Memphis man accused of murdering wife during Fiji honeymoon speaks out from behind bars

An American tourist said he and his new wife were never physically violent with each other before she turned up dead during their honeymoon in Fiji, where he is jailed in connection with her murder.

The body of Christe Chen, a pharmacist from Memphis, was discovered by staff at the ritzy Turtle Island resort on July 9. Police said the 36-year-old newlywed was beaten to death and then left in the bathroom inside her resort room. Her cause of death was listed as blunt force trauma to the head.

Just days earlier, she and her new husband, 38-year-old Bradley Dawson, arrived on the island nation to celebrate their recent marriage. Now, he’s facing a murder charge in connection with his wife’s slaying, though he has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.

During an interview with ABC from overseas and behind bars, Dawson said they “never had any physical arguments” over the course of their relationship. He also defended taking a kayak ride to a neighboring island the day of Chen’s death, refuting allegations that he was fleeing the scene. They’d gotten into a drunken fight, Dawson said, and all he wanted was to give Chen some time cool down.

Bradley Dawson denies killing wife Christe Chen.

“I just wanted to give her some space,” he told ABC News. “It was normal for me to take a walk.”

Dawson also noted that when he was arrested for Chen’s murder on July 9, officers failed to initially inform him that his wife was dead. Authorities alternatively claimed that Dawson confessed to the killing before he retained a lawyer.

According a police report, another guest at the Turtle Island resort said the couple appeared happy before they fought later on in the evening. The vacationer said she at one point, heard “loud banging sounds” from the couple’s room.

“It was as if someone was drunk and unable to control themselves inside,” she told police, according to the report. “And then we heard a loud scream followed by a big loud bang and after that there were complete silence.”

On Wednesday, Dawson appeared at a preliminary bail hearing at Fiji’s Lautoka High Court, where Judge Riyaz Hamza rejected requests that he be freed on bail before his trial.

Dawson, an IT specialist from Memphis, said he is “praying every day” for Chen, who he called “my everything.”

“What I can say is I am so sorry for the situation we are all going through now. We were supposed to have amazing holidays and I lost my wife,” he lamented. “Just thinking she is not here anymore is so painful. I am thinking of her all the time. We were supposed to have an amazing life.”