Victim advocate says Mark Hacking’s lies were a form of domestic abuse

There is no evidence that Lori Hacking, prior to her death, was ever physically abused by her husband, Mark.

But the woman was a victim of abuse through much of her marriage, an advocate says.

Her husband’s years of lying to his wife and betrayal of trust are a type of control exerted by abusers, said Stewart Ralphs, chairman of the Utah Domestic Violence Council.

“The main factor in domestic-violence relationships is one partner using power and control over the other,” Ralphs said in a statement released Monday shortly after Mark Hacking was charged with murder.

Mark Hacking lied about graduating from the University of Utah and about being accepted to medical school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Mark Hacking also apparently lied to her about why he was sent home early from his Mormon mission and about his smoking habit.

“Controlling information and an elaborate pattern of deception and lies may have led to alleged physical violence in the form of murder,” Ralphs said.

Lori Hacking’s slaying, which prosecutors have termed a domestic-violence case, is a reminder that domestic violence remains a problem in Utah, he said.

“Many may be surprised to learn that Lori Hacking’s situation could be statistically similar to many victims of domestic violence in Utah – female, married and living with her spouse, employed with a high school diploma and under age 40,” he said.

According to a Utah Department of Health report, nearly half of the 131 female homicides in Utah from 1994 to 1999 were committed by a husband, ex-husband, boyfriend or ex-boyfriend, Ralphs said. More than three-fourths were killed in their own homes.

“The Utah Domestic Violence Council is saddened that yet another Utah woman has allegedly lost her life to violence by an intimate partner in the sanctity of her home,” he said.

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