Gil Athay, said "Long" was the name assigned to Hacking when he was admitted to the University of Utah psychiatric unit. The name, intended to help avoid media attention, was picked totally at random, Athay said, comparing the selection to the alphabetic method for naming hurricanes.

Athay said he used the name whenever calling the hospital to contact his client.

Federal medical privacy law prohibits the hospital from confirming whether Mark Hacking was even ever a patient at the university's facility, hospital spokeswoman Anne Berliner said.

However, it is not unusual for high-profile patients to request or be assigned "aliases" in order to maintain their privacy, she said.

"It does occur, yes," said Berliner. "You can opt out of providing information altogether. An alias is sort of a medium ground whereby family members can call and get information on the patient."

Hacking's family confirmed on July 21 that Mark had checked into the hospital the day after Lori vanished after suffering severe emotional distress. His father, Douglas Hacking, said at that time Mark Hacking was medicated and undergoing psychological testing by doctors.

A week ago, Salt Lake City police detective Dwayne Baird told the Deseret Morning News that he knew of no fictitious names that Mark Hacking might have used or that police were checking in connection with the case.

But for several hours Wednesday Hacking's alleged alias caused a stir. A man with the same name as the alias Hacking gave police was interviewed by various media outlets. Police said later that he had no connection to the case, although according to Long's mother, her son was initially concerned that he may have been a victim of identity theft.