Beauty queen murder: partner charged
The Australian partner of former US beauty queen Priscilla Brooten has been charged with her murder.
The Australian partner of former US beauty queen Priscilla Brooten has been charged with her murder after police reopened the case last week.
Mark Sheridan Waden, 43, was formally charged yesterday, having previously been taken into custody to assist police with their investigation and then released.
Brooten, 46, was reported missing last December by friends and family who had not heard from her since last July.
Police reopened their investigation last Saturday and began excavations at the couple’s Bracken Ridge property, in Brisbane’s north, with the assistance of cadaver dogs.
The investigation by state homicide squad investigators and Moreton Bay detectives is continuing under a seven-day search warrant. Brooten’s 22-year-old daughter, Caity, does not believe her mother would choose to disappear and “kind of suspected that it was going to be a murder case”. “I hope they do find her body, at least for some closure,” Caity Brooten said.
Her mother had lived in Bracken Ridge and nearby Redcliffe for six years and was involved in the dance and online gaming communities.
Mr Waden is due to appear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court today.
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