In the space of a few years, Gable Tostee changed from a shy introvert to a self-styled playboy. Then it all went horribly wrong. Look back on one of Queensland’s most intriguing cases, which ended with Tostee being acquitted of murder and manslaughter.

By Kristian Silva

January 4, 2010 was a turning point for Gable Tostee. A self-described loner with no real friends, Tostee turned to the only group he trusted, and declared that he wanted to change.

“Recently I have decided that enough is enough and I need to start socialising properly again, and build up a network of friends,” he wrote.

“There are few things that feel better than connecting with other people, and I have had virtually none of that for half a decade.”

Tostee may have felt out of place in the real world, but under the pseudonym of “Balcony Brah” and “G T”, the Gold Coaster was right at home on the bodybuilding.com Misc. forum — a male-dominated group of knockabout bodybuilding enthusiasts whose conversations ranged from the mundane to the salacious.

Tostee was a prominent personality of the forum. Initially, he sought tips on bodybuilding supplements before conversations branched out to things like the economy and philosophy. He kept a video diary while trying to adopt a rhino beetle as a pet, and it soon became part of Misc folklore.

Five years earlier, Tostee and several school friends were caught up in a Schoolies fake ID racket that landed them in court. It was an experience that caused Tostee to withdraw socially. Gifted although awkward in person, he worked at his dad’s carpet business and was out of sight, alongside older colleagues he struggled to relate to.

Tostee explained to his fellow “Miscers” that he “had to cut off contact with literally all my friends and basically disappear”.

“It pretty much goes without saying that I haven’t really had much contact with women over that period either, which is one of the worst things about it,” he wrote.

With the encouragement and advice of the Miscers, Tostee would make a series of choices that would eventually bring him together with New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright on August 7, 2014.

On their only date, she would plunge to her death from his high-rise apartment balcony.

‘I’m not sure where to begin’

The Misc was Tostee’s first port of call for tips on how to reconnect with old friends — but more importantly for him, how to meet women.

“I would like to start a Facebook but I’m not sure where to begin, and I don’t know many people closely nowadays, and I’m not sure how it all works. Should I simply try and contact pretty much anyone I ever knew and see how it goes?” he asked.

“Any help or experience from anyone who has been in similar situations would be really appreciated.”

Tostee, then 23, began seeking dating advice and feedback on pick-up lines as he started going out and chatting to women.

“Well I got a root the other day,” he soon proclaimed.

Tostee’s obsession with ‘recording everything’

Fast-forward to 2012 and the shy, introverted Gable Tostee was no more. He bragged to his fellow Miscers that he had now “slept with 100 women”. He was now a regular on the Gold Coast nightclub scene where he admitted to drinking heavily and sometimes went out by himself.

“I feel amazing after rooting a hot girl. It’s a huge confidence boost,” he wrote on the Misc.

“One of the main reasons I try to sleep with different girls as often as possible is to improve my own confidence.”

Tostee also revealed his penchant for documenting his conquests. His habit of secretly recording encounters with strangers would later become the pivotal part of evidence at the Warriena Wright trial.

“I have actually kept a written log with dates and names,” he wrote in 2012.

“I’m somewhat obsessed with recording everything. I have motion detection cameras in my house, call recording on my phone, and sometimes even leave my phone on record in my pocket for nights out in case I forget what happens.”

Security footage uploaded by Gable Tostee in 2012 which he alleges shows a woman stealing his wallet. (Youtube)

By 2013, Tostee’s presence on the Coast’s club scene was starting to upset people. He told the Misc he had been banned from several venues, citing unfair treatment from security guards and bar staff.

But he wasn’t deterred. Tostee’s discovery of the dating app Tinder seemed to take his desire to sleep with more women to a whole new level.

Discussion on the Misc degenerated as Tostee, egged on by fellow forum users, posted pictures of women he claimed to have slept with. He posted screenshots of their Tinder conversations and provided Miscers with play-by-play details of his encounters with women, colloquially known on the forum as “sloots”.

“Young sloots are such headcases,” Tostee wrote in one thread.

One of the less explicit Tinder conversations Tostee posted on the Misc. forum.

On occasion, the Misc turned on him. Some labelled Tostee "desperate" when he posted a screenshot of a conversation where a woman had accused him of groping her inappropriately during a date in February 2014. Tostee denied any wrongdoing.

"What kind of stupid sloot meets up with a guy, goes into his bedroom then has no intention of doing anything?" he said.

