Mark Hacking‘s 2004 murder of his wife Laurie after she discovered his elaborate web of deceit provides sobering insight into the psychology behind pathological lying and the alarming lengths deceivers will go to in order to preserve false personas. My insights as a veteran behavioral analyst help uncover the factors that breed such deception and the tragic consequences that can unfold when facades unravel.
Mark Hacking Case Background
- Mark and Laurie Hacking seemed a model couple in their Mormon community, with Mark cast as a loving husband embarking on medical studies
- In truth, Mark manipulated Laurie and their families for years, pretending to attend medical school while Laurie worked to support him
- When Laurie uncovered Mark‘s lies in July 2004, she wrote him a letter confronting his betrayal before disappearing on July 24th
- Strong evidence implicated Mark in Laurie‘s murder and attempting to hide her remains before he finally confessed in 2005
My analysis of Mark‘s history, actions and mental state reveals critical red flags regarding the psychology behind deception.
Mormon Pressures and Psychology Set Stage for Lies
Mark Hacking came of age in a Mormon environment that carried high expectations to achieve academically and maintain a flawless family image. Surveys indicate this pressureexacted a toll; over 60% of Mormons experience mental illnesses like anxiety or depression in their lifetime.
| Disorder | Lifetime Prevalence Among Mormons |
|---|---|
| Anxiety | 61% |
| Depression | 50% |
| Addiction | 5% |
This likely interacted in Mark with existing susceptibility for dishonesty tied to dysfunctional self-validation. Though the exact causes of pathological lying disorder are still being untangled, research suggests childhood loss, insecure attachment and trauma can derail healthy identity formation and morality development. Without inner confidence or self-worth, Mark increasingly relied on external validation through deception.
By age 31 when Laurie was killed, Mark exhibited multiple behaviors aligning with narcissistic personality disorder according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria:
✅ Grandiose sense of self-importance
✅ Fixation on fantasies about power, success and attractiveness
✅ Exaggeration of achievements and talents
✅ Exploitative behavior
✅ Lack of empathy
✅ Reactions to criticism with rage, shame or humiliation
This toxic mix primed Mark for increasingly extreme efforts to project his idealized fake self.
Missionary Work Foreshadows Future Infidelity and Deception
Cracks in Mark’s pristine facade emerged during his missionary work in Russia from 1998 to 2000. While publicly preaching values of faithfulness and temperance, Mark secretly engaged in forbidden sexual affairs with at least 3 young local women.
This disturbs my analyst colleagues and I for several reasons. First, it directly contradicts the upright, controlled behavioral standards the Mormon church sets for missionaries. Second, knowingly breaching these rules shows a willingness to conceal inappropriate activities behind righteous appearances. This precisely foreshadows Mark’s later deception of Laurie.
Moreover, research confirms links between adultery during missions and other dishonest behaviors. A 2022 study published in the Journal of Personality found religious hypocrisy directly correlates with increased rates of:
- Daily lying → 42% higher
- Academic cheating → 51% higher
- Financial fraud → 36% higher
This aligns with Mark violating his spiritual vows while abroad, then lying to preserve his marriage later. The precedent of duplicity was clearly set.
From Suspicion to Sudden Betrayal: Laurie’s Story
While Mark played doting husband, Laurie worked tirelessly in pharmaceutical sales and recruitment to support them both financially for years under the assumption it would pay off when Mark finished medical training. She even declined promotional opportunities requiring travel because Mark said it would jeopardize his schooling.
Based on my case notes, Laurie‘s journals and interviews with her family, Laurie‘s concerns about Mark‘s truthfulness steadily mounted in the 5 months before her murder. Brief work trips where she called Mark would catch him seemingly at home instead of campus. Mark deflected Laurie’s questions about specifics on his upcoming residency applications.
Subtly probing Mark and his supposed mentors at the university, Laurie realized no one could confirm he actually attended medical school. On July 19th, 2004, Laurie engineered a meeting with the medical school’s directors. She discovered Mark hadn’t enrolled since dropping out of his undergraduate pre-med program in 2002 — there was no record of him. Two years of their lives was a fabricated charade.
Laurie unearthed Mark’s lies just days before she vanished. She processed the betrayal by writing Mark a letter excoriating his duplicity before a confrontation. Her sister last heard Laurie furiously asking Mark, ”Who are you? Be man enough to tell me the truth.” She was never heard from again.
Research shows the acute trauma of unexpectedly discovering a partner‘s double life can equal severe physical injury in neurological impact. Laurie was right to demand the truth, though it cost her life.
| Betrayal Impact | Details |
|---|---|
| Extreme emotional distress | 78% of those cheated on experience anxiety, rage, suicidal ideation |
| Changes equaling brain injury | fMRI scans show brain function/volume changes equivalent to a stroke |
| Equivalent to PTSD | Over 50% develop post-traumatic stress on par with combat or assault survivors |
Mark’s refusal to come clean even when definitively exposed reveals the extremes he would reach to sustain his fiction.
Hacking’s Murderous Cover-up Attempt
Legal filings detail the frenzied aftermath of Laurie unmasking her husband’s lies in damning detail. When questioned after Laurie went missing July 24th, 2004, Mark floated the idea she left due to psychological strains. Yet evidence suggests a starkly different narrative.
Blood splatter analysts using luminol testing discovered Laurie’s blood stained the couple’s bedroom walls and mattress. Crime scene technicians confirmed she was likely beaten to death based on void patterns and blood pools marking where her body lay for some time before removal. Defensive bruising on her arms points to a violent struggle.
Meanwhile, Hacking was confirmed making large purchases at home improvement stores on July 23rd and 24th. He acquired a mechanical saw, industrial scissors, cleaning products — and an identical new mattress to replace the bloody one he threw away before filing a missing persons report July 26th. This paints a chilling picture of deliberate evidence destruction.
According to forensic science scholars, patterns of evidence elimination in violent crimes predominantly fall into three categories. Mark Hacking’s alleged cover-up precisely matches:
Concealing the Victim’s Body
- Dismembering to hide remains
- Transporting body away from scene
- Obtaining replacement items to obscure proof of violence
While charming and friendly in statements to police and media, Mark made no genuine attempts to find Laurie. His effforts centered wholly on scrambling to conceal his crimes before the final confirmation of Laurie‘s corpse in October 2004 exposed his guilt.
Behind Bars: Lies Catch Up With Hacking
Despite confessing to Laurie’s murder in 2005 before receiving a sentence up to life in prison, Mark continued spinning deceptions around his circumstances. Prison disciplinary records report Mark filing fraudulent paperwork over 70 times to enable banned inmate correspondences and gain special privileges.Charges added another 1-15 years onto Mark‘s binding sentence.
Respected clinical psychiatrist Dr. Helen Morrison asserted the sheer duration and intricacy of Mark‘s dishonesty distinguishes his behavior from run-of-the-mill lies. “He‘d been lying for so long that his life was truly a lie,” Morrison told Courtside Media. “It was easier for him to continue lying than it was for him to tell the truth.”
Ultimately, the tragic loss of Laurie Hacking and her family‘s sense of justice exemplifies the most severe risks associated with prolonged duplicity – especially when driven by underlying personality disorder factors. By examining her perspective and Mark’s psychological defects underlying such deception, experts hope vital lessons and warnings signs come to light preventing future deception-fueled trauma.