Portraits of Sorrow: Lori

Three weeks ago Lori Hacking was reported missing by her husband, Mark. He told police she had gone for an early-morning jog in Memory Grove. Her car was still there.

Mark Hacking appeared frantic that day. He called friends, family and Lori's co-workers. At a hurried news conference that afternoon, he appealed for volunteer searchers. They came in droves.

But as the days passed, Mark Hacking's story unraveled. As it turned out, he had lied about graduating from the University of Utah. He had lied about his acceptance to medical school in North Carolina. He followed up his initial 10:07 a.m. call to police with a 10:23 a.m. purchase of a new mattress. By 10:46 a.m., he was on the line a second time to police, asking again for help.

Late that night, he was admitted to the psychiatric ward.

Two weeks later Mark Hacking, 28, was arrested and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of criminal homicide. Police say Hacking killed his 27-year-old, possibly pregnant wife as she slept and then dumped her body in a trash bin.

On Monday prosecutors are expected to file murder charges against Mark Hacking.

Lori Hacking's body, for which police and trained dogs continued to search last night and early today in the county landfill, has not yet been found.

In this special report by Lucinda Dillon Kinkead, with additional reporting by Jennifer Dobner and Leigh Dethman, friends and family recount the lives of Lori and Mark Hacking, as children growing up in Utah County and as a couple — to all outward appearances, a happy one.

LORI

She is the girl we all know now as just Lori. A 5-foot-3 little bit of a thing with hair and heart twice her stature.

She's gone now, we are told.

Her friends, family and those in Utah who've grown to love her through newspapers and television now perpetually wait for the girl with near-perfect attendance and punctuality. She is gone, investigators believe, because of her husband Mark Hacking, the man she chose over several others.

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"I feel so angry at Mark. Like how could he do this to my friend and her baby? How could he do this to Thelma? There were so many people that loved him and trusted him. He had everything." — Holly Thomas, lifelong friend of Lori Hacking

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