Arrest after high-speed chase

In his own words, Tostee's behaviour under the influence of alcohol was starting to become dangerous.

A month before the alleged groping incident, a drunken Tostee was involved in a stoush with police after a dispute with a Surfers Paradise tuk-tuk driver over an unpaid fare.

Then on July 27, 2014 — less than two weeks before Warriena Wright's death — Tostee led police on a high-speed chase across the Queensland/NSW border after a music festival. He was four times over the drink-driving limit.

Months later, Tostee was jailed over the incident. In a letter to police in November 2014, he described the driving incident as "the wake-up call I needed".

"I am thankful that it happened before something potentially much worse happened."

However, by that stage, something much worse had already happened.

The fatal date

Gable Tostee's movements mapped with CCTV. (Image: video still/ABC)

Four days after the dangerous driving incident, Brisbane's Supreme Court heard Tostee was on Tinder when he matched with a woman named "Cletus" — the alter ego of New Zealander Warriena Wright.

"You look delicious. I want to do dirty things to you," Tostee told her.

Wright, a 26-year-old visiting Australia from New Zealand, played along. She agreed to swap numbers before the pair met up on the evening of August 7, days before she was set to return home.

Perhaps it was an odd pairing that would never have eventuated in the offline world — Wright, a petite animal lover and daughter of a church deacon, and Tostee, a laddish man mountain who towered above her. The pair seemed to have barely anything in common.

The court heard the pair met near Tostee's place at the Avalon apartments about 8:45pm. Only a short stroll from Cavill Mall, his home was conveniently located, and the view from the 14th-floor balcony was impressive.

During his trial the court heard how the pair took selfies, drank alcohol and eventually had sex. Tostee's diligence to record his dates meant a large part of the night's audio was captured, with conversation between the pair becoming increasingly nonsensical.

At one point, Tostee casually mentioned that falling off his balcony would certainly result in death.

As Wright seemingly became more inebriated, the recording suggested she became unpredictable and aggressive. Police experts would later determine she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.156 at the time of death.

"I don't like getting beaten up," Tostee told Wright at 1:29am on August 8.

"I should have never given you so much to drink. I thought we were going to have fun?" he said nine minutes later.

Rocks littered the floor and a black purse remained on the ground when police arrived at Tostee's apartment. (Image: Queensland Police Service)

By 2:11am, the situation had become much worse.

The recording captured ornamental rocks being thrown in the apartment by Wright, before Tostee told her she had to leave.

"This is f***ing bullshit...You are lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony you god damn psycho little bitch," Tostee said.

Six minutes later, Tostee told Wright he would let her leave. However another struggle ensued.

In court, Tostee's defence claimed she tried to use part of a telescope to strike him, and he had responded by restraining her. A choking-like sound was captured on the recording.

Wright began screaming "no" frantically. She screamed it dozens of times, with a terrifying, ear-piercing shriek growing ever louder and more desperate.

In between the screams Tostee could be heard saying: "Why did you try and hit me with that? It's all on recording, you know. It's all being recorded."

Next, the recording captured the sound of the balcony door being opened as Wright repeatedly pleaded: "Just let me go home".

"I would, but you've been a bad girl," Tostee responded angrily.

The door slid shut, and Wright's cries of "just let me go home" were muffled behind the glass. Tostee, who was inside, took several deep breaths, faint screaming was heard in the background.

Wright had tried to lower herself to the apartment below and had fallen to her death.

'I might have a bit of a situation'

The balcony from Gable Tostee's apartment. (Image: Queensland Police Service)

When Tostee realised what had occurred, he grabbed his phone. But records show instead of ringing triple-0, he rang his lawyer instead. The call went unanswered.

With the recording still going, CCTV played in court showed Tostee slipping out a back entrance as emergency services arrived to find Wright's body.

The footage showed Tostee walking around Surfers Paradise before he stopped, ordered a slice of pizza and rang his father.

"I might have a bit of a situation," he began.

Tostee told his father Gray he had been drinking with Wright before she became violent.

"I forced her out on the balcony and I think she might have jumped off," he said.

"Dad, this isn't my fault. I didn't do this. I was giving her my alcohol but she was really violent and um, I like tackled her on my floor inside the building, but I never forced her over the balcony."

'Devastated' Tostee turns to the Misc

Hours later, local media had already become aware of the balcony death.

However unlike many that occur on the Gold Coast, this wasn't looking like an open and shut case of self-harm, police said.

Tostee was nowhere to be seen, until he arrived at a local police station with his lawyer for questioning that afternoon. He chose to maintain his right to silence but agreed to complete forensic testing.

