Left to right: Aaron Hokanson, Martina Lundy (Columbia County Sheriff”s Office).
Authorities in Florida indicted a man for allegedly killing his girlfriend nearly two years ago and disposing of her body — which has yet to be recovered — after she threatened to turn him in for watching child sexual assault images, cops say.
Aaron Hokanson, 60, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death of 61-year-old Martina Lundy. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, Lundy’s granddaughter reported her missing to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office on June 4, 2024, after she hadn’t been seen in days.
Lundy and Hokanson lived together at a home on SW Carpenter Road in Lake City. They had been dating for about two years but the relationship became “volatile” in the months leading up to the alleged murder after Lundy began questioning Hokanson’s sexuality, cops say.
The couple went to the Florida Keys in March 2024 where Lundy suggested her boyfriend go to a gay bar. But Hokanson refused, and he denied being gay. Lundy also told her brother a few days before she disappeared that she had recorded Hokanson admitting to watching child sexual assault images “at least 100 times,” the affidavit said.
Hokanson allegedly said he had been molested by his mother’s boyfriend as a child.
“Lundy explained this was no excuse for him to watch child porn,” cops wrote. “Lundy told Hokanson he would never be around any children, and she was going to tell his daughter.”
She later told the defendant that she was “going to have him arrested by the end of the week.” Hokanson allegedly destroyed his cellphone and laptop and deleted the search history, according to police.
Cops believe Hokanson murdered Lundy in the early morning hours of May 30, 2024. She was last heard on a voicemail to her daughter at 2:23 a.m. Lundy also can be heard confronting Hokanson about his sexuality on the voicemail. At 7:22 a.m., data shows Hokanson started his vehicle, per cops.
Lundy and her granddaughter were set to go to a wedding that weekend, and the granddaughter went to the Carpenter Road home on May 31, 2024, to pick up a dress, cops wrote. But Lundy wasn’t there. Hokanson claimed Lundy had taken off the day before, upset about her daughter calling her late at night, according to the complaint.
The victim was also without her phone, which her family thought was odd, cops said. She has never been seen or heard from since.
“She is not coming home,” Assistant State Attorney Sean Crisafulli told local ABC affiliate WCJB. “Martina Lundy did not abandon her daughter. She did not abandon her granddaughter that she raised as her own. She didn’t abandon those two dogs she took with her everywhere she went. She didn’t abandon the tenants for whom she collected rent like clockwork until this happened.”
Cops also point to $73,000 in cash that is still sitting in a bank safe-deposit box as another indicator that she’s dead.
Hokanson claims Lundy “took off” on her own. Prosecutors allege he sent fake text messages to throw family and law enforcement off track.
“I’m going away for a few days,” one message said. “I gotta get away from all this s— and people.”
He also lied to family members in the days after she disappeared, claiming he filed a missing person report when he did not, cops say.
Hokanson was originally charged with second-degree murder last week but was indicted on the first-degree murder charge on Tuesday. He remains at the Columbia County Jail without bond.
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