Police are continuing their search for missing American woman Priscilla Brooten after her former partner was taken into custody after he was allegedly spotted digging near his front yard.
Mark Wayden, 42, was arrested on Saturday after detectives received a tip-off from neighbours, according to 9 News.
Police said the man, who lived with Ms Brooten at the time she went missing, is in custody to help with inquiries and no charges have been laid at this time.
Ms Brooten, 46, was last seen in the north Brisbane suburb of Bracken Ridge in July last year, but wasn't formally reported missing until December.
Detective Senior Sergeant Michael Hogan of Moreton District confirmed the case is now being treated as a homicide investigation.
Mark Waden, 42, was arrested on Saturday after police received a tipped from neighbours alleging he had been digging at the excavation site where police have seen searching for Ms Brooten's body
Police investigators are seen digging up a Bracken Ridge home in connection with the disappearance of US citizen Priscilla Brooten
Police now believe the 46-year-old US national has been murdered and are digging up the front yard of a home in the Brisbane suburb, Bracken Ridge (pictured)
On Saturday night Ms Brooten's daughter Caity Brooten, 23, demanded justice as the investigation continued.
'I just hope whoever did this to her gets caught and gets the punishment they deserve,' she told The Sunday Mail.
'She was a very smart and nerdy person and loved to watch anime and loved to take samba class,' she said.
Caity, from California, said her mother was a very beautiful person who had won beauty pageants and decided to move to Australia six years ago 'because she did not want to get tied down' in the US.
Ms
