Two years after meeting a man at Zumba, Priscilla Brooten was dead. Now he’s on trial for murder

The same day a former US beauty queen disappeared and was allegedly murdered, her boyfriend messaged his new girlfriend, talking to her about sharing a “long kiss”.

Weeks later, he gave the missing woman’s clothes, make-up and phone to his new partner, the Supreme Court in Brisbane has heard.

Mark Sheridan Waden is on trial over the disappearance of Priscilla Brooten, who moved to Australia in 2005 and began dating Waden after meeting him through a Zumba class a decade later.

He pleaded not guilty to Brooten’s murder at the beginning of his trial on Monday.

In opening the case against Waden, Crown Prosecutor Andrew Walklate told the jury Brooten was allegedly murdered on the evening of July 5, 2018. Her body was never recovered.

Waden sent a message to his new girlfriend, Desiree Hatzipapas, at 6.59am that morning, Walklate told the court.

It read: “We could sneak a long kiss as no one is here to see it.”

“This is the morning of the day Ms Brooten disappeared, and it’s my case she was murdered,” Walklate said.

That morning, Brooten accessed Waden’s Facebook account, reading his past conversations with women, and saved copies of the messages in a folder on the computer.

She also accessed Facebook’s blocking settings later that day, the court heard.

About 6pm, Waden cancelled his Zumba class, and made a 29-minute call to Brooten. Walklate said this was the last recorded call between the pair.

That evening, Waden’s girlfriend Hatzipapas asked him if everything was OK. Waden replied that he had a class and could not respond.

The day after Brooten’s alleged murder, Waden is accused of asking for a trench to be dug on his property at Bracken Ridge, on Brisbane’s north side, and for work to be done on a retaining wall.

Waden told contractors council were “on his back”, Walklate said.

The prosecution case relied on the locations where Waden and Brooten’s phones had pinged off cell towers, and places where the missing woman’s Volkswagen Golf was tagged.

That car was given to Brooten by Steve Thompson – a man she had a complicated relationship with, Walklate said, and who provided for her financially.

The Crown alleges Waden sent a series of messages from Brooten’s phone to Thompson about where the car had been left.

At the time of her disappearance, Brooten’s clothing, her make-up and her phone were at Waden’s house.

Within a few weeks, Waden had invited Hatzipapas to his home for the first time, and given her Brooten’s clothing and make-up, Walklate said.

Waden is also accused of doing a factory reset of Brooten’s phone and offering that phone