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Pharmacist-Bride Bludgeoned Dead on Fairytale Honeymoon · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Greece. Your wedding, your honeymoon. You know,
0:16
Speaker 1: a lot of girls grow up dreaming of that. You know.
0:21
Speaker 1: The other day, my daughter's little friend blurted out that
0:27
Speaker 1: she wanted to have a Disney wedding and she had
0:30
Speaker 1: already picked out the location at I guess it's Cinderella's Castle. Yeah,
0:36
Speaker 1: it's Cinderella's Castle at Disney. That's so beautiful once in
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Speaker 1: the background of a lot of their photos. And this
0:42
Speaker 1: is she had this fantasy when she was about nine
0:45
Speaker 1: years old. She's already planned her wedding. Well, here's my question.
0:53
Speaker 1: How does a beautiful young bride who has a dream
0:57
Speaker 1: wedding and a dream honeymoon in the exotic island of
1:03
Speaker 1: Fiji end up dead? How does that happen? I Ac Grace,
1:11
Speaker 1: this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us
1:14
Speaker 1: here at Fox Nation in series M one eleven. First
1:17
Speaker 1: of all, take a listen to this public record show
1:20
Speaker 1: the Memphis area couple tied the knot in February the
1:23
Speaker 1: Turtle Island Resort, confirming the two were guests at the
1:26
Speaker 1: all inclusive luxury resort. Fiji police tell ABC News a
1:31
Speaker 1: resort housekeeper discovered Chen's body lying on the floor of
1:34
Speaker 1: her hotel room earlier this month. The housekeeper alerted hotel
1:38
Speaker 1: management a medical team, later pronouncing Chen dead. You're hearing
1:43
Speaker 1: our friends there at ABC's GMA. I still don't get it.
1:49
Speaker 1: The time in your life when it's supposed to be
1:52
Speaker 1: the happiest before, you're busy with raising children and juggling
2:00
Speaker 1: jobs and mortgage payments and car payments. How do you
2:05
Speaker 1: end up dead on a Fiji honeymoon? Take a listen
2:10
Speaker 1: to that, our friends at Fox thirteen. The couple lived
2:13
Speaker 1: in Cooper Young on Elsie Avenue here in the Cooper
2:17
Speaker 1: Young area of Memphis. One neighbor says she saw Chin
2:20
Speaker 1: right before the vacation. She described her as elated she
2:23
Speaker 1: would get to spend her honeymoon in Fiji. We did
2:26
Speaker 1: some digging and discovered Chin graduated from ut and worked
2:30
Speaker 1: as a pharmacist at a Queger in Memphis. Bradley Dawson
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Speaker 1: is employed by Youth Villages, a nonprofit that works to
2:37
Speaker 1: improve the lives of children. So these two seemingly were
2:42
Speaker 1: a perfect fit. Joining me an all star panel to
2:46
Speaker 1: make sense of what we know right now. But before
2:48
Speaker 1: I introduced the entire panel. Let me first go to
2:50
Speaker 1: our friend and colleague, Charlie Langston. First, Charlie, I want
2:54
Speaker 1: to talk about not only the discovery of her body,
2:58
Speaker 1: but who is this woman, Christie Chance. She's gorgeous, she
3:05
Speaker 1: is educated, she has finished her degree. She's a pharmacist,
3:10
Speaker 1: which means you have to pass a rigorous exam. She's
3:14
Speaker 1: already employed helping people. She has seemingly a great husband,
3:19
Speaker 1: and he's working at a nonprofit. They get married, they
3:23
Speaker 1: delay the honeymoon until they're ready to go for a
3:25
Speaker 1: couple of months, I think, and then they go to Fiji.
3:28
Speaker 1: What more do I know about Christie? You know? I mean,
3:31
Speaker 1: on the surface, this really was a fairy tale pairing.
3:35
Speaker 1: Everyone who's talked about Christie being a wonderful human being,
3:39
Speaker 1: an intelligent human being, who was so overjoyed and elated
3:44
Speaker 1: to be married and to be going on her honeymoon.
