Overview
- Mark Sheridan Waden has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Priscilla Brooten, whom prosecutors say was killed on July 5, 2018, and whose body has never been found.
- The Crown says evidence will show Waden arranged an urgent trench at his Bracken Ridge home, later removed about 800 kilograms of soil to the Nudgee waste facility, and used Brooten’s phone to send messages after she vanished.
- Prosecutors will rely on phone‑tower data, text messages, CCTV and dump receipts rather than recovered remains to link Waden to concealment of Brooten’s disappearance.
- The original jury was discharged on Tuesday after a juror admitted researching the case online and the trial resumed on Wednesday with a newly sworn panel and fresh directions from Justice Peter Callaghan.
- The case highlights the difficulty of 'no‑body' homicide prosecutions, the importance of jury integrity, and that upcoming witness evidence and digital records will be key to how the jury decides between the Crown’s circumstantial case and the defence’s claim there is no forensic proof.