Updated: June 25, 2021
Originally Published: April 2, 2021
“I am scared of my husband,” Jessica Lane wrote in divorce documents submitted on June 20, 2017. “I am aware that initiating this divorce and filing this motion will provoke him. I fear that he will retaliate against me. He believes he must always come out on top.”
The filing described Jessica’s estranged husband, Mark Lane, a well-educated luxury property developer engaged in an affair with a colleague for over a year, as exhibiting “erratic, unsafe, bullying, threatening, and controlling behavior.” Jessica also claimed Mark had threatened to abduct their five children and take them to his home country, Greece.
Two years after initiating the divorce, on May 24, 2019, Jessica dropped her children off at school and vanished without a trace. Nine days later, law enforcement arrested Mark Lane and his then-girlfriend, Kate Baxter.
Why Authorities Suspected Mark Lane Was Involved in Jessica’s Disappearance
Mark Lane maintained his innocence until his tragic death by suicide in January 2020. Authorities discovered a note in his vehicle near his unconscious body stating, in part, that he did not wish to spend “another hour in jail for something I had NOTHING to do with. Enough is enough.”
However, investigators possessed significant evidence implicating Mark in Jessica’s disappearance. Even before physical evidence surfaced, they had Jessica’s divorce filing. In the documents, she revealed that in May 2017, Mark had insisted she sign an agreement allowing him to move his girlfriend and her child into the couple’s expansive home in Farmington, CT.
“When I disagreed,” Jessica recounted in the filing, “he became furious. I was terrified and fled the house. He continued to scream at me and chased me toward the road.” The very next day, she learned that Mark had procured an illegal firearm from a friend. When she requested he remove it from their home, he claimed he needed it “for protection.”
On the evening Jessica went missing, while investigators were at her residence, a man with his face obscured by a baseball cap was captured on surveillance cameras in Hartford, CT, disposing of plastic trash bags in various business and residential bins. In total, 30 bags were discarded across a four-mile stretch, with one bag going into a storm drain.
Mark Lane’s cell phone records placed him on those same streets at the exact time the cap-wearing man was seen discarding the bags. Furthermore, the man was driving a black Ford Raptor pickup truck, identical to Mark’s vehicle, which had stickers in the same location on the rear window, and a license plate that matched Mark’s. Surveillance footage also showed a woman in the passenger seat.
What Detectives Discovered in the Trash Bags
Although it took a week for detectives to connect the trash bag footage to Jessica Lane’s disappearance, they quickly managed to retrieve some of the discarded bags. Inside, they found sponges, clothing, and zip ties stained with Jessica’s blood. At least one bag contained DNA from Jessica, Mark, and his then-girlfriend, Kate Baxter. Consequently, Mark and Kate were arrested for “obstructing justice and tampering with evidence.”
According to the arrest warrant affidavits, on May 24, detectives found sufficient blood in the garage where Jessica parked her car to suggest “a serious physical assault had taken place.” They later discovered blood stains inside the house, indicating an attempted cleanup of the scene.
The Red Toyota Tacoma
Law enforcement accessed footage from school buses and neighbors’ security cameras, creating a timeline that suggested how Mark Lane may have committed the crime. Investigators learned that he had borrowed a red Toyota Tacoma truck from an employee. This truck was seen on multiple cameras driving in the vicinity of Jessica’s residence both before and after the suspected time of her murder.
Authorities alleged that Mark drove to a location near the house to “lie in wait” for Jessica, then used her Chevrolet Suburban to transport her body away from the scene. The borrowed Tacoma was spotted going in the opposite direction after a six-hour period. Jessica’s Suburban was ultimately found abandoned in a nearby park.
Five days later, Mark had the borrowed truck cleaned and suggested his employee swap the seats from the truck with seats from a Porsche he owned.
Why Mark Lane May Have Wanted to Harm His Wife
The couple was in the midst of a bitter divorce, and Jessica’s parents were suing Mark for failing to repay substantial loans he had taken from them. Jessica’s father, Richard Lane, had been a senior vice president at a major bank and had lent Mark money for real estate investments. The lawsuit claimed Mark owed Jessica’s father over $2.5 million.
Additionally, Mark had limited access to his children due to the divorce proceedings. A judge labeled him “a liar who willfully disobeyed court orders” by having his girlfriend around their five children—something prohibited by court orders. Ultimately, he was granted supervised visitation every other weekend, with restrictions on discussing the case, having private conversations with his children, and even speaking Greek to them to avoid the supervisor overhearing.
Tragically, Jessica Lane’s body has never been recovered. With Mark also deceased, it may remain a mystery. Their five children are now under the care of Jessica’s mother, Megan Lane.
For more insights on related topics, you can check out our other blog posts on home insemination and pregnancy resources, such as this excellent resource from the NHS on intrauterine insemination.
Summary
The tragic case of Jessica Lane highlights the dangers of domestic violence and the complexities surrounding divorce. Despite the evidence suggesting Mark Lane’s involvement in Jessica’s disappearance, her body has never been found, and he took his own life, leaving unanswered questions and a family in turmoil. Their children are now cared for by Jessica’s mother.