WINGHAM, ONT. -- It’s going to be a rough Easter for Tracy Sprung as she prepares to mark her first birthday without her son.

“My birthday is April 4, and his is April 5. So his first angel birthday is coming up on Easter Monday,” says a tearful Sprung.

Twenty-five-year-old Emerson Sprung was last seen alive on May 3 of last year, leaving his Meaford home on his bike. His body was found in a Meaford cemetery on May 6.

“It’s been a year almost, and it’s been a very difficult time,” says Emerson’s mother from her Owen Sound home.

Sprung says Emerson loved fishing, music and his family. He grew up wanting to be a police officer, but was studying to become a diesel mechanic at Georgian College when he was taken from her.

Emerson Sprung

“He was such a good soul. He would help you out, he didn’t care if he didn’t know you,” she says.

Sprung does get a glimpse of her eldest son everyday when she looks in the mirror. A tattoo of Emerson now graces her left arm.

“I can see my boy. I can even kiss my boy again. And that’s something I never thought I’d get to do again."

Sprung says she’s following the court case, but tries to focus on Emerson and getting the best outcome for him.

“I want full justice. Whatever that turns out to be, I just want justice,” she says.

A 34-year-old Meaford man was charged with first-degree murder in Emerson's death the day after his body was found.

In July 2020, two Meaford women were charged with accessory after the fact to murder.

The two women were back in an Owen Sound courtroom Wednesday, charged with failing to comply with their release orders.