A Zumba instructor accused of murdering his beauty queen lover claimed she wove a web of 'lies', leaving him 'happy' to see her vanish.
The alleged secret life of an American beauty queen has been uncovered as a murder trial, momentarily derailed by a rogue juror, begins anew.
Brisbane Zumba instructor Mark Sheridan Waden has pleaded not guilty to murder before Brisbane Supreme Court regarding the alleged murder of his former partner Priscilla Brooten. The former American beauty queen disappeared from the Bracken Ridge home she shared with Mr Waden, her then-partner of about one year, in July 2018. Her body has never been found.
Mr Waden's initial murder trial, which began on Monday, was aborted on Tuesday after a juror went against specific court instructions, conducting his own independent research and sharing the details with other jurors.
Justice Peter Callaghan found it necessary to declare a mistrial, noting it was impossible to know whether the remaining jurors were compromised from the outside information.
A new jury was sworn in on Wednesday morning and warned not to repeat the mistakes of their predecessor.
On Wednesday morning, in his opening address, Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate told the court Ms Brooten was living in Australia illegally at the time of her disappearance, with her visa status expiring in 2009.
The jury was told Ms Brooten's ex-partner and friend Steve Thompson went to the police in September 2018, concerned about her welfare after not seeing or hearing from her in several weeks. While police determined at the time there was not sufficient evidence to lodge a missing persons report, then-constable Jamie Burley followed up with Mr Waden. The now Acting Sergeant Burley said Waden told him Priscilla had left him three weeks prior for another man, claiming he hadn't seen or heard from her since.
The Zumba instructor also allegedly expressed he was not concerned for Ms Brooten's welfare at the time. The officer testified he was relatively certain of his account of the conversation but did not make contemporaneous notes.
The court was told Mr Thompson again went to police in December. Around this time, a general duties officer attended Mr Waden's property for an informal search of the home he once shared with Ms Brooten. In body-worn camera footage shown to the court, Mr Waden told the officer that Ms Brooten lived an 'interesting life', adding he was kept in the dark about her immigration status, previous relationships and even her name.
'Didn't find out her real name until the last three, four months we were together,' he told the officer. 'Just a whole lot of lies and secrets.'
In a statement to police given on December 12, 2018, and read to the jury, Mr Waden described how Ms Brooten would hide her laptop and omit details about her past life. He accused Ms Brooten of using both his and Mr Thompson's surname despite never being married to either man. He also claimed Ms Brooten relied on her relationships to fund her life.
'I accepted she could not get a job and I would financially support her,' Mr Waden said. 'I would cover her living expenses, she would spend about 500 a month of my money. My understanding was (Mr Thompson) was paying for quite a bit of her extra-curricular stuff, but I can't be sure.'
'I felt he was being used and kept in the dark. I felt I was being used by Priscilla and her motive was to stay in the country.'
In his statement, Mr Waden, who referred to himself as 'Marky-Mark', said the relationship was good until pressures from his new real-estate role and Ms Brooten's alleged miscommunication grew. 'She would be erratic and found it difficult to control emotion,' he wrote at the time. 'She would become uncontrollable, then she would calm down and become normal again. It wasn't frequent at the beginning of the relationship, but by the end it would be four or five times a week. She was never physically violent with me, it was more verbal. This was one of the reasons I wanted to end the relationship.'
Mr Waden described a fight the pair had days before her disappearance. 'I threatened to call immigration, I didn't want her with me in her emotional state,' he wrote in his statement. 'She freaked out about it, she became emotional and crying, she threw things and smashed them, she became abusive and threatening towards me.'
Mr Waden claimed Ms Brooten left the home two days later, taking almost all her belongings with her including her clothes, suitcases, Xbox device, makeup and laptop. During his opening statement, Mr Walklate said the jury would hear evidence Mr Waden allegedly gifted Ms Brooten's belongings, which actually remained at the home, to his new girlfriend.
In his statement, Mr Waden claimed he began dating this new woman about the same time Ms Brooten was last seen alive. 'It made me feel relieved and I was happy not to have her in my life,' he wrote of Ms Brooten's exit from the home. 'I didn't try to contact her … I assumed she had gone back to Thompson. She didn't try to contact me.'
The court also heard from Ms Brooten's psychologist, who knew Ms Brooten as Priscilla Thompson – her ex-partner's surname. The psychologist reported a GP assessment of Ms Brooten described symptoms of major depressive disorder and anxiety which impacted on her relationship with Mr Waden. She said Ms Brooten told her of past traumas, toxic family and romantic relationships and a history of serious mental health issues. The psychologist told the court Ms Brooten indicated she primarily wanted to work on her relationship with Mr Waden.
The trial continues on Thursday.
