Lynn Packer

Lynn Packer

Special Contributor, Investigative Journalist, Adjunct Professor, Legal Consultant

Lynn Packer is an award-winning investigative reporter, legal consultant and author of Lying for the Lord: The Paul H. Dunn Stories

Now Available on Amazon!

Lynn Kenneth Packer

Lynn Packer is an award-winning investigative reporter, television news consultant and trial consultant. He attended Box Elder High School in Brigham City, Utah, and graduated from Utah State University (USU) in Logan, Utah, with a broadcast journalism major with German language minor.

He was editor-in-chief of USU’s campus newspaper his senior year and was a radio disk jockey for KBUH in Brigham City and KVNU in Logan, while attending college.

Packer served in the United States Army between 1968 and 1970. In Vietnam, he was a television news anchor and producer for the Armed Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN), Quang Tri detachment. He was awarded the Bronze Star.

For 15 years, Packer reported for KSL Television News in Salt Lake City, where he covered city-county and state government, did investigative reporting for the documentary unit, and hosted a weekly talk show. Among the major stories he covered were the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the Mark Hofmann bombing murders, the trial of serial killer Ted Bundy, and the Judge Willis Ritter corruption scandal, which he also consulted on for CBS’s 60 Minutes.


His teaching career spanned ten years as an adjunct journalism instructor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, and the University of Dortmund in Germany.

After teaching in Dortmund, Packer consulted for various German television stations, including WDR in Cologne and Düsseldorf; SAT.1 in Hamburg, Mainz and Berlin; 1A in Berlin, N24 in Berlin and DSF in Munich. He wrote a textbook for German television news reporters, Schreiben, Drehen, und Schneiden.

Packer won first place investigative reporting awards from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), Utah Chapter, in 1984, 1995, 1996, and 2001. He freelanced dozens of articles, among them: The Goldcor Fraud Story, Mormon Fraud History, Bonneville Pacific Fraud, Paul Dunn/Afco Fraud Story, and the Utah 2002 Olympic Bribery Scandal.


Excellent multi-part interview with legendary Mormon journalist Lynn Packer on Mormon Stories with Dr. John Dehlin

Mormon Stories # 1358: The Rise of Mormon Apostle Boyd K. Packer
Mormon Stories # 1359: Investigating Mormonism as Elder Packer’s Nephew
Mormon Stories # 1361: Church Vs. Religion
Mormon Stories # 1362: Covering the Dark Side of Mormonism as a Utah Reporter
Mormon Stories # 1363: Lying for the Lord, The Paul H. Dunn Scandal
Mormon Stories # 1364: Investigating Tim Ballard

Further Reading and Select works by Lynn Packer

Utah courts keeping secret investigations away from public eye