Alert – Why a Sydney socialite was forced to hire a private investigator after her model son was found face-down in a pool at a luxury villa in Bali

A Sydney socialite has been forced to hire a private investigator as she tries to untangle the mystery of how her model son died suddenly in Bali.

Aston Looker, an 18-year-old fashion model from Sydney, was found dead in the swimming pool of his father’s Balinese villa complex on August 22.

But his mother, interior designer Amanda Lennon, says it’s still not clear how he died, and that Indonesian authorities haven’t been helpful.

No autopsy was performed on Aston’s body and father Saxon Looker had him cremated two days after he died. Local police didn’t visit the scene until almost two weeks later and found no evidence of foul play.

‘I felt DFAT (the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) gave us a pat on the back about our terrible news,’ Ms Lennon told Good Weekend.

‘That’s why I hired a private investigator. 

‘I realise not everyone can do that but we had the means to. 

‘Things work differently in Bali. You have to play by a different set of rules; I needed someone who knew that.’ 

Amanda Lennon said she can never go back to Bali after her son Aston (pictured) was found floating face-down in the shallow end of the pool in his father’s luxury villa

Aston (pictured left with his mother) had a history of mental health issues and spent several days in a psych ward in the lead-up to his death

The 18-year-old fashion model from Sydney was found dead by a security guard in August

Ms Lennon hired Gold Coast-based private investigator Mick Featherstone to investigate the circumstances of Aston’s death, along with his associate Darren Bowen and local lawyer Ni Luh Arie Ratna Sukasari.

Aston had a history of mental health issues. He had struggled with depression and ADHD, and his mother had worried in the past that he might self-harm. 

But Ms Lennon doesn’t think her son committed suicide, although she can’t be sure of anything. Without an autopsy, it’s not even clear if he drowned.

In the lead-up to his death, Aston’s mental health had worsened and he spent three days in a psych ward. Ms Lennon rented a beachside villa in Bali, where the pair stayed together for several weeks, and he was prescribed psychiatric drugs including lithium.

Ms Lennon then booked him into an upmarket, therapeutic retreat called The Place, and returned to .

During his three-week stay at The Place, she stopped hearing from her son, except when he was checking out so that she could pay the bill. He then went to stay at his father’s villa, where he died three weeks later.

According to a timeline put together by the trio hired by Ms Lennon, a security guard found Aston floating face-down in the shallow end of the pool about 5pm on August 22.

BMs Lennon doesn’t think her son (pictured) committed suicide after Indonesian authorities failed to do an autopsy on his body, which was cremated two days after he died

Ms Lennon is an interior designer and socialite from Sydney’s eastern suburbs

Mr Looker performed CPR on his son as he was raced to hospital, but by the time they got there he was declared dead.

Mr Looker would later explain to Ms Lennon that he cremated Aston two days later according to the teen’s own wishes. 

Just three months earlier Aston had told his father he wanted to be cremated within two days of his death and that he had a phobia of being put in any kind of box, according to text messages seen by Good Weekend.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Mr Looker. He has been based in Bali since 2005 and runs a number of surfboard businesses there – he and his son shared a love of surfing. 

‘I want to warn others to remind them of how little control we have in a place like Bali when things go wrong,’ Ms Lennon said.

‘We take a lot of things for granted in . The local police didn’t even know Aston had died until we told them. By then, he’d already been cremated.

‘I can never go back to Bali, not after this.’