Prosecutors say Martina Lundy was killed after threatening to report Aaron Hokanson to authorities.

LAKE CITY, Fla. — A Columbia County man has been indicted on a first-degree murder charge nearly two years after his girlfriend disappeared from their Lake City home and was never found, authorities said.

Aaron Hokanson, 60, is accused of killing 61-year-old Martina Lundy in late May 2024 after investigators say she threatened to report him for viewing child sexual abuse images. The case moved forward this month after a grand jury indictment upgraded the charge from second-degree murder. Hokanson remains in the Columbia County Jail without bond.

The case is built around a missing person report, a 26-page sworn complaint, phone records, vehicle data, family statements and alleged messages sent from Lundy’s phone after she vanished. Investigators have not recovered Lundy’s body. Prosecutors say the absence of a body does not erase what they believe the evidence shows. Assistant State Attorney Sean Crisafulli said Lundy’s life, habits and family ties all point away from the idea that she left on her own. “She is not coming home,” Crisafulli said, describing a woman who stayed close to her daughter, granddaughter, dogs and tenants.

Lundy was reported missing on June 4, 2024, by her granddaughter after relatives had not seen or heard from her for several days. She and Hokanson lived together on SW Carpenter Road in Lake City and had dated for about two years. Investigators said the relationship had become volatile in the months before Lundy disappeared. According to the sworn complaint, Lundy had begun questioning Hokanson’s sexuality and had recorded some of their confrontations. During one recorded exchange, authorities said, Lundy confronted Hokanson about accusations tied to child sexual abuse material.

The complaint says Lundy told her brother shortly before she disappeared that she had recorded Hokanson admitting to watching child sexual abuse images “at least 100 times.” Authorities said Hokanson told Lundy he had been molested as a child by his mother’s boyfriend. Lundy rejected that as a reason for the alleged conduct, investigators wrote. The complaint says Lundy told Hokanson he would never be around children and that she planned to tell his daughter. She later said she was going to have him arrested by the end of the week, according to police.

Investigators said the alleged threat to report Hokanson became the motive they now believe drove the killing. The complaint says Hokanson destroyed his cellphone and laptop and deleted search history after Lundy raised the allegations. Officials also said searches related to pornography and pills had been deleted from his phone. Prosecutors have not said in public filings that Hokanson has been charged with crimes tied to the alleged images. The murder case, as described by authorities, focuses on whether Hokanson killed Lundy to stop her from going to police or family members with the recordings and accusations.

Authorities believe Lundy was killed in the early morning hours of May 30, 2024. She was last heard on a voicemail left for her daughter at 2:23 a.m., according to investigators. On that voicemail, Lundy can be heard confronting Hokanson about his sexuality, police said. Later that morning, at 7:22 a.m., data showed Hokanson started his vehicle. Investigators have not publicly described where they believe Lundy’s body was taken or how she died. They have said the timeline from the early morning voicemail to the vehicle data is a key part of the case.

The next day, May 31, Lundy’s granddaughter went to the Carpenter Road home to pick up a dress because she and Lundy were supposed to attend a wedding that weekend. Lundy was not there. According to the complaint, Hokanson told the granddaughter that Lundy had taken off the day before because she was upset that her daughter had called late at night. Family members told investigators that explanation did not fit Lundy’s normal conduct. They said she would not have left without her phone, her dogs or contact with the relatives she helped raise and supported.

Police said Lundy’s phone last pinged at the home she shared with Hokanson. Prosecutors also pointed to strange text messages allegedly sent from her phone after she disappeared. One message said she was going away for a few days and needed to get away from people. Investigators said the messages were meant to make it look as if Lundy had left by choice. Authorities also said Hokanson lied to family members by claiming he had filed a missing person report when he had not. Lundy’s granddaughter later made the report herself.

Officials said money and routine also weighed against Hokanson’s claim that Lundy simply left. Police pointed to $73,000 in cash that remained in a bank safe-deposit box. Crisafulli said Lundy did not abandon the tenants whose rent she collected “like clockwork.” Family members told investigators she did not abandon her dogs, either. The sworn complaint describes missed responsibilities, missed contact and missing routines as circumstantial evidence that Lundy was dead, not hiding. The defense has argued that the state’s case remains circumstantial and that no body has been found.

Hokanson sought pretrial release, but a judge denied the request after the sworn complaint was unsealed. His defense argued that he had community ties and could be trusted to appear in court. Prosecutors opposed release and stressed the seriousness of the charge and the evidence described in the complaint. WCJB reported that Hokanson is a convicted felon and has prior convictions for driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license. The judge sided with the state, keeping Hokanson in custody as the prosecution advanced.

The indictment marked a shift in the case. Hokanson had first been charged with second-degree murder, but prosecutors later took the case to a grand jury, which returned the first-degree murder charge. First-degree murder cases require prosecutors to prove a higher level of intent than second-degree murder cases. Authorities have not announced a trial date. The case is expected to move through arraignment, discovery, motions over evidence and possible hearings about the recordings, phone records and vehicle data that investigators say tie the timeline together.

For Lundy’s family, the case remains both a murder prosecution and a missing person case. Her body has not been recovered, and officials have not announced an end to efforts to locate her remains. Prosecutors have presented Lundy as a woman anchored to her family, animals, home and obligations. Hokanson has maintained through the account described by police that she left on her own. The state now must prove in court that she did not.

The case stands with Hokanson jailed without bond and charged with first-degree murder. The next major step is the court schedule that will set hearings for evidence, discovery and trial planning.

Author note: Last updated April 29, 2026.