Lori Hacking, 27, was last seen Monday near a park in Salt Lake City.

Meanwhile, questions arose when investigators learned that the woman's husband, Mark Hacking, has not been admitted to the University of North Carolina's medical school — or even applied there — as he had told his family.

Detective Kevin Joiner said police removed several items from the Hackings' apartment Wednesday and impounded a large trash bin from nearby.

Joiner said the initial investigation was for a missing person. "And the investigation, as it unfolds, is leading us to believe that there's foul play involved," he said.

The couple was about to move to Chapel Hill, N.C., for the fall semester, said the missing woman's mother, Thelma Soares. She said movers were scheduled for today to load a truck. Mark Hacking planned to drive with his parents to Chapel Hill. His wife was supposed to fly there Aug. 6 with their cat, Soares said.

Police and hundreds of volunteers were asking questions and distributing fliers in downtown Salt Lake City on Wednesday near Memory Grove Park and City Creek Canyon, a popular jogging area.

Hacking, an avid jogger, ran there up to six times a week, said Debra Gehris, a friend of Soares'. Both Gehris and Soares live in Orem, about 40 miles south, but both drove to Salt Lake City after Lori Hacking was reported missing.

Gehris said the family was surprised to learn that Mark Hacking had not been accepted at Chapel Hill. "The fact remains that we still have a missing woman," Gehris said.

"We think that if Lori had been in the park, she would have been found," Soares said earlier Wednesday.

"This is a fairly steep, rugged place. ... They have combed and combed and re-combed that area. We think Lori is not there. We think Lori has been abducted."

Lori Hacking learned she was five weeks pregnant a week ago. The couple's fifth anniversary is next month. She was last seen Monday stretching near the park, and her car was found near the front gates of Memory Grove, police said. Her husband called police Monday morning after she did not show up for work at Wells Fargo, where she works in the brokerage division.

Lori Hacking's disappearance reminded many in Salt Lake City of the Elizabeth Smart case. Smart was 14 when she vanished from her bedroom in June 2002 and was found alive nine months later 15 miles from her home. Authorities also searched the Memory Grove and City Creek Canyon areas after her abduction.

Chris Smart, Elizabeth's uncle, has offered help to the family, Gehris said. "When he met with us yesterday, he said, 'You have some good news: They haven't found Lori, which means she isn't laying dead up somewhere in the canyon. And you have some bad news, which is that they haven't found Lori, which means you have to keep looking.' "

Soares, before learning her son-in-law had misled her and family members about his education, started crying as she talked about her daughter's marriage. "This is not a fly-by-night romance. This is real. ... They are totally dedicated to each other. Mark is devastated, and his heart is broken, just like mine is," she said.

"Anybody who knows Mark and Lori knows how much they loved one another. And now the frosting on the cake is that she found out she was pregnant," she said.

"Don't let anybody tell you there is any foul play going on here except for the pervert who has gone off and captured her."