Why Are Pregnant Women the Victims of Murder?

Aug. 3, 2004 -- They smile happily out of family album photos, familiar faces of pregnant women looking forward to motherhood. But Lori Hacking is again a reminder of the dangers many pregnant women face.

In Salt Lake City this week, police arrested Mark Hacking in the slaying of hispregnant wife as the search for her body continues. And in Modesto, Calif., the Scott Peterson double-murder trial has entered its second month, more than a year after Laci Peterson's body and the body of the couple's fetus washed ashore in San Francisco Bay.

Salt Lake Police Chief Rick Dinse today said inconsistencies in Hacking's statements and doubts about his credibility led police to arrest the 28-year-old in his wife's slaying. Hacking was arrested Monday, and police have 72 hours to file charges.

Security tape of Hacking buying cigarettes at a convenience store has punctured holes in his claim that he was asleep at about 1 a.m. on the morning he reported his wife missing, said Dinse. Hacking had also misled his family about graduating from the University of Utah and his admission to medical school in North Carolina. The couple had planned to move days after she disappeared.

"Those were some of the things that came to our attention early in the investigation and our follow-up investigation has led us to believe that he committed this crime," Dinse told Good Morning America today.

It seems unthinkable that women such as Laci and Lori should have their lives taken away at such a time, but studies have found it's not as uncommon as we might believe.

According to a 2001 study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women. Studies have also found that the killers are often very close to home.

The 2001 study found that approximately 20 percent of Maryland women who died during pregnancy were murdered. This supported the findings of previous studies in Cook County, Ill., and New York.

Fear of Losing the Old Lifestyle

Experts and women's advocates are not surprised to find that pregnant women are especially prone to violent deaths.