3:47
Speaker 1: Now the two enjoyed a well winned romance. They were
3:50
Speaker 1: only together for around three months before they tied the
3:53
Speaker 1: knot in February. But on the surface, it really did
3:56
Speaker 1: look like the perfect pairing. You've got this incredibly beautiful,
4:00
Speaker 1: bubbly pharmacist with an incredible educational background. And then you've
4:04
Speaker 1: got the husband who is, as you said, seemingly an
4:08
Speaker 1: incredible guy who works with children for a living, works
4:11
Speaker 1: for a nonprofit. It really did look like the perfect pairing.
4:15
Speaker 1: And then they jet off on this incredibly luxurious honeymoon
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Speaker 1: to a thirty five hundred dollars a night resort. Whoa
4:22
Speaker 1: whoa wait wait wait I just heard thirty five hundred
4:25
Speaker 1: dollars a night. Did I hear that correctly? Yes, you did,
4:28
Speaker 1: thirty five hundred dollars a night. Yes. What is this place,
4:33
Speaker 1: Charlie Lanston? It is a very secluded, very luxurious, all
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Speaker 1: inclusive resort that is located on an island. It is
4:42
Speaker 1: very very private. The only people who live on the
4:45
Speaker 1: island are the staff who worked there. And that is
4:49
Speaker 1: why this whole incident has really been difficult to get
4:54
Speaker 1: to the bottom of, because you know, this incredibly luxurious
4:57
Speaker 1: resort does not want heinous detail hills of this horrific
5:01
Speaker 1: tragedy getting out to the world and potentially tarnishing its reputation.
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Speaker 1: So staff have been told under no circumstances are they
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Speaker 1: to reveal any information, any details about what went on here.
5:14
Speaker 1: That certainly hinders any sort of an investigation when nobody
5:19
Speaker 1: will talk, and also the nature of the locations secluded
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Speaker 1: island resort there on Turtle Island, Fiji makes it very
5:28
Speaker 1: difficult for experts to come in. I'm going to go
5:32
Speaker 1: very quickly to doctor Bethany Marshall psychoanalysts joining us from
5:38
Speaker 1: la At never a lack of business there for a
5:42
Speaker 1: psychoanalyst everyone. You can find her at doctor Bethany Marshall
5:46
Speaker 1: dot com. Bethany, I just want to examine the psychology
5:51
Speaker 1: the expectations that women all over the US have about
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Speaker 1: their wedding, the wedding dress, their honeymoon, the whole Turtle
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Speaker 1: Island resort thirty five dollars a night. The dichotomy of
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Speaker 1: this dream come true and then to find her in
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Speaker 1: that condition at this high end resort is just such
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Speaker 1: a stark dichotomy, Nancy. It is and you know, the
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Speaker 1: whole honeymoon of it all is true. It's backed up
6:29
Speaker 1: by science. We have a number of robust research in
6:34
Speaker 1: brain scans of newlywed couples that have there's really the
6:41
Speaker 1: brains of newlyweds couples have been scanned and what we've
6:45
Speaker 1: found can I just asked you a question. Yeah, who
6:49
Speaker 1: that's getting married and going on their honeymoon is going
6:52
Speaker 1: to have a brain scan? Just curious who signs up
6:55
Speaker 1: for that. Well, research that they're very interested in. What
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Speaker 1: they've learned is that the pleasure centers of the brain
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Speaker 1: are so activated it's as if the couple is on cocaine.
7:05
Speaker 1: Whoa and so. So it's really interesting because not only
7:10
Speaker 1: do we know that it's the beginning of people's hopes
7:13
Speaker 1: and dreams, it's a wonderful period. As you mentioned earlier,
7:18
Speaker 1: from the time that we're children, little girls, we fantasize
7:21
Speaker 1: about marriage and honeymoon and having children. Ivery did you
7:27
Speaker 1: never did? No, man, don't know honeymoon marriage. I'm really happy.
7:34
Speaker 1: I love David and I know you were trains. Um.
7:38
Speaker 1: It's more than anything got kind of ever ever imagined.
