Audrey Griffin death probe unlocks alleged murderer’s secret
For 25 days, no one was in the cross hairs of detectives investigating what they thought was the misadventure death of popular Central Coast teenager Audrey Griffin. Then a grainy photograph was posted. And then the phone rang.
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It is the alleged murderous secret even highly-trained detectives remained unaware of for almost a month – that the death of popular teen Audrey Griffin was not by misadventure but that she had either allegedly been bashed and left to die or was held under water in a lonely creek to drown.
First came the fresh accounts from witnesses within hours of the release of a grainy photograph late last Thursday before investigators frantically worked over the Easter long weekend to establish alleged forensic and circumstantial links to a suspect.
By Monday, they believed they had enough to take Adrian Torrens into custody, alleging the 53-year-old’s phone had pinged near where Ms Griffin’s body was discovered and at the time of her alleged murder, and his DNA was linked to that taken from one of the 19-year-old’s fingers.
They will allege Torrens happened across Ms Griffin near Erina Creek as she walked to her dad’s place in the early hours of March 23 following a night out on the Central Coast celebrating with friends.
Using the time and location of Snapchat videos she had shared to a friend, a nearby resident who heard a woman scream for up to a minute but had dismissed it as a fox, the pinging of Torrens’ phone at 2.43am that morning, and further statements from witnesses, detectives will allege Torrens was responsible for Ms Griffin’s murder.
The extraordinarily swift turn of events has again sent ripples of grief way beyond the nondescript creek on the Central Coast, after the initial discovery of Ms Griffin’s body prompted many to question what had allegedly happened to the popular sportswoman.
For 25 days, no one was in the sights of detectives after an autopsy suggested Ms Griffin had drowned and died of misadventure.
Police documents state she had a number of scratches to her upper arms and a mark to the left side of her face that could have been a blunt force injury, but no defensive injuries.
Authorities had publicly stated several times that they were not treating the death as suspicious, and even doubled down on that suggestion when it was decided to release the image of a man they believed could help them join the dots late last Thursday.
Within four days, Torrens was in custody charged with the 19-year-old’s murder.
Brisbane Water police commander Supt Darryl Jobson said on Tuesday that officers had a gut feeling before receiving “significant information” the morning after the photograph “which changed the nature of the investigation from a coronial matter to a homicide”.
“These are the kinds of instances where police want answers, because families want answers and when there are gaps in information, and a 19-year-old woman is found in a creek, it’s very unsettling for us,” he said.
“We received information from a number of sources which allowed us to treat this as a homicide investigation.”
The police document states Ms Griffin was visiting friends and with her last known movements near Punt Bridge in Erina in the early hours of March 23.
She had sent two Snapchat videos to a friend, which showed her walking home and linked her location on SnapMaps – a live map where a user’s location can be seen in real time by contacts.
When Ms Griffin didn’t return home, she was reported missing at 3.45pm that afternoon before a friend went to her last known location and found her handbag.
Police were called and her body was discovered.
An unnamed witness, who lived near the border of Erina Creek, told police that she heard a high pitched scream about 3am on the morning Ms Griffin was allegedly murdered which lasted about a minute, but dismissed it as a fox.
Police will now allege the sound was Ms Griffin crying out as she attempted to fight off Torrens, resulting in his DNA ending up on her fingernail.
Torrens was arrested as he left a Surry Hills home, and charged with Ms Griffin’s murder and 11 unrelated domestic violence offences.
Torrens, represented by high profile criminal lawyer Bashaar Elkheir from Cordoba Legal, did not appear in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday and was remanded in custody to reappear on June 20.
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