Renae Marsden disappeared in Sydney on 5 August 2013 after sending messages that alarmed her family. The events that led to that night centered on a long-term friendship that became increasingly controlling and on a digital relationship that later proved to be false.
Renae was born on 15 October 1992 in New South Wales. Her parents separated when she was two, and she lived mainly with her mother, Teresa. Teresa later built a life with Mark Marsden, whom she married in 2000.
Renae adopted his surname, and the household later included three younger children: Jake, Luke, and Monique. Renae started high school in 2005 at Mount St Benedict’s, an all-girls school, where she met Camila Zeidan.
The two became close quickly. Soon after, Renae’s grades dropped, she skipped school, and she began smoking cigarettes. Relatives also noticed she became quieter and less involved with people outside the friendship.
Renae later told her cousin, Stephanie, that Camila reacted strongly when she spent time with others. She said Camila demanded to know where she was and became angry about dates and social plans.
Renae also said Camila punched her during conflicts and that she had bruises from those incidents. She told Stephanie that Camila had tried to kiss her and had attempted to persuade her into a romantic relationship, which Renae said made her uncomfortable.
Stephanie told Teresa what she had been hearing. Teresa confronted Renae, who said she felt scared and trapped by Camila’s behavior. Teresa and Mark tried to intervene through meetings that involved a school counsellor and Camila’s parents, but Renae remained in contact.
As the situation continued, Renae’s parents removed her phone to limit communication. Camila responded by buying Renae a replacement phone so messages could continue in secret.
In 2009, Renae transferred to a cosmetology program to pursue hairdressing. The change briefly reduced contact, but Camila later enrolled there as well. Renae began pulling back and sent Camila a message while Camila was away, ending the friendship and asking not to be contacted when she returned.
After Camila came back, she began turning up near Renae repeatedly, including at everyday locations such as school, work, and public places. At a library, Camila shouted that she would keep following Renae as long as calls went unanswered.
Renae later tried to confirm the breakup in person at a café, with Teresa present for support. During the meeting, Camila grabbed Renae and insisted she did not mean it. Teresa intervened and escorted Renae away, and Camila continued contacting Renae afterward.
In 2011, Camila started dating a man she said she had met at a nightclub, Brayden Spiteri, described as a construction worker in his early 20s. Camila soon told Renae the relationship was not working and said Brayden would be better matched with her.
She exchanged their phone numbers, and Renae and Brayden began communicating by text at a high volume. Renae believed he had attended an elite private school and would inherit his father’s construction business.
About two months into their relationship, Brayden told Renae he had been involved in a motorcycle crash in which his friend Richie died. He said he had been charged with manslaughter and would serve time in prison.
He also said he had agreed to give up visitation rights in exchange for a shorter sentence, so Renae could not visit him. Renae wanted frequent contact, and Camila said she could help. Camila contacted Brayden’s lawyer, who said that if a phone was purchased he could arrange to get it to Brayden.
On 7 November 2011, Renae and Camila bought a mobile phone, and Camila registered the SIM card in her own name and activated it before taking it to the lawyer. Brayden said he was held at Goulburn Jail and told Renae texting was safer than calls because he feared being overheard.
As the relationship continued through messages, Renae’s family noticed she was increasingly anxious and preoccupied with her phone. Teresa asked what was happening, and Renae explained she was texting a boyfriend in prison.
Teresa was worried, including because Camila had introduced them. Renae told Brayden about Teresa’s concerns, and Brayden contacted Teresa directly through messages to reassure her about his intentions. Teresa allowed the relationship to continue, though she remained uneasy.
In spring 2012, Brayden created a Facebook account and contacted several of Renae’s friends with messages described as flirtatious. Renae confronted him, and they argued repeatedly. Brayden insisted she was overreacting, and Camila urged Renae to treat the behavior as minor.
Brayden later deleted the account, but conflict continued as he became jealous about Renae’s contact with other people. When Renae mentioned an ex-boyfriend or male friend, Brayden responded with insults or refused to engage.
Renae asked for a way to speak with his lawyer about whether any visit could be arranged, but Brayden resisted and became angry when she continued asking.
In July 2012, Brayden told Renae he expected early release. He later said he was released on parole but returned to custody after a physical fight with his father. In September 2012, Renae took an overdose of medication.
She was severely ill for three days and then told Teresa what had happened. Teresa took her to an emergency department, where Renae spoke with a psychologist and connected her distress to the instability of the relationship and to pressure at work. She said she was grateful to be alive.
After the hospital visit, Renae tried to move forward and began dating a co-worker, Ian. The relationship progressed quickly, and by January 2013 they were engaged. Despite that engagement, Renae continued communicating with Brayden.
Brayden reacted with hostility and sent Ian threatening messages, claiming he had people watching him. During an out-of-town work awards event, Renae posted a mirror photo from a hotel room. Ian’s shoes were visible in the background, and Brayden noticed them and harassed both Renae and Ian.
Camila opposed the engagement and encouraged Renae to leave Ian and return to Brayden. In March 2013, Ian told Renae she had to choose between him and Brayden. Renae chose Brayden, ending the engagement.
On 28 March 2013, Renae sent Camila a birthday message thanking her for introducing her to Brayden and expressing intense loyalty. Contact between Renae and Camila remained unstable, with periods of conflict followed by reconciliation.
During this period, Camila assaulted Renae when Renae planned to meet Ian socially, including punching her, pulling her hair, and grabbing the steering wheel while Renae was driving, leaving bruises and red marks.
Disputes also intensified around messages Renae received from past partners. When a former boyfriend sent a harmless text, Camila reported it to Brayden, who accused Renae of cheating and declared the relationship over.