7:43
Speaker 1: But I never once dreamed of it, not even once
7:46
Speaker 1: as a young girl. No, m so, I don't know
7:52
Speaker 1: what that means. Look up. Helen Fisher, the cultural anthropologist,
7:56
Speaker 1: did all this research. She took brain scans of people
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Speaker 1: falling in love, of people getting married, people on their honeymoons,
8:03
Speaker 1: and she was the one that first had the findings
8:07
Speaker 1: that their brains look like people on cocaine. That's how
8:10
Speaker 1: happy they were. I believe you. I believe you, I
8:12
Speaker 1: completely believe you. So their dreams and expectations aren't just emotional,
8:19
Speaker 1: it's actually backed up by brain scans, and not only that,
8:23
Speaker 1: the idyllic nature of this can I just tell you
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Speaker 1: one of their ads, your private island Playground beckons a
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Speaker 1: siren song of the heart to discover the serene tranquility
8:34
Speaker 1: of this wild paradise. I mean, I would like to
8:38
Speaker 1: go there right now if I didn't know about this death.
8:41
Speaker 1: So doctor Bethany Marshall's it's the dichotomy of what you're saying.
8:46
Speaker 1: People so exciting, it's excited and dreamy that they actually
8:51
Speaker 1: appeared to be on their brain scan appears to be
8:54
Speaker 1: on cocaine. It's really a lot to take in. But
8:59
Speaker 1: this young Christie Chien, a board certified pharmacist who was
9:05
Speaker 1: very happy in her job, very happy in her marriage.
9:09
Speaker 1: Things could not have gone more wrong. Charlie links in
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Speaker 1: joining us female editor at dailymail dot com. I understand
9:17
Speaker 1: that one of the employees found her body, but I
9:23
Speaker 1: want to take a listen to our friend Dave mac
9:28
Speaker 1: at Crime online dot Com. Christy Chen and Robert Dawson
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Speaker 1: married in February, but waited five months to take the
9:34
Speaker 1: honeymoon of a lifetime in Fiji. The couple chose the
9:38
Speaker 1: luxurious Turtle Island Resort, an exclusive, secluded locale with prices
9:42
Speaker 1: that run thousands of dollars a night. Just fourteen couples
9:46
Speaker 1: in private villas can stay at the resort at a time.
9:49
Speaker 1: Each bill it comes complete with a personal concierge in
9:52
Speaker 1: gourmet meals. Turtle Island Resort is also a favorite of celebrities.
9:56
Speaker 1: Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, Jessica Simpson and Nick Lasha have
10:00
Speaker 1: all stated the resort. According to the Sydney Morning Herald,
10:02
Speaker 1: Turtle Island Resort is also where the nineteen eighty movie
10:05
Speaker 1: The Blue Lagoons Darring Brooke Shields was filmed. I just
10:08
Speaker 1: wanted everybody to hear that because that scenery in Blue
10:12
Speaker 1: Lagoon was stunning. I've always wondered where that was filmed.
10:17
Speaker 1: I didn't think it could even be real, but it is,
10:19
Speaker 1: and this is where it happened. That's where Blue Lagoon
10:23
Speaker 1: with Brookshields was filmed. It's like paradise crime stories with
10:42
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. I want to hear from you, Charlie linkson
10:46
Speaker 1: against this background, how was this beautiful young bride, Christy
10:52
Speaker 1: Chen found dead? Well. Alarms were initially raised when the
10:56
Speaker 1: couple did not turn up for breakfast on July ninth,
11:00
Speaker 1: and their butler, who was responsible for cleaning and looking
11:05
Speaker 1: after their private villa. Okay, wait, did you say, butler? Yes, Okay,
11:09
Speaker 1: go ahead. So he went to the villa and found
11:12
Speaker 1: a do not disturb sign on the door. He went
11:16
Speaker 1: in because there were concerns about the fact that the
11:19
Speaker 1: couple had not turned up to breakfast. He began cleaning
11:22
Speaker 1: the villa when he spotted blood on the wall of
11:25
Speaker 1: the bathroom. He then went into the bathroom and found
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Speaker 1: Christie Chen's body beaten to just an unbelievable extent, to
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Speaker 1: the point where she was barely recognizable and her husband
11:41
Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. I want you to bear
11:43
Speaker 1: it up, so the butler does. They're only fourteen guests
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Speaker 1: at a time at this resort, fourteen couples, okay, thank you, yes,
11:51
Speaker 1: so then twenty eight, So that means to me they
11:54
Speaker 1: are fourteen I guess villas. Yes, I'm already thinking of
11:58
Speaker 1: the possibilities regard the killer. So there are twenty eight
12:03
Speaker 1: people there, and each villa has its own butler, is
12:06
Speaker 1: that correct? Yes, a concierge who is responsible for making
12:09
Speaker 1: sure that your every wish is catered to essentially, And
12:13
Speaker 1: they didn't show up for breakfast. See for a honeymoon couple,
12:16
Speaker 1: I would not find that unusual. So I wonder what
12:20
Speaker 1: peaked the butler's interest to go and enter the villa.
