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The murder trial of a young Australian man is underway after prosecutors alleged he killed his ex-girlfriend and attempted to stage her death as a tragic suicide, according to reports.
Lachlan Young, 23, is facing a judge in Ballarat, Victoria, for the April 5, 2024 killing of his former partner, Hannah McGuire, 23, and burning her body inside a vehicle, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The victim’s parents, Debbie and Glenn McGuire, testified on Monday, July 14, 2025 that they’d received concerning, suicidal text messages from their daughter’s phone in the early morning hours around her disappearance.
Young, who confessed to killing the woman, admitted he wanted to stage the death as a suicide.
The alleged suicidal texts read in court
On April 5, 2025, at 3:43 a.m., Debbie McGuire received a text from Hannah McGuire’s phone, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“I’m sorry mum, I thought this was the right decision,” the text stated. “I tried to heal and cope with it all but I’m not okay.”
In more text clips cited by Australia’s national Nine News, the text on Hannah McGuire’s phone continued: “I tried messaging Lach, but he doesn’t want anything to do with me now. Please check in on him. This is going to break his heart.”
“What … Where are you … You’re not making sense,” the mother replied, adding, “You’re not going back to him.”
Roughly two dozen follow-up texts from a frantic mother went unanswered. In one, she attempted to remind her daughter why she left Young in the first place, according to Nine News.
“You can’t live the way you were living, being spoken to like s–t and treated like crap,” the mother pleaded. “Remember why you left [Young] in the first place.”
Prosecutors additionally accused Young of wiring $5,000 (approx. $3,278 USD) to himself and $2,000 (approx. $1,310 USD) to Hannah McGuire’s parents, monies taken from the victim’s bank account to purportedly support initial suicide claims.
How did Hannah McGuire disappear?
Hannah McGuire’s father last saw his daughter on the night of April 4, 2025, at a hotel in nearby Clunes, where she and friends reportedly ate pizza and chatted about netball, according to the ABC.
Following the troubling texts that came hours later, Debbie McGuire told the court she drove to the Sebastopol home owned by both her daughter and Young — just south of Ballarat — and spotted Young, then 22, and his father walking toward the residence, according to Nine News. She said the ex-boyfriend appeared genuinely shocked about unfolding events.
Still, the mother said she’d never approved of the three-year relationship. In court, she cited an event in February 2023, when Hannah McGuire called her as Young allegedly stalked her as they drove in separate cars.
“I told her to lock the doors,” Mrs. McGuire told jurors. “To not pull over and to drive straight to the police station.”
At the time, the victim obtained an “intervention order” (not unlike America’s version of a restraining order), according to Nine News. However, the couple reconciled and purchased the Sebastopol home sometime later.
A second intervention order came one month after the first, when Young allegedly damaged Hannah McGuire’s car as she attempted to leave him, according to Nine News.
Young’s defense claimed Hannah McGuire ignored her parents’ efforts to get her out of the relationship and continually met with Young in secret.
Hannah McGuire’s burnt remains found
Hours after Debbie McGuire reported her daughter missing, Hannah McGuire’s body was discovered in the footwell of a burnt-out Mitsubishi Triton pickup truck in the bushland of Scarsdale, about 15 miles southwest of Ballarat. As reported by Nine News, authorities recovered a yellow blow torch that prosecutors claim Young used to set the vehicle ablaze.
Crown Prosecutor Kristie Churchill told the court in her opening statements on Wednesday, July 9, 2025 that Hannah McGuire was dead before the fire began, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Although a cause of death has not been disclosed, or perhaps could not be determined, it was ruled that Hannah McGuire died by means of homicide.
Lachlan Young admitted to the murder
Lachlan Young confessed to killing his ex and staging it to look like a suicide when he first attempted to plead guilty to charges of manslaughter. However, prosecutors were unsatisfied with the deal and rejected the plea offer, proceeding to charge him with murder.
For the more severe charge, Young has pleaded not guilty.
Churchill told jurors Young killed Hannah McGuire once he realized the relationship was finished and feared losing the home, according to Nine News.
In her opening statements, Churchill called the relationship “controlling and turbulent,” noting an incident in which Young allegedly called the victim 129 times in just one day.
Defense attorney Glenn Casement reminded the court that his defendant made a “very serious” confession when willing to enter a not-guilty plea to manslaughter, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. And, despite Young’s “series of appalling, bad choices” following the homicide — including the suicide texts and money transfers — he did not kill with “murderous intent.”
The defense further described Hannah McGuire’s death as “unplanned and spontaneous.”
The murder trial is slated to last an estimated five weeks with 14 jurors in the box. In Australia, jurors must come to a unanimous decision before a person can be convicted.
