Buried in Lies: The Chilling Murder of Lori Hacking
The night of July 18, 2004, was the last time 27-year-old Lori Kay Soares Hacking was seen alive. She and her husband, Mark Hacking, were captured on a convenience store’s security camera in Salt Lake City, Utah, seemingly just another young couple preparing for their next big chapter. The following morning, Mark frantically reported Lori missing. What unfolded next was a web of deceit so intricate that it would lead to a horrifying truth—Mark Hacking had been lying to everyone, including his wife, and when the walls of his deception began to close in, he did the unthinkable.
A Husband’s Desperate Act
At 10:07 a.m. on July 19, Mark Hacking called the police, claiming Lori had gone jogging in Memory Grove Park and never returned. Less than an hour later, he called again, saying he’d found her car abandoned near the canyon. The community rallied to search for Lori, and Mark played the role of the devastated husband perfectly—pleading for help, shedding tears, and thanking volunteers in front of television cameras.
To those who knew the couple, there was no reason to suspect him. Lori and Mark, married since 1999, had what seemed to be a loving relationship. Lori, five weeks pregnant, had just quit her job at Wells Fargo, preparing for a cross-country move so Mark could attend the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Everything appeared picture-perfect.
But the cracks in Mark’s story started to show almost immediately.
The Lies Begin to Unravel
Police found Lori’s purse, wallet, and car keys inside the couple’s apartment, along with something far more sinister—a hunting knife stained with blood. The driver’s seat in Lori’s car had been adjusted for someone much taller than her, and investigators discovered blood in the back seat.
Then, in the early hours of July 20, Mark was found running through the streets, naked except for sandals. He was promptly admitted to a psychiatric facility, though former FBI profiler Candice DeLong later noted, “He kept his shoes on—that’s not generally something we see in someone truly psychotic.”
The next blow came when authorities confirmed that Mark had not been accepted to medical school. In fact, he had never even applied. He had also lied about graduating from the University of Utah—he had dropped out in 2002. For years, he had meticulously crafted an illusion, pretending to attend classes, faking study sessions, even staging medical school interviews across the country.
Lori had begun to suspect something was wrong. Two days before she vanished, she called Mark’s supposed medical school to ask about financial aid. What she learned devastated her—Mark wasn’t enrolled, and never had been. That afternoon, coworkers saw her in tears before she left work early. But by that evening, at her farewell party, she seemed calm again.
It was later revealed that Mark had fed her another lie—that a computer glitch had mistakenly left him off the student roster. Desperate to believe him, Lori left a voicemail for an administrator saying, “My husband straightened everything out.” That message wasn’t heard until Monday morning, July 19—the day Lori was already dead.
A Killer’s Confession
On July 24, while still on psychiatric hold, Mark’s brothers confronted him, urging him to tell the truth. He finally admitted what he had done.
According to Mark, after their argument on the night of July 18, he waited until Lori was asleep, then shot her in the head with a .22 rifle. He wrapped her body in garbage bags, placed it in a dumpster, and then set about covering his tracks. By the time police arrested him on August 2, he had already disposed of their mattress and was seen purchasing a new one.
For months, authorities searched the landfill, sifting through tons of waste. Finally, in October 2004, Lori’s remains were found—so decomposed that her pregnancy could not be confirmed. Mark pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in April 2005 and was sentenced to serve six years to life. Due to sentencing laws at the time, he will not be eligible for parole before 2035.
A Legacy of Loss
In their home, police found a letter from Lori to Mark. Though its exact date is unknown, it’s believed to have been written around the time she started questioning his lies. “I want to grow old with you,” she wrote. “But I can’t do it under these conditions… I can’t imagine life with you if things don’t change.”
Lori was buried under her maiden name, Soares, distancing her from the man who took her life. In her memory, her family established the Lori Kay Soares Hacking Memorial Scholarship at the University of Utah, supporting women facing adversity.
Though Lori’s mother, Thelma Soares, has exchanged letters with Mark in prison and says she has forgiven him, the pain remains. “You never get over it,” she admitted in a 2014 interview. “I will never get over it.”
Mark Hacking, once a man of illusions, now spends his days behind bars, stripped of the lies that once defined him. But for Lori’s family and friends, the truth came at a devastating price—one that no amount of justice can ever undo.