12:24
Speaker 1: He didn't enter the villa until around mid day, so
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Speaker 1: the couple had not been seen for several hours. And
12:33
Speaker 1: we understand that prior to this day they had been
12:36
Speaker 1: at the resort for two days. They had been up
12:39
Speaker 1: bright and early and enjoying this incredible paradise and all
12:44
Speaker 1: of the amazing amenities and meals that the resort has
12:48
Speaker 1: to offer. Okay, so we've got already established a pattern
12:50
Speaker 1: that they were early risers and would get up and
12:53
Speaker 1: hit the ground running, didn't want to miss a thing,
12:57
Speaker 1: as opposed to sleeping in. I find that very very important,
13:03
Speaker 1: and I want to go to Gary Davidson joining us.
13:05
Speaker 1: You may recognize his name as a high profile lawyer
13:09
Speaker 1: joining us partner at DS Royce, and you can find
13:13
Speaker 1: him on Twitter and stuff. Gary, It depends on which
13:18
Speaker 1: side of the fence you're on in any particular trial.
13:21
Speaker 1: But I find behavioral evidence, or as it's called routine evidence,
13:26
Speaker 1: evidence of routine to be in my mind, very powerful.
13:30
Speaker 1: Now it can easily be attacked by opposing counsel, But
13:34
Speaker 1: the fact that they were early risers, and every day
13:38
Speaker 1: of their honeymoon they were getting up early and going
13:41
Speaker 1: to breakfast and going out to I don't know snorical height,
13:45
Speaker 1: whatever they were doing. I find that very interesting. And
13:50
Speaker 1: I also find it a tell, A tell is to
13:53
Speaker 1: possibly when the homicide occurred. What do you make of
13:58
Speaker 1: routine evidence or behavioral evidence, Gary Well, I would add
14:02
Speaker 1: to that that the fact is they're on a remote
14:08
Speaker 1: island where there's somewhere less than a hundred people presumably
14:15
Speaker 1: attending to them and as other guests. So the possibilities
14:20
Speaker 1: of a crime of passion. And let's be clear, this
14:23
Speaker 1: very much sounds like a crime of passion based on
14:27
Speaker 1: the descriptions of the body. Oka. Wait, that is really interesting,
14:31
Speaker 1: Gary Davison, really interesting. Hold on. Gary Davison is pegging
14:37
Speaker 1: this as a crime of passion. Now, some people may
14:40
Speaker 1: have gone down the avenue of an intruder coming in
14:46
Speaker 1: to rob or take their money or valuables. They find
14:49
Speaker 1: her and so they beat her dead and take the step.
14:54
Speaker 1: But you're thinking crime of passion. I want to follow
14:57
Speaker 1: up on that, Gary Davison and hold the rest of
14:59
Speaker 1: those thoughts, because you know you're not a great trial
15:02
Speaker 1: lawyer for nothing. So I know you've already come up
15:04
Speaker 1: with a lot of strategies. Here Carl E. Williams joining me,
15:08
Speaker 1: chief Medical Examiner or Alleghany County. That's Pittsburgh, you know,
15:13
Speaker 1: Carl Williams, Doctor Williams, Just as a rough estimate, how
15:17
Speaker 1: many autopsies do you believe you've done? Four or five thousand?
