Recovered; Oct 01, 2004

Police and volunteers' continual efforts to find Lori Hacking's body have finally paid off. For more than a month, dozens of Salt Lake City police officers searched the city's county landfill -- combing through approximately 4,600 tons of garbage with garden rakes and cadaver dogs. When human remains were found in a trash bag on October 1, 2004, medical examiners were able to use dental records to positively identify the body as Lori Hacking's.

Along with Lori's remains, police say they found a mattress and a knife. It confirmed Mark's confession he made to his brothers while hospitalized in a psychiatric ward that he shot and killed Lori and threw out a weapon and a mattress in a trash bin. It was enough to seal Hacking's fate and he was charged with Lori's murder and obstruction of justice. When Hacking entered a plea of not guilty in early December, this so incensed Lori's parents, they erased Hacking from her headstone. It now reads "Lori Kay Soares." "Mark obviously didn't want her anymore," Thelma Soares told news stations in Salt Lake City. Lori's family notified Mark Hackings parents and they said they understood. But on April 15, 2005, Mark Hacking had a change of heart. In less than a year, this case took a complete U-turn. That's because Hacking admitted to killing his wife and then throwing her body in a dumpster. Hacking's family and friends say they're relieved their painful ordeal will come to a close sooner than later. While the latest update offers a dose of comfort for mourners, it does come with a bit of a twist. If the case doesn't go to trial, details surrounding Lori Hacking's death may never come out.