After working with The Star, Hammerl began to freelance for Associated Press, covering South Africa democratisation and the end of apartheid.

According to his family, Hammerl last talked to them 4 April and told them he would drive with a group of journalists to a rural location some distance from their Benghazi base.

The reporters were headed toward the front lines of battle when they walked into a fight between rebels and Gaddafi forces; the latter shot Hammerl and captured the others.

[20] The same day, a senior consul official in South Africa said staff from the Turkish embassy would facilitate negotiations for a release as they were acting on behalf of the US government.

[23] On 21 April, South African journalists and photographers demonstrated in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, to draw attention to the plight of Hammerl.

According to a story on 22 April by the Global Post, which is the Boston-based news website for which Foley worked, a Libyan official claimed Hammerl was alive and well.

By 30 April, an online petition calling for the release of South African photographer Hammerl and the three other detained journalists had received over 32,000 signatures.

[31] On World Press Freedom Day, which is on 3 May, vigils were held for Hammerl at St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, London, and at the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg.

To mark this day, they called on people around the world to wear a yellow ribbon, which has long been used to signify the absence of a loved one.

[13] On 18 May, Foley, Gillis and Brabo, as well as Nigel Chandler (an English journalist also being held),[16] were released and brought to the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli.

At 22:00 BST, Thursday, 19 May, Penny Sukhraj received a telephone call from the South African authorities and they told her that her husband was now believed to be dead, shot in the desert by pro-Gaddafi forces.

Later that evening, Sukhraj spoke to Gillis and Foley, who shared their eyewitness accounts of events on the last day they had seen Hammerl alive, and his death.

During their time in detention, they said they had to keep Hammerl's death a secret and were fearful that talking about his situation could endanger their lives and jeopardise their chances of freedom.

[9] On 8 September, Hammerl's friends, family and colleagues returned to St Bride's Church, Fleet Street, for his London memorial service.

"[38][full citation needed] The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation reopened its mission in Libya, focusing on locating Hammerl.

The South African government began to work with Austria, trying to recover the body for a proper burial, which required a diplomatic effort involving both sides of the Libyan conflict.

[39] On 6 December 2011, a shadow minister of International Relations and Cooperation, charged that the South African government had not revealed the measures it had taken during Hammerl's disappearance or how it had verified his status.

[11] The president of the International Federation of Journalists said, "The devastating news of his killing has been made unbearable by the Libyan cover up of his death.