15:21
Speaker 1: The stuff you stopped counting after a while, the first
15:23
Speaker 1: couple of thousand or the most traumatic, you know, and
15:25
Speaker 1: after that it all goes downhill. But I've been practiced
15:28
Speaker 1: for forty years and right now my office does two
15:32
Speaker 1: thousand a year. I've been there for two thousand and seven,
15:35
Speaker 1: so a lot of autopsies. You know what's interesting, Doctor Williams,
15:39
Speaker 1: is someone asked me how many cases I've tried or
15:42
Speaker 1: how many cases I've handled. When I go back and
15:44
Speaker 1: think over the years at an arrayment calendar every Monday
15:48
Speaker 1: of one hundred and fifteen new cases once a week
15:51
Speaker 1: for over ten years. That's a lot of cases. I
15:54
Speaker 1: can't even count all. Yeah, So I hear what you're
15:57
Speaker 1: saying in your mind, doctor Williams fallowing up on what
16:01
Speaker 1: Gary Davidson trial lawyer at Diaz Royce says, crime of passion?
16:08
Speaker 1: What about her death suggests crime of passion? Just a
16:14
Speaker 1: description of the massive amount of trauma, particularly to the face,
16:17
Speaker 1: particularly to the head. Obviously that's an indication of the
16:21
Speaker 1: pattern of the injuries more than anything else. We don't
16:24
Speaker 1: we don't see that savage of beating as its described
16:29
Speaker 1: without it making it think that it's a crime of passion.
16:33
Speaker 1: There's no other really explanation for it. So if you
16:37
Speaker 1: eliminate the possibility of the intruder, just put into that
16:43
Speaker 1: pattern in generally, you know, I'm curious, Charlie Lankson, what
16:46
Speaker 1: more can you tell me about the attack itself? You
16:49
Speaker 1: hear doctor Williams described savage, a savage beating. What can
16:56
Speaker 1: you tell us about her death exactly? She suffered what
16:59
Speaker 1: has been described as traumatic injuries to her body and
17:04
Speaker 1: several blunt force blows to her head. This was not
17:09
Speaker 1: a quick or painless death. It sounds as though she
17:13
Speaker 1: went through an incredibly savage beating to the point where
17:18
Speaker 1: her body could not be brought back to the US
17:22
Speaker 1: because it was in such horrific condition. Another thing I noticed,
17:26
Speaker 1: Charlie Lankston joining us from Delhimail dot Com is her
17:29
Speaker 1: body was found wedged in between the commode and the
17:34
Speaker 1: wall and that space, and that tells me something. Doctor
17:39
Speaker 1: Bethanie Marshall, psychoanas joining us from LA It tells me
17:42
Speaker 1: she was trying to escape her attacker. He and I'm
17:46
Speaker 1: sure the bludgeoning death was by a man, statistically was
17:50
Speaker 1: not a woman. Did not kill her and wedge her
17:53
Speaker 1: down there between the commode and the wall, that tiny
17:57
Speaker 1: space where there's only room for a toulet paper dispenser.
18:01
Speaker 1: I think she was there trying to avoid the blows
18:05
Speaker 1: that she was sustaining. Nancy, this poor little thing was
18:10
Speaker 1: trying to get away from her attacker. Where is the husband?
18:16
Speaker 1: Take a listen now to our France a crime online.
18:18
Speaker 1: On the night Jim was killed, Brad Dawson was seen
18:21
Speaker 1: walking the length of Turtle Island in the early morning hours.
18:23
Speaker 1: By the night watchman. After Chin's body is discovered, police
18:27
Speaker 1: began to search for Dawson at last thirty six hours
18:30
Speaker 1: they find Dawson left his GPS watch and mobile phone
18:33
Speaker 1: in the bungalow, but his wallet and passport were missing. What,
18:37
Speaker 1: Charlie Lankson, Excuse me? What am I hearing? His watch
18:41
Speaker 1: significantly that has GPS on it and his phone, which
18:47
Speaker 1: also has GPS on it, are in the room, but
18:51
Speaker 1: his passport and his wallet are missing. That is correct. Now,
18:55
Speaker 1: that tells me a lot right there. If there had
18:58
Speaker 1: been an intruder, they would have a can the watch
19:02
Speaker 1: and probably the phone maybe, but definitely the watch. Why
19:05
Speaker 1: would they take the wallet and the passport and leave
19:09
Speaker 1: the watch? So that tells me there was not an intruder.
19:13
Speaker 1: That's just at first glance. But what about it, Charlie?
