Did essay portend slaying?

FARMINGTON — Jeremy Hauck, who is accused of killing his mother, has been described as a smart student with a 4.0 grade point average who took several advanced-level courses in high school.

The Deseret Morning News has learned that one of his teachers told police she recalls Hauck writing an essay about committing a murder and possibly getting away with it. That school report is now being sought by Bountiful police investigating the bizarre slaying of his mother, Laura Hauck, whose body was found stuffed inside a basement freezer in August.

Hauck, 18, appeared in 2nd District Court on Thursday for a brief hearing on a first-degree murder charge. Police and prosecutors said that the school report could become evidence against Hauck.

"We were told that it talked about committing a murder and getting away with it," Bountiful Police Lt. Randy Pickett said. "The assignment was something to the effect of, 'If you could do something and face no repercussions, what would it be?"'

The assignment was reportedly graded by an Advanced Placement English teacher and returned to Hauck during his senior year at Bountiful's Viewmont High School. After the 18-year-old was arrested and charged with his mother's murder, police said they heard rumors about the school report and questioned his teacher.

"She remembered it because of the content (of the essay)," Pickett said.

The Davis School District declined to comment Thursday about the report. A copy of the report itself cannot be found.

According to search-warrant returns obtained by the Deseret Morning News, Bountiful police have seized an IBM laptop computer from inside Laura Hauck's townhouse condo. It is now at the state crime lab undergoing forensic examinations in an effort to find a file of Jeremy Hauck's essay, police said.

"The computers are still waiting to be analyzed. It'll be two or three more months before they can get to those," Pickett said. "We're waiting for some ballistic tests still. We've got fingerprints, and I think we're waiting for serology (blood tests)."

Police and prosecutors said the report is not considered paramount to their case against Jeremy Hauck because there already is so much other forensic evidence.

The 45-page list of items seized from Hauck's home includes bloody pieces of carpet, part of a door, the freezer, guns, ammunition, blood-soaked clothing, newspapers and a bar of soap.