June 5, 2026 — 4:00pmBefore she was allegedly killed by her Zumba instructor boyfriend, Priscilla Brooten had written pages of her thoughts in a notebook, later seized by detectives, which detailed allegations of a beating and arguments, a jury has heard.Brooten, a US citizen, disappeared in 2018 from her Brisbane home she shared with her boyfriend, Mark Sheridan Waden. Her body was never found.Waden, who she had met through Zumba classes in 2016, is now facing a Supreme Court trial over her alleged murder. He has pleaded not guilty.Priscilla Brooten disappeared from her Brisbane home in 2018.The prosecution case is that Waden killed Brooten following an argument, possibly disposed of her body in a tip, then gave her belongings to his new girlfriend.On Friday, the jury heard police seized multiple items from the Bracken Ridge home in Brisbane’s north, including the notebook, a laptop and a wheelie bin.The notebookCrown Prosecutor Andrew Walklate read to the jury from the green A4 notebook.Many entries did not specify what person they were referring to, including one that read: “Remember when you beat the shit out of me.”“You gave me excuses ... I hate you for what you did to me. I tried to kill myself. You don’t care. You hit me, you don’t care. I have nothing now. Everything I had, everything believed was just lies.Other sections of the notebook included: “He claims he fears for his life, that I will stab him while he is sleeping. He chooses to sleep next to me. I have never threatened to kill, stab or physically hurt him. Why would I kill or stab him?“According to him, I have threatened to ruin his life by exposing his weed growing and selling operation and publishing my injuries he gave me after almost killing me on Facebook.“Mark is trying to put all this on me. Yes, it may appear he is taking responsibility and apologising but his facts regarding my mental health are incorrect. It is an attempt to save himself, to give himself an out or to try and make me appear crazier than I am.”The notes included explanations that she was not crazy, but mentally unwell.Brooten wrote: “He claims I am uncontrollable, but doesn’t explain what that entails. It means I cry and cry and cry. I make myself more upset, I never threaten to hurt him.”She wrote about arguments and how she would call and text: “He calls back screaming so loud I cannot understand him.”Brooten detailed her struggles with her mental health, saying it was normal to seek help. “It is hard to face, to realise, to see that I am this way.”“I will not continually beat myself up over this … while I am sorry I cannot change what I did or didn’t do but I’m not going to feel sorry for myself and it happened and it’s what I needed but at sir’s expense.“Sir has every right to feel how he does, do not dismiss that. I’m grateful he expresses his feelings. I will/am changing what I do now.”The entries included: “I have never threatened him or given him any indication that I would. He is saying those things to cover himself. He says every time we talk I get enraged.”Waden’s real estate jobBefore Brooten disappeared, Waden had started a new job with Bees Nees Realty in South Brisbane. On June 30, 2018, he was expected to attend his first listing.His boss, Rebecca Herbst, said it was a vital weekend, but she began to panic when Waden did not show at 9am.When she texted him telling him she would have to go to their first property alone, he replied: “I am so sorry, I’ve been with police, I’m on my way.”He later told Herbst he would not make it for his listing later that day: “I’m so sorry, I’m stuck with interviews.”When Waden returned to work on the Monday, Herbst said he was “very agitated”.“He was very agitated, nervous, stressed, he sat with me in my office because we obviously have to catch up over what did and didn’t happen on Saturday. His manner was very, very nervous.”Herbst said Waden told her his house had been damaged, there were holes in the wall, and he believed it his girlfriend may have been responsible.The trial before Justice Peter Callaghan continues.Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.Cloe Read is the crime and court reporter at Brisbane Times.Connect via X or email.From our partners