Dressed in the same aqua-coloured shirt he'd worn the previous night, Tostee hunched his 188cm frame meekly in the back of the detectives' car and covered his face as reporters, photographers and cameramen chased the vehicle out of the Surfers Paradise police station and down the road.

Within days, Wright had been formally identified and police had seized Tostee's audio recording from his mobile phone.

Meanwhile, attention on Tostee started to intensify. Discussion on the Misc was in overdrive. Was the guy on the news G T?

In a somewhat incredible twist, Tostee chose to break his silence on the Misc forum three days after Wright's death.

"I've been advised not to go into details but all I will say is that I absolutely did NOT cause this girl to fall and I am devastated about what happened to her," he wrote.

It was to be the first of several online denials Tostee would make, yet during interviews with detectives the man at the centre of the case maintained his right to silence.

Less than a week after the balcony fall, Wright's family arrived on the Gold Coast.

Wright, known as "Rrie" to friends and family, was especially close with her younger sister Marreza. Tears welled in Marreza's eyes as she addressed the media and called for anyone with information to come forward.

Marreza was barely able to speak, her voice only just loud enough to be captured by the array of microphones in front of her.

"Rrie was the most important person in my world. Most of the time we only had each other to rely on," Marreza said.

"She was a very beautiful, cheerful, intelligent person who not only was my sister, but she was my best friend."

Within days, Tostee was taken back into custody and charged with murder.

Detectives who had analysed audio from the night were convinced Tostee had become so angered that Wright feared for her life.

She had no choice, detectives claimed, than to attempt the risky and ultimately unsuccessful manoeuvre to escape him via the balcony.

Audio of Wright's death leaked online

Although charged with murder, Gable Tostee was released on bail on November 18. He was ordered to attend counselling and was banned from using dating apps like Tinder to meet women.

The party lifestyle was well and truly over while hunkered down at his parents' home. But if Tostee's intention was to kill off media interest in the case, his actions suggested the opposite.

With the court ban not applying to general social media and internet use, nearly every public Facebook post became a tabloid news story, regardless of its relevance.

On December 10, Tostee made a return to the Misc with a 2,000-word proclamation of innocence.

"I know my lawyers might crucify me for writing this but I feel that I needed to speak out as I have had no voice so far and have sustained so much abuse having my hands tied," he wrote.

"I am not afraid of the truth."

But the kicker came the following day. The audio file police had relied on — which had not yet been tendered as evidence to the courts — somehow found its way onto a Canadian file-sharing website.

Police said they had no idea who was responsible, or why the clip was leaked. Tostee's lawyer declined to comment.

His time behind bars while waiting for bail was a struggle, with Tostee claiming he was attacked by a fellow inmate.

"I suffered almost daily headaches, anxiety, and insomnia," he wrote on the Misc.

But two months later, Tostee's drink-driving past finally caught up with him.

Having racked up prior driving offences he was to spend more time behind bars, sentenced to 10 months over the July 27 incident.

The trial

The committal hearing, in which a judge decides whether there is enough evidence for a murder trial, was handled quickly.

Both the prosecution and defence were happy to go straight to trial without evidence being called, meaning no witnesses were required.

It meant the case would finally be settled in the Supreme Court in October 2016. On the opening day, Tostee pleaded not guilty.

The trial was shaping as one of the biggest of the year, with a gaggle of media from interstate and New Zealand flying to cover the case.

Each day, Tostee and his lawyers ran the gamut of the crowded media pack before they could enter and leave the Supreme Court.

The jury of six men and six women were played the audio tape, and also heard from prosecution witnesses who saw Ms Wright fall from the balcony.

A police re-enactment of Wright's attempted balcony climb. (Image: Queensland Police Service)

The prosecution argument remained consistent with the police view. Tostee, they said, had become too aggressive when he restrained, dragged and locked Wright out on the balcony.

"Why was she climbing down at all?" prosecutor Glen Cash asked the jury.

"Fear of the defendant. Fear of Gable Tostee. Fear of what he would do to her if he let her back inside."

The defence said Tostee tried to defuse the situation by locking Wright onto the balcony, and he was not to blame for her decision to climb down.

Barrister Saul Holt argued "there would have to be someone chasing you with a knife" for Ms Wright's response to be considered reasonable or proportionate.

"She just climbed off into the darkness and lowered herself down," Holt told the court.

The defence chose not to call any witnesses, including Tostee, who observed proceedings silently from the dock.

