Hacking Case Takes Grim Turn

The investigation into a woman's disappearance took a grim turn as authorities redirected their attention to a landfill and her relatives asked volunteers to stop looking for her in response to new information from the woman's husband.

Detectives said Sunday that Mark Hacking, who is in a psychiatric ward, directed a relative to give police the information about Lori Hacking's disappearance. Authorities would only say that the relative provided "additional substantive new information," said Detective Dwayne Baird.
Police initially said they were surprised when the families of Mark and Lori Hacking released a statement Saturday asking that volunteers stop searching for 27-year-old Lori Hacking based on new detail from her husband. The statement did not say what Mark Hacking had told them.

After speaking to the relative, Baird said police would renew a search at the municipal landfill, where a quadrant was cordoned off two days after Mark Hacking reported his wife missing July 19. Three border collies, a German shepherd and Labrador retriever searched the area without luck.

This time around, cadaver dogs will not be available until Friday, when the all-night searching can begin, Baird said.

Mark Hacking's parents, Douglas and Janet Hacking, refused to comment Sunday, as did his lawyer.

Lori Hacking's father, Eraldo Soares, said late Saturday he was unaware of any new information about his daughter. He did not return phone messages left Sunday.

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

A friend of the Hacking family said he's surprised by the latest revelations about Mark Hacking.

"It does not sound like the Mark that I know," Chris Pusey, a Hacking family friend, told CBS News Early Show co-anchor Rene Syler. "I was his manager at a local restaurant. While I was working with him, there was never any reason to question anything he said.

The day after Lori Hacking's disappearance, Mark Hacking was taken to the psychiatric ward after he was seen running around at night naked outside a motel where he'd taken a room.

Investigators focused on Mark Hacking, 28, after learning he was at a store buying a new mattress just before reporting his wife missing. Authorities were later seen removing a box spring from the couple's apartment. Investigators have refused to confirm reports that they found a mattress in a nearby trash bin.

Hacking has not been charged and is not in police custody at the hospital, where he remains under his family's care, Baird said.

Of Mark and Lori's relationship, Pusey said, "They always seemed happy. Every time I saw them, everything seemed to be just great between them. There was never any reason to think otherwise."