Annicka Lernbom, 62, Darwin, NT, shares her story below…
Crossing the pub floor, a familiar voice bellowed my name.
Looking over, I saw my eldest son Tony, 36.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I laughed.
In unison, we took a sip of our drinks and began to chat.
Tony and I were best mates and could often be found at the pub catching up on life.
He had given me two gorgeous grandchildren, Jay, 13, and Emily, 10, and I was in awe of the kind father he had become.
It was a Saturday night in May 2022 when Tony popped round with his mate Tim, 28.
Our family had known Tim for about a year, but he’d always made my skin crawl.
“Hey Mum,” Tim said.
I was well known in the community, and many locals called me Mum, but with Tim, it didn’t sit right.
The boys were about to leave for a few days camping and fishing around the NT.
They’d be in and out of reception, but Tony promised to call me when he could.
But the next day I didn’t hear from him at all.
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That night, I shot up in bed.
“He’s gone,” I told my daughter, Natalie, 32.
“Tony is dead.”
As my carer, Natalie was always by my side.
“How do you know?” she asked.
“I felt something leave my body,” I explained.
I tried calling my boy, but there was no answer, so I phoned Tim.
“Where is my son?” I demanded.
“Mum,” he stuttered.
He launched into a story about Tony running off into the bush, but I didn’t believe him.
Hanging up, I phoned the police.
“Timothy Hunt has killed my son,” I told them.
Thankfully, the police listened and an investigation was opened.
I phoned Tony’s number multiple times a day until eventually it stopped ringing.
After that, I spent my time dialling Tim for answers.
“Where’s his body!” I yelled, but the stories kept coming.
“Mum, last time I saw Tony he was here,” Tim said, sending me a location.
Hopping in the car with mates, we sped to the coordinates, but there was no sign of Tony.
Next month, I was on the phone to Tim when he revealed he was on his way to Queensland.
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I hung up and phoned the police.
Fortunately, he was stopped at the border and taken into custody.
There, he was questioned about Tony’s disappearance, but said he was not involved.
Without enough evidence, he couldn’t be charged.
For the next few months, Tim continued to send me locations where he claimed Tony might be.
We checked a total of seven spots without any sign of my boy.
Each day without answers left my heart aching a little bit more.
In all our communication, Tim remained overly friendly.
“He has no right to call me Mum,” I said to Natalie, convinced he knew more than he was letting on.
“He’s jealous of your relationship with Tony,” she added.
It almost felt like Tim was trying to take Tony’s place within our family.
Every conversation I had with him I relayed to detectives, praying any information might help.
They never gave up on finding Tony, but as the months passed, it was clear he was gone.
Celebrating Christmas and New Year without him was painful.
“I know in my heart that Dad’s in heaven,” Jay said through tears.
Finally, in May 2023, my worst fears were confirmed.
Tony’s remains were found beside a road in remote bushland south of Darwin.
There were skeletal defects in the cranium, jaw, two ribs and the right arm – characteristics of blunt force trauma.
It was distressing to think that my son had been discarded like this, but I knew we were getting closer to justice.
Detectives gathered CCTV footage and eyewitness testimonies, which put Tim at the scene of the crime.
He was arrested in Queensland later that month and extradited back to the NT.
“We’ve got him,” detectives told me.
Finally, in September 2025, Tim went to trial.
In court it was found that during their drive, Tim and Tony had an argument in which Tim claimed Tony owed him money.
After they pulled over Tim began violently beating my son.
Next, he used wire cutters to sever Tony’s toe before slitting his throat with a Stanley knife.
Other passengers in the car recalled Tony drowning in his own blood.
Hearing what he had suffered was unbearable.
Tim dumped the body in bushland before returning to wrap it in a tent and put it in his boot.
He then drove toward Weddell and dumped the body in the bush before setting it alight.
Afterwards, Tim threatened the lives of witnesses if they told police.
Tim continued to protest his innocence, but the truth finally caught up with him.
On October 6, 2025, Timothy Hunt, 31, was found guilty of murder.
Justice Sonia Brownhill handed him life in prison with a fixed non-parole period of 22 years, citing Tim’s complete lack of remorse.
“It was a bizarre, brutal and cowardly attack,” she said.
After 1242 days since Tony died, we finally watched his killer pay for his actions.
Standing on the court steps, I breathed fresh air for the first time in years.
“I don’t feel any hate towards Tim,” I told reporters.
I knew that living with a heart full of resentment would destroy my life, not Tim’s.
Recently, I built a wooden cross and our family travelled to the site where Tony had been left, hammering it into the earth.
With some cold beers in hand, we shared stories about Tony’s heart of gold.
It’s exactly what he would have wanted.
Now I love telling my grandkids about their dad, who was so full of love.
After years of desperately seeking peace, I finally have it.
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