Aaron Hokanson faces first-degree murder in the death of Martina Lundy, who vanished in 2024.
LAKE CITY, Fla. — Prosecutors in Columbia County are moving ahead with a first-degree murder case against Aaron Hokanson even though the woman he is accused of killing, Martina Lundy, has never been found.
The charge follows the 2024 disappearance of Lundy, 61, from the Lake City home she shared with Hokanson. Authorities say Hokanson killed her after she threatened to report him for allegedly watching child sexual abuse images. The case now rests on circumstantial evidence, including recordings, phone records, vehicle data, alleged deleted searches, text messages and family accounts of behavior prosecutors say Lundy would never have chosen.
In cases without a recovered body, prosecutors must first prove that the missing person is dead and then prove who caused the death. Assistant State Attorney Sean Crisafulli framed that issue directly after the 26-page sworn complaint was unsealed. “She is not coming home,” Crisafulli said. He said Lundy did not abandon her daughter, her granddaughter, her dogs or the tenants whose rent she collected. The statement placed Lundy’s routines at the center of the state’s argument that this is not a disappearance by choice but a killing covered by deception.
Lundy was reported missing to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office on June 4, 2024. Her granddaughter made the report after Lundy had not been seen for days. The family had expected Lundy to attend a wedding that weekend. On May 31, 2024, the granddaughter went to the home on SW Carpenter Road to get a dress, but Lundy was not there. Hokanson told her Lundy had left the day before after becoming upset about a late-night phone call from her daughter, according to the sworn complaint.
Investigators say the timeline started earlier. Lundy was last heard on a voicemail to her daughter at 2:23 a.m. on May 30. Police said Lundy could be heard confronting Hokanson about his sexuality during the voicemail. At 7:22 a.m., data showed Hokanson started his vehicle. Authorities have not publicly said where they believe Lundy’s body was taken, what weapon or method may have been used, or whether any physical remains were recovered. Those unknowns are expected to be central issues as the case moves toward trial.
The state’s theory begins with a relationship that investigators said had become explosive. Lundy and Hokanson had dated for about two years and lived together. In March 2024, they traveled to the Florida Keys. The sworn complaint says Lundy suggested that Hokanson go to a gay bar, which he refused while denying he was gay. The complaint later describes recorded confrontations between the couple. Investigators said Lundy was not only questioning Hokanson’s sexuality but also accusing him of watching illegal images involving children.
According to police, Lundy told her brother days before she disappeared that she had recorded Hokanson admitting to watching child sexual abuse images “at least 100 times.” Hokanson allegedly said he had been molested by his mother’s boyfriend when he was a child. Investigators wrote that Lundy told him that was no excuse for watching child pornography. She also told him he would not be around children and that she planned to tell his daughter, according to the complaint. Police said Lundy later told Hokanson she was going to have him arrested by the end of the week.
Prosecutors say Hokanson’s conduct after those confrontations helps prove motive and consciousness of guilt. The sworn complaint says Hokanson destroyed his cellphone and laptop and deleted search history. WCJB reported that the complaint also described deleted searches related to pornography and pills. Investigators have not announced separate charges tied to the alleged sexual material. The murder charge is based on the claim that Hokanson killed Lundy to prevent her from exposing him and then created a false account that she had gone away voluntarily.
The alleged cover story included messages from Lundy’s phone, prosecutors said. One text said she was going away for a few days and needed distance from people. Family members told investigators that the messages did not fit the woman they knew or the duties she left behind. Police said Lundy’s phone last pinged at the home. Investigators also said Hokanson falsely told relatives that he had filed a missing person report. In fact, authorities said, Lundy’s granddaughter made the report days after the last confirmed contact.
Money became another part of the case. Police pointed to $73,000 left in a bank safe-deposit box. Prosecutors say that cash makes it less likely Lundy chose to disappear. They also cite the dogs, family plans and rent collection as ordinary facts with legal weight. The defense has argued that those facts do not replace direct evidence of death or a recovered body. During a request for pretrial release, the defense described the evidence as circumstantial and argued Hokanson had community ties that made release appropriate.
The court did not accept that request. After the complaint was unsealed, a judge denied Hokanson’s bid for pretrial release. The case then moved from an initial second-degree murder charge to a first-degree murder indictment. That upgrade signals that prosecutors will seek to prove premeditation. It also raises the stakes for the coming litigation over what evidence jurors will hear, including recordings, phone activity, statements by family members, possible digital forensic records and the alleged messages sent from Lundy’s phone.
Hokanson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Prosecutors must connect the facts into a single account that meets the criminal standard. The defense can challenge the lack of a body, any gaps in the digital timeline, the meaning of the recordings and the reliability of the alleged messages. The state can respond that murder cases do not require a recovered body if the rest of the evidence proves death and responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.
For Columbia County investigators, the case remains open in another sense: Lundy has not been brought home. The missing remains leave practical questions unanswered for prosecutors and emotional ones unresolved for relatives. Crisafulli’s statement that Lundy did not abandon her life now stands as both a courtroom theory and a summary of the family’s view. The coming hearings will test whether a jury can be asked to reach the same conclusion without a body.
Hokanson remains jailed without bond on the first-degree murder charge. The next milestones are pretrial hearings that will shape the evidence and set the path toward trial.
Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.