The man accused of murdering 19-year-old Audrey Griffin has been found dead in his jail cell three days after his arrest.
Adrian Torrens, 53, was found unresponsive at Silverwater Jail about 4.50pm on Thursday and couldn’t be revived.
Police are not treating his death as suspicious.
Torrens was arrested in Sydney on Monday – four weeks after Ms Griffin’s body was found in Erina Creek on the NSW Central Coast.
Ms Griffin had spent the previous night celebrating with friends at the Gosford Hotel on March 24.
She left the pub at 2am and walked towards her father’s house in Terrigal after unsuccessfully trying to get an Uber.
Friends followed Ms Griffin’s movements via Snapchat’s SnapMaps feature, a live tracker of a user’s whereabouts, which can be seen by selected contacts. She also sent them two videos while walking home.
However, Ms Griffin never made it home. Instead she allegedly crossed paths with Torrens, who had recently committed 11 unrelated alleged domestic violence offences.
An alleged killer has been found dead in his jail cell in Sydney, three days after his arrest
Nineteen-year-old Audrey Griffin’s body was found in Erina Creek on the NSW Central Coast in March
Ms Griffin’s death was not initially deemed as suspicious because a preliminary autopsy indicated she had drowned.
Police, however, were investigating Torrens’ alleged involvement in the death before charging him with Ms Griffin’s murder.
In a harrowing phone call recorded by police, it’s alleged Torrens admitted the crime to an associate after his image was published in a NSW police bid to find him.
‘Why did I do it? I don’t know, I do not … I just f***ing clicked and I have no reason for my actions, I just did it man,’ Torrens said in the call, according to the Daily Telegraph.
‘I was so f***ed up, you know I was awake for four or five f***ing days, and I just did it.’
Days before Torrens’ arrest, his ex-partner informed police he had repeatedly breached an apprehended domestic violence order taken out to protect her.
She identified Torrens as the man in the CCTV photo.
In another phone call made from Torrens’ phone, he said: ‘I killed someone about a month ago and now they’re looking for me’.
Ms Griffin never made it home after choosing to walk to her house from a social night spent at Gosford Hotel
Police nabbed Torrens after releasing his image in an appeal for information
Ms Griffin’s mother Kathleen Kirby previously told Daily Mail Australia she ‘just wanted justice’ for her young daughter.
She said her daughter was a fit, intelligent and beautiful young woman who ‘had the world at her feet’.
Ms Kirby said the pair exchanged messages while she was in Gosford, and she told Ms Griffin she was proud of her and loved her very much.
Torrens had not applied for bail in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday this week, and it was formally refused at the time.
Many Australians were outraged by police’s initial ruling that Ms Griffin’s death was ‘not suspicious.’
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Brisbane Water Police District said investigators wanted to provide answers for the family and the community following the four week investigation.
‘This has not sat well with us as investigators from the outset and that’s why we stood up the strike-force.’
Thousands of mourners gathered to celebrate Ms Griffin’s life at Terrigal Beach near her home
Loved ones said Ms Griffin ‘was the kindest soul to walk this earth and will always be in our hearts’
Ms Griffin’s mother, Kathleen Kirby, said her daughter was a fit, intelligent and beautiful young woman who ‘had the world at her feet’
‘There has been a number of lines of inquiry leading up to the arrest yesterday but, significantly, on Friday morning, we received information which transferred the case to a homicide investigation.’
Torrens’ death came the day thousands of mourners gathered to celebrate Ms Griffin’s life at Terrigal Beach near her home.
Family and friends said Ms Griffin was a ‘determined athlete, talented student and well-liked teenager’.
A fortnight before her death, the popular and sporty teenager had travelled to New Zealand to compete in the gruelling ANZCO half-ironman event, which she completed in just over six-and-a-half hours.
She was preparing to begin a 10-week officer training course in April with the Royal Australian Navy and visited the Central Coast – where she grew up – to see her grandparents and invite her friends to a farewell party in Sydney the next weekend.
‘She was the kindest soul to walk this earth and will always be in our hearts,’ a GoFundMe for her family said.
More to come.
