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A woman who escaped the clutches of dating app killer Ashley Gaddie has revealed he messaged her asking her out on a date the same night he murdered a teacher.
Gaddie, 35, met Dannielle Finlay-Jones, 31, on the dating app Bumble just days before beating her to death at a house in Cranebrook, western Sydney, on December 17, 2022.
He fled the scene before becoming involved in a 12-hour standoff with police on a cliff top in the Blue Mountains.
He was eventually arrested, charged with murder, and jailed pending trial.
However, in April this year, he took his own life at Clarence Correctional Center without having pleaded guilty or given any explanation for the murder of Ms Finlay-Jones.
Daily Mail Australia can now reveal that while Gaddie was sitting in a pub with Finlay-Jones just hours before brutally killing her, he secretly texted another woman, 31-year-old Danni Godfrey.
That night, at 7:47 p.m., he told her: “I wish I could take you out on a date.”
The text was one of many Gaddie had sent to Godfrey over 12 months in an attempt to persuade her to go out with him, involving a web of lies designed to manipulate her.
Ms Godfrey said she had a panic attack when she found out what Gaddie did to Ms Finlay-Jones,” she told Daily Mail Australia: “It could have been me.”
She deleted her dating apps and hasn’t been romantically involved with anyone since.
Danni Godfrey (pictured) received a text message from Ashley Gaddie the night she killed Dannielle Finlay-Jones
Danielle Finlay-Jones, 31, was found brutally murdered in the guest bedroom of her friend’s house in December 2022.
Ashley Gaddie (pictured) was on bail for assaulting a woman and five women took it out on him. He committed suicide in prison in April.
‘Do you believe in true love?’
Godfrey said she and Gaddie grew up in the same city and met as teenagers, but it wasn’t until the Covid lockdown around June 2021 that the couple started chatting on dating apps.
“We became friends and became friends on social media, but he started getting creepy around that time,” she said.
Gaddie’s first message to Ms Godfrey on Facebook was sent at 5.55pm on June 25, 2021. He said: “Hi Danni, can I ask you a question?”
She replied: ‘Hello, of course.’
He said, ‘Do you believe in true love? Or love in our generation.
When Mrs. Godfrey did not respond, Gaddie responded about three hours later: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by that.”
She responded to his initial question by saying, “Yes, I do, why do you ask?”
Gaddie then started talking about a security guard in the Philippines who said his grandchildren couldn’t find love “because of the way our generation is.”
‘Since I don’t talk to women and you’re the only lady in me [Facebook] “I thought I’d ask the question,” he added.
Ashley Gaddie started talking to Danni Godfrey on Facebook in June 2021 (pictured)
Gaddie asked Godfrey if he believed in true love, before saying that both of his dogs died. He didn’t have dogs.
web of lies
Two days later, and with no response from Mrs Godfrey, Gaddie continued: “I wasn’t trying to trick you, I lost both my dogs and I was really struggling.” I won’t bother you again. I’m sorry again.’
When Godfrey showed police messages between her and Gaddie following Finlay-Jones’ murder, officers told her she had lied to several women about owning dogs.
“I have a dog and I found out from the police that it was a tactic he used on women because he didn’t have a dog,” she said.
Gaddie also told her she had a broken leg when she posted a photo of her own broken ankle on social media.
‘Hopefully it will be a speedy recovery. Mine was fractured for four months,’ she said.
Police told Godfrey that Gaddie had never broken a leg.
On August 29, Gaddie messaged her again, unprovoked, to ask how “the Bumble love life was going.”
When Godfrey told Gaddie he was dating someone, he said he only found women who “wasted my time.”
Gaddie’s last message to Mrs Godfrey was the night he killed Dannielle Finlay-Jones.
Godfre explained that she didn’t have Bumble and hadn’t used dating apps for months because she met a pharmacist while out with a friend and told him the encounter was “random but nice.”
Gaddie responded: ‘Hahaha, that’s random.’ Are you still with him?
She said yes. I was too short to take anything off the shelf so he helped me and the rest is history lol.’
Gaddie replied: ‘Right place and right time. Damn lucky.
He then went on a tirade about how the women he dated were allegedly not honest about their motives.
“I manage to find girls who waste my time,” he said.
‘I met someone who was the complete opposite, a schoolteacher of all things.
“He turned around three months later and said he never wanted to have kids or get married, he just lied about what he wanted because he wanted to be with me.”
In November, Gaddie asked Ms Godfrey how her ankle was healing, but she did not respond.
Three weeks later, he sent another message saying, “I’m sorry your last relationship didn’t work out for you.”
Godfrey also did not respond to that message, telling Daily Mail Australia that he was “constantly trying” to engage with her and that he knew she was talking to several at the same time.
Danni Godfrey has a dog (pictured) and police told her Gaddie lied about having two dogs to gain her sympathy.
Dannielle Finlay-Jones (pictured) was a teacher. The night she died, she had invited Gaddie to meet her friends.
‘It could have been me’
Gaddie’s last message to Godfrey was sent in response to a Facebook photo he shared with his friends, showing his family enjoying an early Christmas celebration.
He said, “I wish I could take you out on a date.”
Gaddie sent that message on the night he went on his third date with Ms Finlay-Jones, after they matched on Bumble. She had wanted to introduce him to her friends.
The couple had a brief argument over a drinking game while at Marsden Brewhouse, but they reconciled and returned to Ms Finlay-Jones’ home in Cranebrook.
When they had not surfaced by 2pm the next day, the friend entered the bedroom and found Ms Finlay-Jones’ battered body.
His face was bleeding and his neck was covered in strangulation marks.
That day, a friend messaged Godfrey asking if he remembered Gaddie after it emerged police were looking for him.
“I had a panic attack when I saw his face because I thought it could have been me,” she said.
“The police have CCTV of him searching my profiles while I was sitting in the pub with Dannielle.”
Godfrey hasn’t gone on another date since and says she will never use a dating app again.
Finlay-Jones’ mother Jacky (pictured) has said her daughter would “still be alive” if Gaddie was not granted bail for violence against women.
‘Psychotic’ predator
Godfrey said she was raped at the age of 21 and has been assaulted several times since, so she was furious when she found out what Gaddie did to another woman.
She has received professional mental health training since she was assaulted and now knows the warning signs of a predator, which is why she never fully interacted with Gaddie online.
Godfrey said one of Gaddie’s most alarming red flags was that, while he was “creepy” from the start, he showed no signs of anger or aggression during his online conversations.
“I found out from the detectives who came to interview me that this was not the first time he had been involved in domestic violence; he had committed crimes before,” he said.
When Gaddie met Ms Finlay-Jones, she was in the middle of a community corrections order for stalking and strangling another woman.
Five other women had received violence orders against him, including an ex-girlfriend whom he tried to kill.
Godfrey said the best way to keep women safe is to warn them when domestic abusers are granted bail.
She did not report her own rape because she was dating her attacker at the time and did not believe anyone would believe her.
He was said to want victims to feel safe enough to share their stories.
“I want women to know that there are communities of other women who have been subjected to similar violence where it is safe for them to tell their story and where they can begin their healing journey,” she said.
“Things like this cause trauma and fear and that’s why I work to help women, to turn my trauma and pain into a form of healing,” she said.
If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, call the Crisis Helpline 1800 RESPECT on 1800 199 008.