[A man from Memphis, Tennessee, has been found guilty by a judge in Fiji of murdering his wife during their honeymoon in 2022. Bradley Robert Dawson, 40, killed his wife, Christe Chen, 36, at the exclusive Turtle Island resort in the Yasawa archipelago two days after the newlyweds arrived in Fiji. Dawson fled by kayak to a nearby island after the murder, leaving his wife’s body with multiple blunt trauma wounds to her head. Resort staff discovered Chen’s body in the couple’s room after the couple failed to appear at breakfast or lunch the next day.
Justice Riyaz Hamza found Dawson guilty in the Lautoka High Court after a weeklong trial. Dawson had defended the charge. The judge noted that Dawson was carrying his passport and other belongings with him when he was arrested, indicating that he planned to flee. Dawson faces a mandatory term of life in prison when he is sentenced in January.
Chen’s body was so badly damaged that it could not be embalmed for return to the U.S. and was instead cremated. The couple was heard arguing over dinner the night before the murder. Dawson worked in the information technology department at Youth Villages, a nonprofit child welfare and support organization based in Memphis. The Turtle Island resort, where the pair stayed, is an exclusive and remote 500-acre island that accommodates only 14 couples at a time.
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