Haunting final text of a hairdresser, 20, who plunged to her death after being 'catfished' by her 'obsessive' ex-girlfriend - who pretended to be a prison boyfriend called Brayden
- A fun-loving 20-year-old took her own life in a suspected suicide in 2013
- Renae Marsden was working as a hairdresser when she was talking to 'Brayden'
- She received 11,400 texts from him during their 'relationship' before her death
- An ex-girlfriend, and close school friend, is accused of creating 'Brayden'
- Renae's parents are now calling for stricter laws surrounding online 'catfishing'
A woman who allegedly catfished her ex-girlfriend with a fake online boyfriend 'accidentally' deleted their final text exchange before her mate plunged to her death, a coronial inquest has heard.
Renae Marsden was a 'happy and bubbly' 20-year-old hairdresser who died in a suspected suicide at The Gap in Sydney's east on August 5, 2013.
She received 11,400 messages from a man she knew as 'Brayden' in the lead up to her disappearance, and may have found out he was not real on the day of her death.
Renae's troubling relationship with her ex-girlfriend and close school friend Camilla Zeidan is at the centre of the inquest into her death at the NSW State Coroner's Court in Sydney.
Renae Marsden was a 'happy and bubbly' 20-year-old hairdresser who died in a suspected suicide at The Gap in Sydney's east on August 5, 2013
Camilla Zeidan (right) is accused of inventing 'Brayden' to catfish for ex-girlfriend Renae (left)
Camilla had an 'obsessive, possessing and unrelenting' relationship with Renae, counsel assisting Sasha Harding told the inquest in her opening address on Monday.
'You are going no where, do you understand? … You kill me, I'll be your ghost,' Camilla once said in an email to Renae.
'You hate me, I'll still love you… You hide, I'll hunt you down. You've got no way to escape because only I love you, and I'll have you forever'.
Sergeant Harding told the court their romantic relationship fell apart after school, but Camilla later introduced Renae to her 'ex-boyfriend' Brayden Spiteri - a persona police allege she concocted.
The court heard a series of texts were sent between Renae, Camilla and 'Brayden' in the hours and minutes before she died at The Gap in Sydney.
But Camilla later told Renae's mother she 'accidentally deleted the last messages' exchanged between the pair, 'as she pressed the wrong button', the court heard.
Catfish relationship with 'Brayden'
Outside court, Renae's parents Mark and Teresa (supported by their other daughter Monique) said 'not a day goes past' without the family of five thinking about Renae
Despite being happy in the months before her disappearance her parents said they think Renae (pictured) was crushed when she received a break-up message from 'Brayden'
Renae's (centre) troubling relationship with her ex-girlfriend and close school friend Camilla (right) is at the centre of the inquest into her death
Brayden could never see Renae in person because he was supposedly serving a prison sentence at Goulburn over a motorbike accident, the inquest heard.
The fake 'former King's School student' had purportedly traded his visitation rights for a shorter sentence. But he could communicate with her endlessly online.
In March 2011, Renae chose her new flame 'Brayden' over her real-life boyfriend, Angus, the court heard.
Sgt Harding said the allegedly fake relationship gave Camilla the 'best of both worlds… an intimate relationship with Renae, via Brayden, and [Renae's] renewed friendship'.
Brayden and Renae were 'obsessively in love' and 'Brayden appeared to monitor Renae's every move and question her whereabouts', so much so she had to 'demand the right to have friends.'
Renae sent Brayden sexual photos and she told him how 'dependent' she was on him, Sgt Harding told the court.
He threatened to hurt her friend, Joseph; demanded to know why she changed her Facebook passwords and quizzed her about her male friends.
Police later found 11,400 texts were exchanged between the pair between March 5, 2013 and June 19, 2013.
What the inquest wants to find out is: Did Renae learn that Brayden was a fiction? And did she learn that her school friend Camilla was allegedly responsible for creating Brayden?
Renae's grandfather Giuseppe Costa broke down in tears as the family spoke to the media outside court, along with his wife Anna (right) and Renae's brother Luke (left)
Mr Costa was shattered by the emotional day where the inquest heard details of how Renae killed herself after being catfished
Renae's final texts
Sgt Harding told the court of Renae's final, distressing day alive - August 5, 2013 - where she attended work as a receptionist at StarTrack.
