Human remains found at a Salt Lake Valley landfill Friday morning were positively identified later in the afternoon as those of Lori Hacking.

The Utah Office of the Medical Examiner was able to use dental records to identify Hacking's body about six hours after the discovery.

"The condition of the body allowed the medical examiner to come up with it fairly quickly," Salt Lake City police detective Phil Eslinger said.

The body — found 33 days after police first began searching the refuse pile — was "heavily decomposed," but most of the remains were recovered, Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse said.

A Salt Lake police officer, Sgt. J.R. Nelson, who has been among the more than two dozen volunteer searchers combing the landfill with pitchforks for the past three weeks, discovered the body about 8:20 a.m.

"It was very tough, a very tough time," Nelson said as he left the landfill Friday afternoon. "I probably had the worst time of it myself after turning over the pile and locating her."

The discovery was emotional for officers at the scene, bringing many to tears, Dinse said.

But none were more moved than the parents of Lori Hacking, Thelma and Eraldo Soares.

"We cannot possibly express in words our gratitude to the many people, state and county agencies, private businesses and all others who have been involved in the search for Lori at the landfill," reads a statement from the family, which was distributed by e-mail. "It means everything to us to find Lori's mortal remains so that we might lay them to rest with the dignity befitting the valiant daughter of God that she was."

A private family service will be held to inter Lori's remains once police have released them to her family, said David Gehris, a friend of Thelma Soares, who has served as a spokesman for the family. A memorial service for the missing woman was held Aug. 14.

The search

Lori Hacking, 27, was reported missing July 19, when her husband, Mark Hacking, called police to say his wife had not returned from a jog in Memory Grove. Within hours, however, police had determined that Mark Hacking's story didn't add up; within days they knew that Mark had also lied to many about the details of his life, including his acceptance to medical school in North Carolina.

A communitywide search for Lori drew thousands of volunteers, but those efforts were suspended after Mark Hacking allegedly confessed to his brothers that he had shot his wife as she slept and left her body in a Dumpster near the University of Utah. Hacking allegedly said he had used a .22-caliber rifle in the slaying.