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Shock details emerge about Audrey Griffin's killer and his 'sleepless' final days before he was found dead in a jail cell
The man charged with murdering Audrey Griffin before taking his own life had been on a drug binge and had not slept in five days when he was arrested.
Adrian Torrens, 53, was accused of murdering Ironwoman athlete Ms Griffin on March 24 and leaving her body half-submerged in Erina Creek, on the NSW Central Coast.
The 19-year-old had left the Hotel Gosford at about 2am and was walking along The Entrance Road, towards her father's house, for about an hour when she came into contact with her killer.
Police alleged Ms Griffin was killed during a 'physical altercation' with Torrens, who'd been headed to the home of his estranged wife Michelle Torrens after she'd taken an apprehended violence order against him.
Investigators initially ruled Ms Griffin's death a case of misadventure but received a tip which led officers to arrest Torrens in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Surry Hills on April 21, one month after the teenager was killed.
Police claimed Torrens' phone had pinged near her body and his DNA was found under one of her fingernails.
Torrens was taken to Sydney's maximum correctional facility at Silverwater Prison and locked in a glass-fronted single cell.
Torrens hadn't slept for five days following an intense drug binge around Sydney, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
Prison workers were on high alert and kept Torrens under the 24-hour surveillance of a special risk intervention team.
Additionally, he was ordered to wear prison greens, which cannot be torn, in order to minimise the risk of self-harm as he withdrew from drugs.
'He was 53 years, which is considered elderly for an Aboriginal inmate coming off drugs,' one prison guard said.
'Any human that does not sleep for five days is on drugs.'
Following several sessions with counsellors, Torrens was moved into a shared cell.
It was there he asked a fellow inmate if he could borrow a razor. He claimed he wanted to be clean-shaven for his court appearance the next day.
However, the courtrooms were closed the following day for Anzac Day public holiday.
Torrens used the twin-blade razor to take his life and, despite the best efforts of officers and later paramedics, was pronounced dead at 4.50pm on April 24.
Torrens (left) used a razor blade to take his own life following a five-day drug bender in Sydney and three days behind bars
His body was not moved until a relative could formally identify him, in line with Indigenous cultural practices.
The Coroner is now using CCTV footage to piece together the final moments of Torrens' life and check for any breaches of care as part of a public inquest.
At the same moment Torrens died, Ms Griffin's loved ones were holding a vigil for her at Terrigal Beach.
Her mother, Kathleen Kirby, received the phone call informing her of her daughter's killer's death as the event ended.
Torrens' suicide meant Ms Kirby and Ms Griffin's father, Trevor, would never be able to seek courtroom justice for their daughter's death.
'She was my best friend, a better version of myself,' Ms Kirby said.
'Anger is not the answer, this is now my time to grieve.'
Ms Griffin's body was discovered face-down in blue-green algae-infested water at 3.34pm on March 24.
Her father arrived at the scene at the same time as officers.
'Imagine what that was like, having to identify your own daughter?' he said.
The crime scene was just 11km from the home of Michelle Torrens, which she previously shared with the killer.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Australia, she revealed she'd received several threatening messages from Torrens on the night of Ms Griffin's murder.
'He rang me 12 times and because he was blocked, I was receiving them as text messages,' she said.
'He started calling from 7pm and the last phone call was at 12.10am on the night he killed her.
'He kept threatening to kill my son and I. My children are completely traumatised.'
A distraught Michelle said both she and Audrey had been let down by the legal system.
'My heart goes out to Audrey's family,' she said.
'I do feel let down by the police and the judge, on the first night of the AVO, the very first AVO, the police took four hours to come here to do a welfare check.
'When he breached his AVO [that was taken out] to protect me, they took five months to find him.
'I lived in fear he would carry out one of his threats.'
Torrens was hit with the latest AVO just two months before Ms Griffin's murder.
He was prohibited from stalking, assaulting or threatening his estranged wife, recklessly destroying her property, or harming her two dogs.
That AVO was due to expire on July 15, 2026.
He'd avoided jail a few months earlier, in October 2024, after using a carriage service to harass, menace or offend his wife, which broke the rules of an earlier AVO.
He pleaded guilty to the charge but was only handed an 18-month community corrections order.
At that time, Torrens had a history of breaching an AVO from a previous partner.
He had stomped on the woman's chest, broken her arm and threatened to kill her with a knife.
Torrens had also been jailed in 2014 and 2018 for theft, fraud, assault, intimidation and twice breaching an AVO.
His ex-wife told the Telegraph she still lives in fear of retaliation from Torrens' associates.
'He was coming for me that night,' she said.
'He called me at midnight, and 12 times that day. He threatened me and the children.
'He took Audrey instead, my heart goes out to her family.'
