Ashley Gaddie: How a woman escaped the deadly clutches of a dating app killer before he brutally murdered Bumble date Dannielle Finlay-Jones – as she reveals her joy at his prison cell suicide
An ex-girlfriend who escaped the murderous clutches of dating app killer Ashley Gaddie has branded him a psychopath who should have killed himself months ago.
Gaddie, 35, killed himself in his cell at the Clarence Correctional Center near Grafton, northern NSW, about 3.15pm on Saturday.
His death came 16 months after he beat Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, to death at a house in Cranebrook, western Sydney, on the night of December 17, 2022.
After her death, Gaddie staged a 12-hour standoff at a clifftop lookout in the Blue Mountains until he was seized by officers and arrested.
But former lover Rachel Piekar, 33, said Gaddie should have spared everyone the cost of his prison upkeep and instead jumped to his death.
Rachel Piekar with Ashley Gaddie who quickly went from ‘a really nice guy’ to a narcissistic psychopath who beat her, belittled her and eventually tried to kill her in a narrow escape
Rachel Piekar said of Ashley Gaddie’s arrest on a cliff in the Blue Mountains after an eight-hour standoff following his alleged murder of Ms Finlay-Jones: ‘he should have jumped’
Rachel Piekar predicted Gaddie would kill ‘the next one’ but was shocked to hear Dannielle Finlay-Jones had been beaten to death after a night out with him in December 2022.
“He should have jumped,” she said.
‘He was a waste of space. I don’t have to pay for him being in jail now and getting food and water.
‘I see homeless people who don’t understand that, I don’t even eat three meals a day.’
Gaddie and Ms Finlay-Jones went on a pub date after meeting hours earlier on the Bumble dating app.
They then spent the night at Ms Finlay-Jones’ friend’s house before her friends found her body with horrific head injuries in the bedroom the next day.
Friends later revealed that Ms Finlay-Jones thought she had done the right thing by arranging a date with Gaddie in a public place and taking him back to her friend’s house.
But what she didn’t know was that Gaddie had a history of violence against women and had previously tried to kill Ms Piekar, 33.
She was one of five women who took out warrants for his arrest before his fatal attack on Ms Finlay-Jones.
‘I told people when I went to court: ‘He will kill the next one’. He is an absolutely violent and controlling narcissist. But at first you think he’s charming,” she said.
Ms Piekar said Gaddie was a ‘violent monster’ and told Daily Mail Australia his death had left her ‘numb’.
She said his suicide – and again his name in the media – had revived horrifying memories of his savage violence and threats to kill her, and his chilling promise to hide her body where no one would find it.
It also brought back the moment when she narrowly escaped being killed by him.
The couple dated on and off for three months afterward Mrs. Piekar accepted a random friend request from him Facebook.
The relationship ended after a brutal confrontation in July 2021, while she was living at her father’s home near Shoalhaven, south of Sydney.
Ms Piekar, 33, said Gaddie was “charming” at first and then became belittling, violent and chilling once she told her he could hide her body at the waterfall they visited
Rachel Piekar admitted she felt “numb” when she learned her abusive ex had committed suicide in prison, but also “relief.” She said Ashley Gaddie was ‘a psychopath’ who ‘should have jumped’ before being arrested by police on a cliff
Gaddie stormed into the house in a rage and began attacking Mrs Piekar, ‘slamming her head on the floor’ and strangling her.
She lost her phone during the fight and although her father was home, he was in another part of his large house and was unaware of Gaddie’s bloodlust.
Gaddie smashed a window and punched a hole in the wall while threatening to kill her as she cowered behind a closed and barricaded door where she hid.
Ms Piekar’s father eventually realized what was happening and called the police who accused Gaddie of destroying property and assault.
Ms Piekar now lives with PTSD, permanent physical pain and a neck disability due to strangulation.
“I managed to barricade myself at the last minute – and I just barely got away with my daughter,” she said.
“I can never maintain a relationship now.”
Gaddie lived with his mother in a small two-bedroom apartment in Five Dock and seemed like a nice guy, but it didn’t take long for the mask to slip, Ms Piekar said.
“He always targeted single mothers and broke them up,” she said.
“He would be normal and then he would turn around and mentally control me and belittle me.
“He would make you feel worthless, and then he would become violent.”
Mother-of-two Rachel Piekar said Ashley Gaddie’s charming looks fell away quite quickly to reveal ‘the monster’: a violent woman who hated a psychopath who tried to kill her
She said Gaddie regularly abused her and pulled out her hair, but would become a loving boyfriend again when he returned from working in the mines in Dubbo.
But soon the cycle of violence would begin again.
“He always joked about killing me, except he wasn’t joking,” she said.
‘We went to look at the waterfalls at Fitzroy Falls (in the Southern Highlands of NSW) and he said, ‘No one would find you down there, Rachel.’
In December 2022, as news emerged that Gaddie had killed Ms Finlay-Jones, Ms Piekar’s sister called to tell her: “You might want to sit down for a moment….”
Ms Piekar said she could understand the frustration of Ms Finlay-Jones’ friends and family over Gaddie’s death before he could face a murder trial or plead not guilty.
She added: “They would feel cheated.”
Ms Piekar said the death of Ms Finlay-Jones – a much-loved teacher and football administrator – had left her heartbroken: “She had her whole life ahead of her.”
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