Tiffany Anna Taylor, 16, disappeared on July 12, 2015, after allegedly meeting Rodney Wayne Williams, 65, for a paid sexual liaison via the Oasis website.

Her body has never been found.

Williams pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday to murdering Tiffany at Waterford West, south of Brisbane, after picking her up in his car.

But prosecutor Philip McCarthy QC says police found traces of Tiffany's blood in the Hyundai sedan.

"On the glove box, on the headrest of the passenger seat ... on the front passenger seat, on the gear stick of that car and by the passenger side door handle," he said during his opening address to the jury.

Mr McCarthy said Williams told police he didn't have enough money to pay for sex but agreed to meet the teenager after she told him he was interesting.

Asked about the blood, he said Williams told officers Tiffany's nose bled in his car before she got out at an intersection in Redbank.

He later changed his story, saying he dropped her off at a truck stop on the Warrego Highway, the last time he saw her.

But Mr McCarthy said Williams was a liar, who had attempted to flee from Brisbane to Darwin after police searched his car and asked for a follow-up interview.

He said investigators found CCTV footage of Williams' car on the Ipswich Motorway with a female passenger on the day Tiffany disappeared.

Williams' car then allegedly exited into the remote Larapinta industrial park, where his car remained stopped for about 20 minutes.

"Something happens before it returns to the cul-de-sac that is part of the industrial area," Mr McCarthy said.

He said Williams then drove to the Esk-Ferndale region, where police have since searched dams and bushland without success.

Later in the day, Williams allegedly set about laying a false trail of communication with the teen on the Oasis website, Mr McCarthy said.

A message sent about three hours after Williams allegedly picked her up said: "Sorry I didn't turn up, decided I wasn't going to pay for it".

Defence lawyer Eoin Mac Giolla Ri warned the jury not to "be taken in by the heroics and technical wizardry of the detectives" who had collected evidence about Williams' movements from CCTV and mobile phone data.

He said what it actually showed was Williams would not have had the time to dispose of a body.

He suggested Tiffany may have gone into hiding from drug associates.

The court heard she was a "worldly' young woman who had begun living with a 38-year-old named Gregory Hill when she was 12.

The pair lived in hotels, which Tiffany paid for through her prostitution work.

Despite Mr Hill's alleged violence toward her, she was happy about expecting a child and had begun making plans for the future.

Mr McCarthy said despite her small stature, Tiffany was "no shrinking violet" when it came to demanding payment from clients.

Something that may have brought her into conflict with Williams, he said.

The trial continues.

Australian Associated Press