At 10:07 a.m. July 19, Mark Hacking called police dispatch, reporting his wife, Lori, had gone jogging in Memory Grove and never returned. A few minutes later, he called Lori's employer and told her co-workers he had found her car at Memory Grove and was there looking for her. At 10:46 a.m. Mark Hacking again called police, saying he was in Memory Grove and had found Lori's car.
A sales receipt and other information from employees at Bradley's Sleep Center, 2231 S. 300 West, confirmed Mark Hacking had purchased a new mattress at 10:23 a.m. July 19.
Police searching the Hackings' apartment found human blood on a knife in the bedroom, on the bed's headboard and on the bed rail. The crime lab found blood flakes and swipes in Lori's car that matched the blood found in the apartment.
Police found a mattress in a Dumpster near the Hackings' apartment. The manufacturer's numbers on the mattress matched those of the Hackings' box springs.
Police interviewed a reliable witness who spoke to Mark Hacking July 24 at the University of Utah Medical Center's psychiatric unit. Mark Hacking told this person he had killed Lori while she was asleep in bed and had disposed of her body in a Dumpster.