19:17
Speaker 1: And who is this guy? Who is the husband Bradley Dawson.
19:21
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, as far as we're aware, he
19:25
Speaker 1: was this, you know, great guy who swept Christy Chen
19:28
Speaker 1: off her feet. He worked for a nonprofit, He spent
19:31
Speaker 1: his days working and helping children, and then all of
19:34
Speaker 1: a sudden he becomes a source of huge speculation and scrutiny.
19:40
Speaker 1: Because his wife. His new wife is beaten to death
19:44
Speaker 1: in a savage attack. But the night before the night
19:48
Speaker 1: before that she has found dead, didn't they go to
19:52
Speaker 1: a quote family fun night with island staff and the
19:55
Speaker 1: other guests. Now, true, it sounds like a big drunk
19:59
Speaker 1: to me. Everybody was drinking and laughing and having fun
20:02
Speaker 1: on family fun night. But then I understand, Charlie Langston,
20:07
Speaker 1: you would know this better than any of us, that
20:09
Speaker 1: a fight, an argument erupted between the bride and the groom.
20:15
Speaker 1: Over what a heated argument is what it's being described as.
20:20
Speaker 1: And mister Dawson's lawyer has admitted that the two of
20:26
Speaker 1: them did get into an argument. However, you know, we
20:32
Speaker 1: kind of before this heated argument, they had looked like
20:36
Speaker 1: the perfect couple. Well, I understand their argument was about
20:39
Speaker 1: a sexy dance flirtation. So we do understand that the
20:43
Speaker 1: reason that the two of them got into a fight
20:46
Speaker 1: is because Christie got angry at her new husband because
20:49
Speaker 1: he was dancing in a sexy manner with another woman
20:54
Speaker 1: and she got cross with him. Okay, Doctor Berthany Marshall,
20:57
Speaker 1: I may not have dreamed of my weary when I
21:00
Speaker 1: was in the fifth grade. But I can tell you
21:03
Speaker 1: this much. If my husband was sexy dancing with another
21:07
Speaker 1: woman on the honeymoon, for would fly about. I'm just
21:15
Speaker 1: telling you that I'd get mad too, especially on your honeymoon. Well, Nancy,
21:20
Speaker 1: this is really unusual behavior on a honeymoon. I have
21:23
Speaker 1: a couple hypotheses here. Either he had been drinking way
21:28
Speaker 1: too much, he's impulsive, or maybe he's the kind of
21:31
Speaker 1: guy who's pathologically jealous, so he's going to go to
21:34
Speaker 1: a sexy dance to get back at her for some
21:37
Speaker 1: minor infraction on her party. Don't know anything about any
21:41
Speaker 1: infraction on her part. We know nothing about that exactly me.
21:44
Speaker 1: This is all guesswork. I'm just building another tale here,
21:47
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out what might have gotten on.
21:49
Speaker 1: This is what we do know that we don't have
21:52
Speaker 1: to guess about. All Right, A sexy dance, That's what
21:55
Speaker 1: I'm calling it. Because it made her angry. I know
21:58
Speaker 1: that much. Gary David send high profile lawyer joining us. Gary,
22:03
Speaker 1: are you married? I'm not. Have you ever been? No? Okay,
22:07
Speaker 1: well I've got somebody say you up with? So that said, Gary,
22:13
Speaker 1: how many times have you seen major fights erupt over
22:19
Speaker 1: something stupid like the husband having too many drinks and
22:23
Speaker 1: dancing with another woman probably the next morning won't even
22:26
Speaker 1: remember it except for the big fight that followed, or
22:29
Speaker 1: vice versa. I mean, people get shot over things like
22:34
Speaker 1: dancing with somebody else, so which really means nothing. Well
22:37
Speaker 1: that's true, but it does mean something in the context
22:40
Speaker 1: of a honeymoon. And I think Bethany is correct about that,
22:46
Speaker 1: and it's you know, I think the point about them
22:51
Speaker 1: not really knowing each other that well, only having been
22:55
Speaker 1: together for a relatively short period of time eight months,
23:02
Speaker 1: and then to get married. You barely know the depths
23:06
Speaker 1: of a person's emotions at that point. And so what
23:10
Speaker 1: I think, what I think happened here was there was
23:14
Speaker 1: some sort of an emotional breakdown on the part of
23:18
Speaker 1: a husband following this argument, and this was a climb
23:22
Speaker 1: of passion, and who took his passion out on his
23:25
Speaker 1: newlywed wife. Well I know this. I know they'd only
23:29
Speaker 1: known each other for a few months before their marriage,
23:32
Speaker 1: their whorl wind marriage. But I can tell you this,
23:35
Speaker 1: it ain't his first time at the rodeo. Take us
23:38
Speaker 1: an hour cut two our friends at crime online dot Com.