The resulting conflict continued for days. Brayden also criticized photos Renae sent him, calling them too revealing and demanding to know who she was trying to impress. At the same time, he told Renae he would tolerate her having sexual contact with a woman and suggested Camila, which Renae rejected.
By mid-2013, Renae and Brayden discussed marriage after his expected release later that year, planning to marry after Renae’s 21st birthday in October.
Renae began practical preparations, including looking at wedding dresses, scheduling an appointment with a wedding photographer, and contacting state officials to ask whether a person with a criminal record could obtain a visa for a honeymoon in Greece.
She also tried to understand Brayden’s legal situation and asked for contact details for his lawyer. Brayden reacted defensively, and at one point claimed he did not know where the lawyer worked.
Renae sent messages saying she felt excluded from basic information about their future, and Brayden replied with affectionate statements that reaffirmed his attachment.
Renae also tried to end contact with Camila permanently. Instead of confronting her directly, she avoided events where Camila might appear and stopped attending a soccer league where Camila was often present.
In July 2013, Camila went on vacation for about a month. During the same period, Brayden had court dates affecting his custody status and wanted to avoid communication that could expose the illicit phone.
For that month, Renae had no contact with either of them. She focused on work and continued planning while telling colleagues she felt a void during the silence.
On 5 August 2013, Renae received a message from Brayden and her mood at work changed sharply. Around 1:00 p.m., she went to lunch with a co-worker, began crying uncontrollably, and showed the co-worker a text reading, “I think I need a break and so do you.”
She returned to work briefly, then left at about 2:45 p.m. and went home intending to call the prison for information. She made the call, and what was said remains unknown. Later that afternoon, Teresa arrived home after collecting Renae’s younger siblings from the bus stop and found Renae doing her hair, applying makeup, and dressing in a nice outfit.
Around the same time, Teresa received a message from Brayden stating, “Sort your daughter out. She’s thinking of killing herself.” Teresa showed the message to Renae, who said she was fine and claimed Brayden was angry.
Teresa then asked Renae to drop the youngest child at the grandmother’s house before going out, and Renae agreed, completing the drop-off around 5:00 p.m.
At 5:49 p.m., while Teresa was at swimming lessons with the other children, she received a message from Renae that expressed love, apologized for the pain she would cause, and urged Teresa to be strong and care for the family.
Teresa replied seeking clarification, but Renae did not respond, and calls to her phone went to voicemail. Teresa showed the message to a friend, who urged her to contact police.
Police arrived at the family home at about 7:50 p.m. and began searching for Renae. At 8:18 p.m., Teresa contacted Camila, who said Renae had messaged her at 5:47 p.m. with a similar statement. Camila suggested they search together by driving around, and Teresa joined her in Camila’s red Mazda 2.
At about 8:45 p.m., police located Renae’s car near the Gap, a cliff overlooking the ocean in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Inside, officers found a Valentine’s Day card from Brayden, Renae’s wallet, and a collage of Brayden’s photos. The words “I love you Brayden” were written on the windshield. The car was towed for examination.
The next day, police and family searched the surrounding area and found Renae’s shoes near a path leading toward the cliff. Divers and aircraft assisted in a wider search, but no body was recovered.
CCTV footage later showed Renae walking in the area, removing her shoes, sitting near the cliff edge, sending messages, and throwing her phone into the water before walking out of camera view.
Teresa sought answers from Brayden but received no response. Camila told Teresa that Brayden was upset people were blaming him. Camila then sent Teresa a message stating Renae had long complained about home and asserted Renae had said Mark abused the children or Teresa.
Investigators attempted to locate Brayden and found he was not listed as an inmate where Renae believed he was held and had not attended the school he claimed. Police also confirmed that the SIM card used for the phone purchased in 2011 had been registered under Camila’s name.
Stephanie recalled that Brayden had once messaged her and that the writing style resembled Camila’s, including wording patterns and errors. She compared messages attributed to both and raised her concern with Renae earlier in the relationship, but Renae rejected the suggestion.
Police interviewed Camila, and the next day her family arranged for her to be admitted to hospital because they feared she might self-harm. During her stay, Camila spoke about Renae but did not mention Brayden, and she was discharged a few days later.
On 13 September 2013, police executed a search warrant at Camila’s home, seeking the phone used for the Brayden messages. They did not locate that device, but seized several others and found letters Renae had written to Camila and letters addressed to Brayden.
During the search, an officer asked whether Camila wanted to discuss anything further. Camila said she had sent messages to Renae while posing as Brayden and claimed Renae had asked her to do it, describing the messages as having been sent before Camila travelled to the United States in March. She declined further interviews.
The case did not result in criminal charges in the years that followed. Renae’s family sought an inquest and campaigned for law reform, arguing that catfishing was not specifically criminalised. A coronial inquest was held in 2020.
Investigators recovered most of the message history among Renae, Camila, and the persona of Brayden, despite the absence of Renae’s phone and the original device used for the false identity. Camila was subpoenaed, challenged the process through lawyers, and testified in February 2020.
She admitted Brayden was not real and claimed she and Renae created him together, saying they were in a secret romantic relationship hidden because her parents would not accept her dating a woman.
Renae’s parents rejected that claim and said they would have accepted their daughter regardless of her partner. The inquest heard that more than 30,000 messages were exchanged between Renae and the Brayden account, with additional thousands between Renae and Camila.
Camila stated that the photographs used to represent Brayden belonged to a man she had met at a club, Cameron Long, who said he did not know his image was being used until Renae’s case became public.
The coroner rejected Camila’s claim that Renae helped create Brayden and rejected the claim of a secret relationship. The coroner concluded Renae died by suicide after receiving the breakup message attributed to Brayden and recommended that a domestic violence team review the matter to consider criminal charges.
No charges were filed. Renae’s family launched a petition supporting proposed legislative change under the name “Renae’s Law.”
