Bradley Robert Dawson, a 40-year-old man from Memphis, Tennessee, was convicted of killing his wife during their honeymoon in Fiji in 2022. The verdict was handed down on December 12, and he is due for sentencing on January 27, 2025.
On July 9, 2022, Christe Chen Dawson, 36, who was employed as a pharmacist at a Kroger supermarket in Memphis, Tennessee, was found dead in their room at the Turtle Island Resort in the Yasawa archipelago. This resort costs $3,500 per night. Medical examiners determined that she died due to multiple blunt force traumas to the head.
The verdict was delivered by Justice Riyaz Hamza of the High Court of Lautoka after a week-long trial. Justice Hamza concluded beyond doubt that Dawson was responsible for the murder.
After a noise complaint by another guest and the couple’s absence at breakfast and lunch, resort staff found Chen’s body. Dawson had left the scene by kayak to another island, but he was later captured by law enforcement.
An argument between the couple, according to the Daily Mail, began after Chen saw Dawson “inappropriately dancing” with another woman.
A fellow guest testified that she heard disturbing noises from the Dawsons’ room that evening, despite the couple seeming to have a good time earlier. She compared the noises to those made by a drunk person moving unpredictably. She heard a scream, followed by a final loud impact, and then silence.
Despite receiving a noise complaint that night, resort staff did not check on the well-being of the Dawsons until the next day.
According to Ronald Gordon, the attorney representing Chen’s family, her body was so brutally beaten that it was impossible to embalm. Her ashes were cremated and sent back to the United States.
The couple tied the knot in February 2022, soon after Dawson’s divorce from his previous wife was finalized in January of the same year. When she was killed, Chen was a recent graduate of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and was working as a pharmacist.
Upon his arrest, Dawson was found with his passport and personal belongings. Justice Hamza pointed to this as an indication of his plan to leave the country. Throughout the court process, Dawson insisted that he was innocent and had taken the kayak to another island to let his wife calm down after a disagreement.
In an interview with ABC News upon his arrest, Dawson denied any past physical altercations with Chen and described her as ‘my everything.’
The couple’s honeymoon destination, the Turtle Island Resort, is a prestigious property that only accommodates 14 couples at a time. It served as the filming location for the 1980 film “The Blue Lagoon.” Chen’s parents, who were regular visitors to the resort, reportedly paid for the trip.
Dawson, who previously worked in the IT department at Youth Villages, a nonprofit organization dedicated to child welfare in Memphis, Tennessee, now faces a mandatory life sentence according to Fiji law.