The ceremony, which began at 10 a.m. and lasted just less than an hour, began with Paul Soares, Lori’s brother, reading a statement of thanks to the two dozen police officers in attendance, each of whom had volunteered to search the Salt Lake City landfill for Lori’s remains.

Paul, Thelma and Eraldo then greeted each police officer individually, handing them a red rose and a copy of a poem written by Lori’s high school friends. Some police officers wept as the Soares family hugged them and thanked them for finding Lori’s remains.

Scott Dunaway, president of the Orem Windsor stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then spoke, blessing the police.

“I want to add my thanks to those of the family to the police for the wonderful service you’ve performed,” he said. “I feel impressed to leave a blessing on you. I bless you that you will be protected and watched over in your work, and that your families will be watched over as you sacrifice yourself while working to protect us and our families.”

Dunaway then addressed the Soares family, telling them they would be reunited with their daughter and sister in the resurrection.

“It is easy for our hearts and minds to be stuck in the past and the present and not remember that today is about the future,” he said. “The next time you see Lori you will be reunited in the glorious resurrection as a family. Her spirit is in a better place. She may be here watching today.”

He counseled the family to avoid anger.

“This is not the end,” he said. “Let us look forward with anticipation and hope and joy, pushing aside feelings of loneliness. Let our hope push aside feelings of anger.”

With a shaking voice, Eraldo Soares dedicated his daughter’s grave, choosing to use Lori’s maiden name, Lori K. Soares, rather than her married name of Hacking, in the dedicatory prayer.

Lori’s parents and brother then laid single red roses on top of her coffin, where a silver-framed photo of Lori had been set up. Thelma Soares lingered at the casket and the photo as she laid her rose, whispering to the casket as she wept.

No mention was made during the ceremony of the possibility that Lori’s remains may also have included those of an unborn child. Lori Hacking had reportedly told friends before her death that she was newly pregnant with her first child.

Friends, family and media, who had been allowed to attend the ceremony by invitation only, were then given roses and invited to follow suit. Janet Hacking, mother of Lori’s husband and allegedly confessed killer, Mark, wept and attempted to smile as she and her husband, Douglas, said good-bye to their daughter-in-law.

The Soares family then unveiled a large sign, set up for the media photographers on the street outside the cemetery, which read “Lori is home. Your prayers are answered. Thank you. The Soares family.”

Lori Hacking’s remains were found on Oct. 1, following a 10-week police search of 4,600 tons of garbage in the Salt Lake City landfill that began with the help of cadaver dogs and finished with authorities using garden rakes to comb through the trash.

Hacking, a 27-year-old assistant stock broker, had not been seen since July 18.

Her 28-year-old husband, Mark Hacking, reported her missing the following day, saying she never returned from a morning jog that police determined she never took.

Mark Hacking has been jailed on a charge of murder. While he was hospitalized in a psychiatric unit, he allegedly confessed to his brothers that he shot his wife while she was sleeping and disposed of her body, the weapon and a mattress in separate trash bins.

Hacking is being held on $1 million bail. His next court date has been scheduled for Oct. 29.

Authorities believe Lori Hacking was killed after she learned her husband wasn’t enrolled in medical school in North Carolina, even though they were packing to move there.

It was the latest in a series of deceptions perpetuated by the husband over several years, police say.

The Soares family had held a funeral service for Lori on Aug. 14.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C1.