Verdict is still out on Mark's strange behavior
Lost or lying? Just-released police report describes Mark's bizarre behavior the next night after murder
By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune
Leaning against a fence, wearing only a pair of sandals, Mark Hacking appeared to be twitching involuntarily.
A responding police officer noticed that the naked man repeatedly bent down and acted like he was picking something up, but his hands remained empty.
Defense attorney Gil Athay described the scene as the aftermath of a botched suicide - which took place about 25 hours after Hacking killed his wife, Lori.
Athay said Hacking thought that mixing pills and beer would end his life, but instead the toxic concoction threw him into a "delirium state."
Salt Lake City police dismiss Athay's suicide theory, calling the incident a "ploy" meant to garner sympathy and divert scrutiny.
If so, it was a ploy that ultimately failed.
Police reports made public only moments after 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg sentenced Hacking to prison on Monday provide new details about the high-profile investigation and the laundry list of deceits perpetuated by a man who prosecutors say killed his wife to cover those lies.
On July 19, 2004, just hours after dumping Lori's body in a trash bin near the University Neuropsychiatric Institute, where he worked as an orderly, Hacking orchestrated a detailed search of City Creek Canyon, involving Lori's co-workers, family, police and thousands of volunteers.
When first questioned by police, Hacking said his wife, although several weeks pregnant, had no serious medical problems, was not depressed or haunted by a stalker.
He simply said she had gone jogging and never returned.
In the late hours of July 19, his sister, Sara, checked an emotionally weary Hacking into Room 1611 of the Chase Suite Hotel at 765 E. 400 South.
Officers Drew Measels and Lorenzo Leuluai found Hacking about 50 feet away from the hotel at 2:50 a.m. on July 20 after a hotel security guard called police.
The officers repeatedly asked the naked man for his name.
"The male answered in a shallow, barely coherent voice 'Mark,' '' the reports state.
Hacking had trouble answering other questions, but was able to provide an approximate address and his wife's name.
He said the last time he saw Lori, "she was packing." When asked if he were going to medical school, he said, "Yes, George Washington University."
In fact, Hacking wasn't going to medical school, though he told everyone, including his wife, that he would start at the University of North Carolina in the fall.
In Hacking's hotel room, police found clothes and credit cards strewn on the floor, three cellular phones, fast food and a 12-pack of beer, with three empty bottles.
Two lieutenants called to the scene looked at Hacking's apparent breakdown with skepticism.
"We weren't willing to get involved with what appeared to be his ploy," said police spokesman Dwayne Baird. "We didn't look at it as a suicide attempt."
By that time, police already considered Hacking a suspect.
Earlier that day, they had found a mattress with its top cut off in a church Dumpster. They knew that Hacking was buying a new mattress when he said he was searching the canyon. They knew he was lying about medical school. And they had found blood in Lori's car and on the couple's bedroom wall.
"We had evidence leading us to believe that he, in fact, had something to do with her disappearance," Baird said.
And because of this, the police wanted nothing to do with his act. Instead of arresting him, Lt. Jim Jensen released Hacking to his family. Hacking's brother, Scott, took him to the University of Utah's psychiatric ward.
Athay said Monday the "medical intervention saved his life."
Four days after his late-night stupor, Hacking told his brothers that he killed his wife. That information was later passed on to police and became key evidence in Hacking's prosecution.
mcanham@sltrib.com http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2787176 
can't wait 
