A mom who was left heartbroken after her son’s death has been left haunted by a disturbing find on his phone.

Cherina and Rob Gray’s worst nightmare became a reality back in October 2021, when their beloved son Dean tragically drowned while on a camping trip with friends.

The unimaginable process of mourning the sudden loss of their child was heart-wrenching enough, but it was what they found on their 25-year-old’s mobile phone that made it more difficult than they ever could have imagined.

Scrolling through her son’s messages, mom Cherina’s heart stopped when she came across a disturbing flurry of messages exchanged between Dean and his then 49-year-old school teacher.

The texts were sent between April and July 2013, when her then 17-year-old son was in his final year of high school in Narrabi, Northern NSW, Australia.

It started out relatively innocently.

Her first message discussed a school test and praised Dean for his recent results.

But the conversation slowly crossed the line.

“It becomes more and more regular,” Cherina told The Sydney Morning Herald.

“They are communicating a lot each day and it’s just subtly coming in a little kiss or a little heart or a wink and things like that.”

“Can you imagine what it’s like for a mother to read? I didn’t want to read through that – but I wanted to know what was there.”

“This is not just about a young boy having a fling with a teacher; this is definite grooming and abuse – abuse of power that someone has done in the most disgusting way.”

The teacher, who cannot be named for legal reasons, fully acknowledged the age difference in the texts.

“49 yr olds don’t go around falling in luv [sic] with 17 yr olds,” she wrote.

“Totally bamboozled.”

An investigation by NBN News and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that the teacher at the center of the allegations was promoted at another school before being placed on duties without access to children after the Grays filed a complaint with the Department of Education.

After Dean’s 18th birthday, he left high school to attend TAFE, where he met his very first girlfriend, Caitlyn Butler.

Caitlyn has absolutely no doubt about what happened between Dean and one of his teachers, sharing that he once even revealed the incident to his friends during a game of ‘truth or dare.’

“She twisted him and made him feel important to get to him, and put him up on a pedestal and made him feel like it was OK what she was doing to him,” she said.

“[In a game of truth or dare] he said, ‘I slept with one of my school teachers’, and the whole room went quiet,” she said.

“Dean was young, he didn’t know right from wrong. It was more like, ‘how cool is this? I’m banging my teacher.’”

Messages between the teenage Dean and his teacher revealed that the pair talked about personal life events and made plans to meet up, with the teacher even offering him special access to the school gym so he could work out.

They also commented on Dean’s interactions with other students within the school.

“Well it comes as no surprise to me that all the girls would like you. I’m so jealous – they can just ring u [sic] & go ‘come over,’” wrote the teacher.

Dean responded, “I’m not interested in them.”

“I so love you,” said the teacher.

“Your [sic] my girl,” responded Dean.

“Yes I am,” the teacher replied.

The pair talked about giving nicknames to each other.

The teacher suggested Dean should be called “Badass” while he suggested hers should be “Miss,” to which the teacher acknowledged the inappropriateness of the contact.

“But don’t you think it makes me sound a bit pedophily [sic],” she wrote.

After making plans to meet up, they discussed being together.

“Marry me,” Dean wrote.

“OK. When I get out of jail from corrupting you,” replied the teacher.

The texts between them continued, until a person claiming to be the teacher’s husband wrote a long message to Dean.

“Don’t you dare speak to my wife again, let alone put your dirty little hands on her body,” it read.

“I know what happened.”

Dean’s parents originally reported the sickening allegations to the police and Education Department in 2016, after a family member told them about the abuse after noticing Dean’s out-of-character behavior.

The Education Department’s Professional and Ethical Standards unit (PES) began an investigation, which concluded due to “insufficient evidence.”

While this was happening, the teacher in question was promoted at another regional high school and was even attending public events to speak about the importance of the health and safety of children in her care.

But at the end of 2021 the Gray family was struck by tragedy when Dean drowned in the Namoi River while on a camping trip with friends.

His body was found after a long five-day search by police divers, SES, family and friends.

“It was just absolutely gut-wrenching,” Cherina recalled.

Dean’s father Rob and his daughter were the ones to find his body.

“For them to see that, can you imagine the effect that would have on them?” the mom said.

In the months following his death, and in her grief, Cherina began scrolling through text messages on Dean’s phone and made the shocking discovery that haunts her to this day.

She spent an entire day looking through the messages in horror; taking screenshots of all of them to ensure they would not disappear.

Armed with this new found evidence, she returned to the Education Department and police.

Within 48 hours the teacher was stood down from her face-to-face duties, as a second Education Department investigation began.

Since the loss of her son, Cherina has been pushing for an investigation into the teacher’s actions because “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

However, his fiancée Tayla told Daily Mail Australia “that’s not what he would want.”

“He didn’t want this, and I want to respect his wishes,” she said.

“He was 25 when he died and he didn’t want to make a complaint then, and that’s old enough to make a decision.”

Cherina says that the response from the police was not as swift, claiming that they waited over three months to collect the phone for evidence.

As of today, the teacher at the heart of the allegations is still employed by the department on “duties not involving dealing directly with children” pending the outcome of the investigation.

According to NBN News, a letter sent to Barwon MP Roy Butler by Parliamentary Secretary for Education Greg Warren claims the investigation into sexual misconduct is in its “final stages.”

“Should the teacher be found to have engaged in misconduct, appropriate action will be taken,” Warren wrote, ensuring the family will be “advised of the outcome as soon as it concludes.”

Dean’s parents admit they have almost lost hope there will be justice.

“I think … we would have liked a criminal conviction but we will have to take the blows with the wins,” Cherina said.

“But if she can be publicly named so that people know what she has done and she’s removed from her work, then that is still a victory. That would be a victory for our son.”

While they wait for the outcome of the last remaining investigation, Cherina and Rob hold on to the memories of their youngest son.

“He just had a bubbly personality and was very witty. You would say something and he would make a joke about it.”

“He loved his fitness and he loved his motorbikes and we adored him – we still adore him.”

A spokesperson from the NSW Department of Education confirmed that they had resumed the investigation into this matter.

“The Department’s Professional and Ethical Standards Directorate resumed its investigation into the new evidence in April this year after receiving police clearance to do so,” they said.

“A final decision will be made shortly.”