Husband of missing jogger arrested

SALT LAKE CITY -- Police arrested the husband of a missing pregnant woman Monday on a charge of aggravated murder, saying they had enough evidence even though her body has not been found.

Lori Hacking disappeared July 19, when Mark Hacking told authorities she failed to return from an early morning jog. Since then, the husband's timeline and credibility have unraveled.

"We're confident we have a good case here," police chief Rick Dinse said Monday.

Dinse said investigators have "the instrument of death" but would not say what that was. He said investigators believe Lori Hacking was killed in her apartment.

"We believe that Mark Hacking is responsible for her disappearance and her death," Dinse said.

Formal charges have not been filed against Hacking, 28. By law, prosecutors have 72 hours to file formal charges or release him.

D. Gilbert Athay, an attorney hired by Hacking's family, refused comment.

The investigation took a grim turn over the weekend when Lori Hacking's relatives asked volunteers to stop looking for her in response to new information from her husband, and investigators said they would focus their search on the county landfill.

A statement from the family did not reveal what Mark Hacking told them, and detective Dwayne Baird said only that it was "additional substantive information."

Detectives believe 27-year-old Lori Hacking's body is in the landfill, where searches using cadaver dogs have come up empty. Investigators plan to resume their search this week.

Mark Hacking's credibility has crumbled since he reported his wife missing amid revelations that he lied to his wife about enrolling at medical school in North Carolina and about graduating from the University of Utah.

"We believed very early in the investigation that she may have been a victim of a crime and her husband may have been responsible," Dinse said.

Her car was found at a park where her husband said she went for a jog, and Dinse said police recovered evidence from it. He wouldn't elaborate.

Other evidence that led to Hacking's arrest includes items taken from the apartment and a nearby trash bin. Police have not said what those items were.

Hacking was taken to a psychiatric ward on July 20, after he was seen running around at night naked in sandals outside a motel where he'd taken a room.

He was arrested Monday before his scheduled release.

Investigators focused on Hacking after learning he was at a store buying a new mattress just before reporting his wife missing. Investigators have refused to confirm reports that they found a mattress in a nearby trash bin.

As Lori Hacking's relatives pleaded for information in the case, volunteers searched through neighborhoods, industrial areas and canyons around the park where she was said to have been jogging the morning she was reported missing.