The court heard that Renae told a work colleague she had not heard from Brayden and was planning to call Goulburn jail to hear from him.
Renae left work early to go home. A colleague told police she had become more distressed as she received texts throughout the day.
Renae made a 90 second call to Goulburn jail that afternoon, at 2.44pm. Over the next half an hour Renae and Brayden exchanged 27 text messages, the court heard.
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Her mother, Teresa, received a text from Brayden at 2.59pm, telling her to 'sort your daughter out'. The message said she was suicidal.
The court heard Renae told her worried mother: 'Mum, I would never be so stupid.'
She said of Brayden: 'You don't have to worry about him anymore, I finally found out what he's all about. Don't worry mum, it's all over.'
Renae later did her make-up and told her mother she was going to see her workmates for dinner. Her work clothes were laid out on the bed at the time.
Instead she drove to The Gap, described to the court as an infamous suicide hotspot.
The Marsden family (l-r: Monique, Teresa, Mark, and Renae's brothers Luke and Jake) put on a united front outside court
Renae's mother Anna Costa speaks to the media with raw emotion visible in her face. 'I still wait for my granddaughter every Saturday,' she said
The court heard she texted Brayden at 4.40pm, 5.22pm and 5.23pm, plus a further three times at 5.42pm.
Brayden responded at 5.46pm. At 5.47, Renae sent two texts to Brayden, and then her final text to the friend.
At 5.49pm, Teresa received a message from Renae saying: 'I love you so much. I am sorry for everything and the pain I will now cause you'.
At 5.53pm, Renae was seen sitting on the edge of the cliff and throwing an object over, which police believed to be her mobile phone.
Five minutes later, she was last seen climbing down. Her body has never been recovered.
Grieving parents demand justice
Outside court, Renae's parents Mark and Teresa Marsden said 'not a day goes past' without the family of five thinking about Renae.
They were supported by their other daughter Monique, and Renae's grandparents Anna and Giuseppe Costa, who broke down in tears,
Mr Marsden said it took some time for the 'penny to drop' about what had happened to their daughter, and her friend's role in it.
Renae's parents leave the inquest after hearing the disturbing details of their daughter's last days
Mark and Teresa Marsden (left and second from left) arrive with friends and family at the inquest at the NSW Coroner's Court in Sydney on Monday
Her tearful grandmother Anna Costa said: 'I still wait for my granddaughter every Saturday.
'She used to come and have dinner with me and lunch with me - she doesn't come anymore and I still wait for her'.
Renae's family want the inquest to result in the law being changed, so 'catfishing' can be made a crime in NSW and hope the person who put their daughter through the ordeal will be brought to justice after the inquest.
'There is no closure for us until we determine the facts surrounding her disappearance, and this won't be resolved until the perpetrator decides or is forced to tell the truth,' Mr Marsden told The Sydney Morning Herald.
'Ultimately we would like to see the perpetrator charged, and that the coroner recommends the laws surrounding catfishing are tightened to make it a criminal offence.'
Her parents believe someone was using photos of a random man and talking to Renae with a fake phone number.
Renae had photos of 'Brayden' in her room and was even fantasising about marrying him. He was last person she messaged on the day of her disappearance.
Before her death the 20-year-old (pictured right with her mother Teresa, left) had received more than 11,000 messages from a man she believed to be 'Brayden'
Her parents, Teresa (pictured right with Renae) and Mark Marsden, believe someone was using photos of a random man and talking to Renae with a fake phone number
Mr Marsden said living with his daughter's suspected suicide has been 'hell'.
'That somebody can do this to your daughter to the point she takes her own life, it is about as wrong as it gets,' he said.
Despite being happy in the months before her disappearance her parents said they think she was crushed when she received a break-up message from 'Brayden'.
The day Renae died she told her mother she didn't need to 'worry about him' because she had 'found out what he is all about'.
She told her parents she was going to dinner with friends, but they never saw her again.
Renae sent a text to her mother telling her she loved her, a text to Brayden and a text to the friend.
Mr and Mrs Marsden believe Renae found out she was being catfished and decided to take her own life.
'My daughter was not depressed. She was anything but,' Mrs Marsden said.
The inquest continues.
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