The prosecution and defence argued whether it was reasonable for Wright to climb from the balcony.

Justice John Byrne told the jury to consider several factors when deciding whether Tostee was guilty of murder or manslaughter.

He said they needed to consider whether Tostee's actions — namely restraining an agitated Wright, placing her onto the balcony and locking her outside — would leave her in a position where she could reasonably have a fear of death.

Byrne said Tostee could be considered responsible for murder if he had not used reasonable "physical force" and could "reasonably forsee" her death by his actions.

Byrne told jurors that Tostee's actions after the fall, such as leaving the scene and ordering pizza, were not relevant to whether he was guilty.

After five-and-a-half days of evidence, the jury retired to consider its verdict. For murder, only a unanimous verdict would suffice.

They deliberated for six hours, repeatedly seeking clarification on elements of the case and legislation.

Eventually the jury returned to Byrne and saidthey could not all agree. Tostee put his head in his hands.

But instead of discharging the jury, Byrne instructed them to go back and try to reach a verdict.

Instagram posts bring final day drama

After three days of deliberations the jury told the judge they had reached a unanimous verdict.

However moments before they were set to deliver it, it emerged one of the jurors had been using Instagram over the course of the trial.

She had been posting pictures of coffee cups and confirming to her 2500-plus followers that she was one of the jurors empanelled on the Tostee case.

In a final twist, Tostee's lawyers applied for a mistrial.

Tostee entered the courtroom, hugging his father before walking to the dock. "Good luck Gable," one of his supporters whispered.

Meanwhile three of Wright's family were also present, sitting on the opposite side of the room in the second row.

Not a spare seat remained, with media, police and supporters of Wright and Tostee filling the room. Some were forced to stand and others forced into an overflow courtroom.

With the jury remaining in a holding room, Tostee's barrister Saul Holt said the juror's actions left him with "no confidence in the fairness of the process".

By posting on social media, Holt said, she had violated one of Byrne's orders for jury members not to discuss the case with outsiders.

The prosecution disagreed, saying the juror's posts were not prejudicial. After Byrne was given a crash-course in Instagram, he sided with them.

"Unfortunate though it is that she has put this material on a public website, it does not lead to the impression that a fair trial for the defendant has been jeopardised," Byrne said.

Not guilty

Then the jury, unaware of the drama that had just unfolded, was called in. They would get to deliver their verdict.

A murmur went around the room. Wright's family linked arms. Tostee buried his head in his hands, but then sat up straight to hear his fate.

"Do you find the defendant, Gable Tostee, guilty or not guilty of murder?" the judge's associate asked the jury.

"Not guilty," the jury foreman answered.

Tostee's mother Helene cried out in joy, while Wright's mother Merzabeth clutched a tissue and dabbed her face. Tostee was unmoved.

"Do you find the defendant, Gable Tostee, guilty or not guilty of manslaughter?" the judge's associate asked.

"Not guilty," the foreman responded.

Tostee rocked back on his chair and then leaned forward, nodding his head. The ordeal was over.

As he'd done for the last 10 days, Tostee had to face the media one more time. About a hundred were waiting, hoping to capture his reaction. Several strangers had also gathered.

Tostee looked blankly ahead and said nothing, leaving his lawyer to do the talking as the reporters fired in questions.

"Mr Tostee is very happy with the result. He is relieved that this matter is now behind him and he's looking forward to moving on with his life," lawyer Nick Dore said.

"He thanks all the people who have supported him through this. He realises, just how tragic this has been for many people. At this stage he's just looking forward to putting it behind him and considering his future. Thank you very much."

Bystanders and hecklers had their say as Tostee left the court precinct.

"We knew you were innocent mate!" one woman yelled. Others made more unsavoury comments.

Tostee finally showed some emotion as he waited to cross the road and the media pack bunched in closer. Silently, he shut his eyes and raised his face to the sky.

After what seemed an age, the green crossing light flashed and he was able to leave.

Wright's devastated family and supporters soon emerged from the court. A family spokeswoman asked the media for privacy, saying they wanted to grieve in peace when they returned to New Zealand.

"This has been an incredibly traumatic situation for everyone involved in this case, let alone the families that have been impacted by this," she said.

"Warriena Wright's family are still coming to terms with the loss of their daughter and their sister, as well as enduring the anguish of being present here at this trial for the last two weeks."

Police said they wouldn't be commenting.

Some 26 months after Wright's fatal fall, a tragic case that had been equal parts dramatic, salacious and bizarre had finally come to an end.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.