Police searching for missing jogger at landfill

Saturday, July 24th 2004, 8:49 pm

By: News On 6

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ A woman who disappeared when she reportedly went out for a jog remained missing Saturday, after days of police efforts that have included cadaver dogs and a search of a municipal landfill.

Salt Lake City police Detective Dwayne Baird met for more than an hour Saturday with the family of 27-year-old Lori Hacking, who has been missing since Monday and is reportedly five weeks pregnant.

Baird said police were at the landfill following up on leads a few days ago, but he couldn't provide any further details.

He also said he doesn't believe investigators have met with the woman's husband, Mark Hacking, since Wednesday. He has been in a psychiatric hospital since police found him Tuesday running naked around a motel not far from his home.

Mark Hacking, 28, has been called a person of interest, not a suspect, in the case.

Speculation about his credibility was fueled by news that he never graduated from college or applied for medical school. He had told friends and family he was headed to medical school in North Carolina; Lori Hacking vanished days before the couple was to move.

Mark Hacking also had initially said his wife did not wake him up after coming home from an early morning jog, as usual, and never showed up to work. But police confirmed Friday that Mark Hacking was at a furniture store buying a new mattress just before reporting to police that Lori was missing.

Baird said police were still checking out a timeline provided by Hacking on the day his wife disappeared, one he said police consider puzzling.

``Because of the deception, we have to look at all aspects of what he has done,'' Baird said.

Mark Hacking still has the support of many of his and his wife's relatives, but Lori Hacking's father expressed doubts about his son-in-law after speaking with him at the hospital.

Eraldo Soares told Fox News his son-in-law told him he never would hurt Lori Hacking ``with the same face he used to tell me about school.''

``Now I don't believe him,'' Soares said.

Douglas Hacking said Friday his son told him he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance.

Lori's mother, Thelma Soares, said she visited briefly Friday with Mark Hacking at the hospital.

``As I walked in, he was standing, and he put his arms out, and enfolded me in his arms. I just whispered into his ear, 'Mark, didn't you know that my love for you was not conditional upon you becoming a doctor?''' she said.

She said he wept but did not answer.