23:42
Speaker 1: Bradley Dawson's marriage to Christy Chen is his second marriage,
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Speaker 1: and with this marriage, the honeymoon was in Pigi. With
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Speaker 1: Dawson's first marriage, this ceremony took place in Fiji, Yarropigi
23:52
Speaker 1: in September twenty nineteen. That's according to a Shelby County
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Speaker 1: Chance three Court divorce filing for that marriage. The relationship
23:59
Speaker 1: last did just two years. Dawson filed for a divorce
24:02
Speaker 1: in September of twenty twenty one, citing irreconcilable differences as grounds.
24:06
Speaker 1: The couple quickly reached a property settlement and a final
24:09
Speaker 1: decree was issued in January twenty twenty two. Man, love
24:12
Speaker 1: him and leave him? Could he at least have surprised
24:16
Speaker 1: me and had the second wedding somewhere other than where
24:20
Speaker 1: he had the first wedding and honeymoon? I mean? Okay?
24:25
Speaker 1: That said, let's move on to what we know about
24:27
Speaker 1: the night of the death. Take a listen now to
24:30
Speaker 1: our cut number three. Dave mac, Christy Chen and Bradley
24:35
Speaker 1: Dawson had been at Turtle Island Resort for two days.
24:38
Speaker 1: Resort staff said the couple drank and partied on the
24:41
Speaker 1: beach with other guests, but then the couple argued, according
24:45
Speaker 1: to Dawson's attorney, Christy Chen had a drunken fight with
24:48
Speaker 1: her husband over his flirtatious dancing with someone else. Interesting
24:52
Speaker 1: how that was worded that she had a drunken fight
24:56
Speaker 1: with him over his flirtatious dancing with somebody else. So
25:00
Speaker 1: somehow she has turned into the bad guy and Nancy
25:04
Speaker 1: according to his attorney. Yeah, exactly, according to his lawyer.
25:09
Speaker 1: So she's found the next day, sometime midday, when a
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Speaker 1: butler goes into their nearly four thousand dollars a night
25:17
Speaker 1: villa at Fiji to find her bludgeoned dead. The blows,
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Speaker 1: according to Charlie Langston, are multiple traumatic injuries to body, shoulders,
25:30
Speaker 1: lacerations to face, a blood forced trauma to head. That's
25:33
Speaker 1: according to a post mortem report. And I want to
25:37
Speaker 1: go to you, doctor Bethany, regarding the blows to the face,
25:42
Speaker 1: the blows to the face, because some people may say
25:47
Speaker 1: this is junk science, but according to you and me,
25:52
Speaker 1: when there are blows to the face, I could compare
25:55
Speaker 1: it to a case where the woman has been stabbed
26:01
Speaker 1: at her breast or her genitals. It is very significant.
26:05
Speaker 1: And the injuries themselves tell me a lot about the killer.
