Priscilla Brooten rarely missed a Zumba class. Her instructor was Mark Sheridan Waden.

The pair first met in late 2016 and became fast friends. They started dating and moved in together soon after at Waden's home in Bracken Ridge, North Brisbane.

Throughout their relationship, Brooten — a US citizen who moved to Australia in 2000 and had been living on an expired visa since 2009 — became increasingly closed off.

But the 46-year-old former beauty queen kept going to her Zumba classes.

That was until mid-2018, when she stopped showing up for them altogether.

Brooten's friend, Laetitia Penfold, noticed and became concerned.

When she couldn't get in touch with Brooten, she confronted Waden to ask where she was.

It wouldn't come out until later that police believed something far more sinister had happened to Brooten.

A case that would ultimately see Waden, now 51, sentenced to life in prison.

Watch: My conversation with Yasmin Catley. Post continues below.

A quiet life, a small circle.

Before meeting Waden, Brooten had built a quiet life in Australia after moving from the United States. She kept a small circle of friends, most of whom were part of her gym community.

She had been in a long-term relationship with a man named Steven Thompson. They separated in 2017 but remained close, and Thompson had provided her with a car to use and helped her financially, per the Herald Sun.

'Very good times, very bad times.'

It was during a Zumba class in 2016 when Brooten met Waden. Their romance grew quickly — they would go out clubbing, to the gym, and out to the shops together.

"Just what couples do," Waden later said of their relationship in a police interview.

He described their relationship as "up and down", with "very good times, very bad times."

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that, according to the police investigation, Brooten's diary entries and notebooks hinted that she was experiencing emotional turmoil and referred to violence.

The entries did not name who they referred to.

According to the Herald, Brooten discovered messages between Waden and his 21-year-old colleague, Desiree Hatzipapas, before her disappearance. Police allege she confronted Waden about the messages and an argument ensued.

Meanwhile, Waden claimed that he wanted the relationship to end. She was secretive, using him to stay in the country and spend his money, he said.

The last phone call.

On July 5, 2018 — the day police believe Brooten went missing — Waden cancelled his Zumba class and made a 29-minute phone call to her, per the Sydney Morning Herald. It was their last recorded call.

The next day, Waden had contractors come to his house to dig a trench on his property.

That same day, Brooten's car was abandoned near Thompson's home and text messages were sent from Brooten's phone to Thompson, reading: "I'm a terrible person. I'm moving on. I am toxic to everybody. Don't try and find me", per the Herald Sun.

Thompson later said in court that the messages were strange. Not only were they out of character, but the pair had only ever communicated via WhatsApp, the Herald Sun reported.

Soon after digging the trench, Waden invited Hatzipapas to his home for the first time. In the house, he had Brooten's clothing, makeup and phone, all of which he offered to Hatzipapas.

'Everyone was asking me where she was'.

Penfold later said in court that she would attend yoga and zumba classes with Brooten three or four times a week until June or July 2018.

"She started not coming to the gym ... everyone was asking me where she was, all the ladies from the gym," she said.

Penfold said she texted and called Brooten but could not get in touch with her.

The jury heard Waden, who was a Zumba instructor, went to the gym classes after Ms Brooten stopped attending.

Penfold said she spoke to Waden after one session and asked him where Ms Brooten had gone.

"He said immigration was looking for her and she ran away," she said.

Waden also said he did not know where Brooten was, the court was told.

"He told me she was taking money ... $70,000 that she stole from him pretty much," Penfold said.

Brooten was formally reported missing in late 2018 when Thompson and Penfold — along with Brooten's daughter Caitlin Williams, who reached out from the United States — became increasingly concerned about her disappearance.

The investigation.

In December 2018, police visited Waden's home. Body-worn camera footage — later played during his trial — captured the moment an officer asked about Brooten's whereabouts.

"She's been reported missing, and the dates sort of go back to when, roughly, when you guys stopped seeing each other," an officer told Waden.

"Any idea of where she might be?"

Waden, softly spoken, told officers the pair had broken up at the end of June.

"It wasn't working, she was keeping secrets," he said.

In May 2019, police visited again. The next day, Waden hired a self-drive excavator. He then purchased tarpaulins and rope.

He loaded more than 800kg of soil onto a trailer covered by a tarp, making multiple trips to the Nudgee Waste Facility to dispose of it.

The trial.

Waden was later charged and tried in the Brisbane Supreme Court.

It was a circumstantial case — Brooten's body has not been found, there are no eyewitnesses and no crime scene was identified.

The prosecution case was built on phone tower data, car movements, Waden's alleged lies to friends, students and authorities, and the backyard excavation.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Waden killed Brooten, buried her in a trench in his driveway and then, almost a year later, dug up her remains and dumped them at a waste facility at night.

"It is not known when or where exactly Mr Waden disposed of Ms Brooten's body," crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate told the jury.

"However, he may have disposed of her remains at the Nudgee dump."

The verdict.

On June 16, 2026, the jury found Waden guilty of murder over Brooten's death. Upon hearing the verdict, Waden yelled out: "It wasn't me."

"A jury has convicted you of the murder of a vibrant woman who was described as fully engaged with life," Justice Peter Callaghan said, handing down a life sentence, with a non-parole period of 20 years, minutes after the jury's verdict.

"The circumstances of her death cannot and apparently will not ever be known."

Brooten's body has never been found, but her daughter Williams has not given up hope.

"Until we know [where] he hid her body we cannot fully rest," she told 9News.

"I hope she haunts his dreams forever until he confesses."

— with AAP.

Feature image: AAP