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Law

Prosecutor wants more time in missing wife case

Says he needs to screen evidence before determining charge


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Salt Lake City police released this photo of Hacking after his arrest on Monday.
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Salt Lake City (Utah)

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- A Utah district attorney said Wednesday that he needs more time to screen evidence against Mark Hacking before he can determine whether to formally charge him with aggravated murder or the lesser charge of criminal murder in the death of his wife, Lori.

Utah law requires formal charges be brought within 72 hours of a suspect's arrest.

Prosecutor David Yocom is likely to ask for an extension of two to three work days, which would postpone the filing of charges until next week.

An extension also would give investigators more time to resume their search of a two-acre landfill for Lori's body.

They believe Hacking threw her remains in a garbage container after stabbing her to death while she slept.

He reported her missing July 19, saying she failed to return home from jogging.

Hacking was arrested Monday on a probable cause statement as he was being discharged from a psychiatric hospital.

A spokeswoman for the Salt Lake county sheriff's department said that when Hacking was booked into jail he was asked if he had any aliases and he said he did -- "Jonathan Long."

She also said he is on suicide watch in a mental health unit at the jail and has requested no visitors.

The statement charged him with one count of aggravated murder, which under Utah law requires special circumstances.

Murder for financial gain is listed as one of those circumstances but prosecutors have not disclosed what initially led them to apply that charge.

Yocom said that Hacking reportedly confessed to killing his wife to a "reliable citizen witness" in the psychiatric unit where he was a patient.

Police have said they found blood on a knife in the couple's bedroom, on the bed's backboard and railing, and in Lori's car. The blood in the car matched blood found in the apartment.

They have also said since the arrest that they found evidence in the car, which Mark told police he found in a park where he said Lori was jogging the morning she disappeared.

A judge set bail for Mark Hacking at $500,000 cash, Yocom said.

Also Tuesday, authorities released a video of Hacking early on the morning of July 19 that shows him entering a Maverik Country Store to buy a tin of Camel Lime Twist cigarettes -- 18 minutes after the time police believe Lori died.

During the transaction, Mark can be seen checking his hands. He then drives off in Lori's car.

In the probable cause statement filed Tuesday, police also note that:

  • The tag on a mattress police retrieved from a Dumpster outside the Hackings' apartment building matched the tag on the box springs inside their apartment.
  • A sales receipt from Bradley Sleep Center shows Mark Hacking bought a mattress there at 10:23 a.m., shortly after Hacking called police to report his wife missing. At 10:46 a.m., Hacking called police again to tell them he had found her car at the park.
  • CNN's Miguel Marquez contributed to this report.


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