Searchers resume task at landfill

Investigators with cadaver dogs returned to the Salt Lake Valley landfill Thursday night looking for the remains of Lori Hacking. Earlier in the evening, the parents of Mark Hacking visited their son in the Salt Lake County Jail, where he is charged with murdering his wife.

Salt Lake City police detective Dwayne Baird said a little less than 50 percent of the 3,000 tons of garbage investigators have to sort through had been searched in the nine previous all-night searches since Hacking was reported missing July 19.

Searchers used the same method Thursday of going through the trash as they have throughout the investigation, Baird said. He said the plan was to search each night through the weekend.

A team of five cadaver dogs and about a dozen police and firefighters were scheduled to be at the landfill, performing the tedious task of a backhoe breaking off a chunk of compressed garbage and spreading it out for the dogs and searchers to sort through. In some areas of the section being searched, the compressed piles are nearly 40 feet deep. Landfill employees have also assisted in the search.

"The landfill wants to find her as much as everyone else," said spokeswoman Jill Fletcher.

The area that is being searched has not had any other garbage added to it since the second or third day of the search. A special chemical is sprayed over the top to prevent small items from blowing away, Fletcher.

There isn't a problem with seagulls picking through the garbage and potentially tampering with evidence, she said. The birds are always attracted to the freshest garbage at the landfill and leave that area alone. Mark Hacking remained in the Salt

Lake County Jail Thursday in maximum security on $1 million bail. He is charged with criminal homicide and three counts of obstruction of justice in connection with the death of his wife.

Douglas and Janet Hacking visited their son, Mark Hacking, behind bars Thursday for the first time since he was put in maximum security at the Salt Lake County Jail.

Mark Hacking is allowed two half-hour visits per week, on Thursdays and Fridays, and only two people are allowed per visit, according to a KTVX report. His parents told television news reporters outside the jail Thursday that family members will visit him every chance they get.

Janet Hacking told KUTV that she told her son, "I still have faith in him and that he will find his way back. ... I still love the Soares family and I pray for comfort for them."