Fifteen years after 21-year-old Jay Brogden disappeared in the Whitsundays, a North Queensland man has been found guilty of his murder.
With no body and no murder weapon, a jury empanelled in the cold case homicide of Jay Brogden could only rely on a series of long past conversations with the man accused of killing him.
21-year-old Jay Brogden went missing from Airlie Beach in 2007.
Gavin Parnell pleaded not guilty to murder in a Supreme Court trial in Mackay.
On Friday, a jury of eight women and four men convicted Parnell of murder.
Under Justice David North, the Supreme Court heard Parnell was out on a boat with Mr Brogden and an alleged Airlie Beach drug kingpin in 2007 when Mr Brogden was shot.
During the trial, Parnell went to the witness box and told the court he had "vouched" for Mr Brogden to the alleged drug dealer prior to the fishing trip.
But the court heard something went wrong when the other man blamed Mr Brogden for about $30,000 worth of methamphetamine allegedly stolen from his house.
In the witness box, Parnell told the court it was a few days later that he, Mr Brogden and the other man went out fishing, pulling up near White Rock.
The court heard the alleged kingpin ordered Parnell to the back of the boat, where he pulled out a gun and put the barrel into Parnell's back.
The court heard the man handed Parnell a second gun, a "sawn-off" shotgun.
During his cross-examination, Parnell told the court the drug kingpin was "screaming" "I'll kill you" and threatening his family.
Parnell said he remembered the other man saying "do it, do it, do it" as he felt the first gun "wiggle" in his back.
The court heard Parnell was handed a second gun, one he drew for the jury and described as handmade, discoloured, duct-taped together.
It was with this gun he shot his friend, Mr Brogden.
Both defence and prosecution accepted the facts until this point.
In his closing arguments, defence barrister Damian Walsh told the jury his client had been petrified during the ordeal on the boat, repeating Parnell's confessions of "shaking" and "urinating on himself".
Mr Walsh submitted that his client did not intend on pulling the trigger on the firearm that killed Mr Brogden, but rather it was an accidental discharge because of the makeshift nature of the gun and Parnell's duress.
But in his closing address, crown prosecutor Nathan Crane pointed to the fact that Parnell knew the alleged drug kingpin was violent and said Parnell knew the three of them were going out on the boat to discuss the missing drugs.
Mr Crane argued that while on the boat Parnell had the necessary intent to murder Mr Brogden.
He said because of the threats to Parnell's own life, the accused had the necessary intent to murder Mr Brogden when he shot him on the boat.
"There is no path to manslaughter," Mr Crane said.
Mr Crane told the jury there was no duress defence available under murder and that Parnell should be convicted.
