A man in Australia accused of killing his former American beauty queen girlfriend has returned to court more than seven years after she vanished.
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, Mark Sheridan Waden, 50 — who is charged with murder and interfering with a corpse in connection with the disappearance of 46-year-old Priscilla Brooten — appeared at the Supreme Court in Brisbane for a pre-trial hearing, according to NewsWire copy, per news.com.au, the Daily Telegraph and The Courier-Mail.
Brooten, who lived in the Brisbane suburb of Bracken Ridge, has not been seen or heard from since July 2018. Although she disappeared that month, she was not reported missing until December 2018, the outlets reported. Her body has never been found.
Queensland Police Service previously confirmed in a June 2019 news release that a man had been charged with murder and misconduct with a corpse by interfering.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/priscilla-brooten-120925-1-c4a635f129274a97bc6196da0e995ea5.jpg)
Waden was Brooten’s partner at the time she went missing, and she was last seen at the couple’s Bracken Ridge home, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) previously reported.
In June 2019, authorities excavated the former couple’s property after cadaver dogs directed officers to a small section of the front yard, where police conducted a dig, according to the ABC.
Local Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Hogan previously said at a press conference that Brooten had both a daughter and a mother living in California, and that she was remembered as a friendly, outgoing person, per the outlet.
She was also known to enjoy yoga and Zumba and was heavily involved in online gaming.
The missing woman’s blue Volkswagen Golf hatchback was later found abandoned in the suburb of Scarborough on July 6, 2018, the year she disappeared, according to the ABC.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2):format(webp)/mark-sheridan-waden-120925-1-4d28cf79c71142f2b801aee13ef2d4da.jpg)
Despite the absence of a body, a magistrate has ruled that there is sufficient circumstantial evidence for Waden to stand trial, NewsWire reported. He has not yet entered a plea and remains on bail. The case is scheduled for a review on Feb. 5, 2026.
A Queensland Supreme Court spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for additional information. Queensland Police Service said it could not comment further because the case remains before the court.
