Accused killer told police of ‘hidden secrets’ before girlfriend went missing

The jury in the murder trial of Mark Sheridan Waden, accused of murdering his girlfriend eight years ago, has been discharged after one juror made searches online and told his fellow jurors what he found.

The judge will restart the trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Wednesday, with a new jury.

Before the court was adjourned, the jury had watched footage from a police body-worn camera showing Waden standing in the doorway of his Brisbane home, shortly after 9.30pm on a December evening in 2018.

An officer is heard asking about the disappearance of US citizen Priscilla Brooten, who Waden met while he was teaching Zumba classes.

Waden is facing trial for allegedly murdering the former beauty queen months earlier, on the evening of July 5, 2018. He has pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution case is that Waden killed Brooten following an argument, possibly disposed of her body in a tip, then gave her belongings to his new girlfriend.

The vision, about 13 minutes long, is the first time the jury in Waden’s trial has seen inside the Bracken Ridge property where Brooten was living before she was allegedly murdered.

Waden is softly spoken as he talks of splitting up with Brooten earlier that year.

“It wasn’t working out,” he explains to then constable Millan Richards. “I was finding out a lot of her hidden secrets she’d been keeping.”

The relationship had started to fall apart after he began a new job in real estate in April, he says.

There were a “whole lot of lies and secrets”. He tells the officer about several things that had affected the relationship, including finding out that Brooten had used different identities.

The officer asks Waden if he can briefly look inside the home. Waden allows him, and the pair walk through the house together.

In the footage played to the court, Waden tells the officer that Brooten had left the property in June, two days after he had threatened to report her to immigration officials.

At one point, Waden points to a chest of drawers, saying Brooten left it behind, along with two plants and kitchen utensils.

Waden’s police statement

The jury were read Waden’s police statement from December 2018, in which he detailed his relationship with Brooten, and his new girlfriend, Desiree Hatzipapas.

Within a few weeks of Brooten’s disappearance, Waden had invited Hatzipapas to his home for the first time, and gave her Brooten’s clothing, make-up, and her phone, which he had factory reset, the prosecution said.

Waden said his relationship with Hatzipapas began in July 2018 but ended three weeks before he gave the statement, by which stage, he was dating again.

He described Brooten as computer savvy and very intelligent, but also secretive about her laptop and her use of a file-sharing platform.

He told police Brooten had a difficult relationship with her family in the US, and had mentioned suicidal thoughts. He said Brooten could be erratic, and found it difficult to control her emotions.

“She would become uncontrollable, and then she would calm down and become normal again,” his statement read.

He said he believed Steve Thompson, who had been in a relationship with Brooten, was providing financially for her. At one point, she was doing some business work for Thompson.

“I asked her if the arrangement included sex, and she said no. I don’t know what else she did for Thompson,” Waden’s statement said.

He said he took issue with the fact Brooten had used his surname for a subscription, because they were not married.

He told police he had threatened to call immigration officials.

“She freaked out about it; she became emotional and crying. She threw things and smashed them. She became abusive and threatening towards me. She was inconsolable.”

When he got home about 8.30 one night, Waden said her car was gone and her belongings were no longer in the property.

“It made me feel relieved, and I was happy not to have her in my life,” he told police.

Waden said he believed Brooten had gone back to Thompson, and that she had not tried to contact him.

Witnesses recall interactions with Brooten and Waden

Acting Sergeant Jamie Buley told the court he was working at Redcliffe police station in September 2018 when two people came in with concerns about Brooten’s welfare. One of them was Thompson.

Buley said he then located a phone number for Waden and called him.

“He said Priscilla left him three weeks ago for another person,” Buley said.

He said Waden told him he had not heard from Brooten. When asked if he had concerns for her welfare, Waden said he did not, Buley said.

A psychologist who assessed Brooten gave evidence that she had wanted strategies to help with communication issues in her relationship.

“She was very emotional at that time,” Dr Simone Baker said, explaining Brooten had indicated she felt “worthless”.

Baker said Brooten talked about having a series of unhealthy relationships. She referred to being abused when she was younger, but did not want to elaborate further, and she seemed ambivalent about her relationship with her daughter, Caitlin, from whom she was estranged at the time.

Trial to restart with new jury

The trial before Justice Peter Callaghan will continue on Wednesday with a new jury, after one juror looked up the side effects of medication taken by Brooten at the time she went missing.

He then told other jurors about the search, with another informing him he was not allowed to conduct independent research.

Defence barrister James Godbolt applied on Tuesday to discharge the jury.

Callaghan allowed the application but said he made the decision “with great regret”.

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