An American newlywed faces life behind bars after a judge in Fiji found him guilty of beating his wife to death during their honeymoon, authorities there announced Monday.
Christie Chen, who was 36 at the time of her murder, was reportedly injured so badly, her remains could not be embalmed for transport back to the U.S. and had to be cremated on the South Pacific archipelago.
Her husband, 40-year-old Bradley Robert Dawson, killed Chen two days after they arrived at the luxurious Turtle Island resort, then fled by kayak to a nearby island. Hotel staff discovered Chen’s body with numerous blunt trauma wounds to the head, in the couple’s room.
Chen worked as a pastry chef before returning to school to become a pharmacist, and had worked in that capacity at a Kroger supermarket in Memphis.
The Memphis, Tennessee, residents had been heard arguing loudly the night before Chen’s death, and neither showed up for breakfast or lunch the next day, according to the Chen family’s lawyer.
Justice Riyaz Hamza found Dawson guilty in the Lautoka High Court last Thursday after a weeklong trial, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said. Dawson had pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Hamza noted that Dawson was carrying his passport and personal belongings with him when he was arrested, and said this suggested his intent to abscond, according to the Fiji Times.
Dawson, worked in the IT department at a nonprofit child welfare organization. He remains jailed pending his sentencing date next month. Dawson is expected to receive a mandatory life term; Fiji law permits a presiding judge to set a minimum term to be served before a pardon is considered.
Turtle Island is an exclusive property on Yasawa, a group of 20 volcanic islands in the west of Fiji, and accommodates only 14 couples at a time.
An attorney for Dawson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