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Speaker 1: What did you make of many of the blows being
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Speaker 1: to the face, Nancy, blows to the face are so
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Speaker 1: targeted to me, it means the lights were on, the assailant,
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Speaker 1: saw her, was looking at her in the eyes, had
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Speaker 1: extreme feelings of rage. This is not just somebody who
26:28
Speaker 1: crept into the bungalow at night trying to steal a
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Speaker 1: piece of jewelry, or maybe another guest on the island
26:35
Speaker 1: who became fixated on her and wanted to gain proximity
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Speaker 1: to her, wanted to get to know her better, and
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Speaker 1: then went into a fit of anger. This is somebody
26:46
Speaker 1: who had deep, stimmering rage towards her. This was an
26:51
Speaker 1: up and up close and personal attack. Let me bring
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Speaker 1: in now Chief Deputy a Pitt County Sheriff Office in Greenville,
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Speaker 1: John Guard. John, thank you for being with us. I
27:06
Speaker 1: believe that well, in my experience, burglars don't typically come
27:13
Speaker 1: in to kill or rape. However, if they are suddenly
27:19
Speaker 1: confronted with the resident being there, they may beat the
27:25
Speaker 1: resident or shoot the resident, but typically they'll run. They
27:30
Speaker 1: want to come in and steal something and get the
27:32
Speaker 1: hay out of there, and that extends to butlers, to
27:37
Speaker 1: the grounds people, to everyone working there. If they're going
27:41
Speaker 1: to steal, they want to take it and leave. If
27:45
Speaker 1: they find out somebody's there, they'll just leave. That's generally
27:50
Speaker 1: speaking true in the majority of burglary cases. Would you agree, absolutely? So?
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Speaker 1: Why would a burglar or a thief go to so
28:02
Speaker 1: much trouble to bludgeon the bride dead as she's wedged
28:08
Speaker 1: between the commode and the wall. I can tell you
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Speaker 1: in my experiences, certainly is not the first case as
28:15
Speaker 1: far as placement of body has been has been discovered. Uh.
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Speaker 1: In fact, we have had homicides that are in the
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Speaker 1: context of domestic violence here that we work that are
28:27
Speaker 1: very very similar. Waitnte, what do you mean about the
28:30
Speaker 1: placement of the body? I want to explore that as
28:33
Speaker 1: as Gary ed said about the crime of passion. I
28:36
Speaker 1: mean typically, I mean you're finding the body in the bathroom,
28:40
Speaker 1: and you're going to assume that's probably one of the
28:42
Speaker 1: furthest most points in that villa. It would appear to
28:46
Speaker 1: me that she was backed into a corner. I mean,
28:49
Speaker 1: she's retreating, as what it appears to me, and then
28:52
Speaker 1: the body being wedged in the toilet tub area being
28:57
Speaker 1: found there and then the injury is I mean, and
29:00
Speaker 1: on top of that, you look at the pattern of
29:03
Speaker 1: behavior in the two days prior, early for breakfast and
29:07
Speaker 1: attending all the things that are planning for them or
29:11
Speaker 1: those there on the on the island that do not
29:14
Speaker 1: disturb sign you know, no items. You know, we look
29:18
Speaker 1: at burglary. I mean, I'm going to assume if you're
29:21
Speaker 1: staying in a place to charging thirty five hundred dollars
29:24
Speaker 1: a night, it wouldn't be uncommon to have high end jewelry,
29:28
Speaker 1: rolex watches, things like that. None of that has ever
29:32
Speaker 1: come out as missing. The only thing missing is the
29:36
Speaker 1: passport and the wallet. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. So
29:54
Speaker 1: where has the husband gone? Is he dead too? Take
29:58
Speaker 1: a listen to our friends at crime Online. According to police,
30:03
Speaker 1: Dawson tried to leave the country by water. The mainland
30:06
Speaker 1: is a two to three hour bow ride from Turtle Island,
30:08
Speaker 1: just over a mile away. However, Dawson shows up on
30:11
Speaker 1: a secluded beach on Matako Wha Levu Island. A local
30:14
Speaker 1: man finds Dawson covered with cuts and bruises walking toward
30:17
Speaker 1: the village. The man tells Dailymail dot Com that Dawson
30:20
Speaker 1: said he used a kayak to paddle to the island
30:23
Speaker 1: after having a fight with his wife and asked that
30:25
Speaker 1: the police be called. The kayak Dawson claimed he traveled
30:28
Speaker 1: to the island on has not been found. Okay, I'm
30:31
Speaker 1: really torn right now between Charlie Lankston at Dailymail for
30:34
Speaker 1: some facts and doctor Bethany Marshall. Okay, sorry, Charlie, I'm
30:37
Speaker 1: going with a shrink. You know what, when I get
30:40
Speaker 1: angry with my husband, I might stomp out to the backyard,
30:46
Speaker 1: but that's pretty much it because the children are inside.
30:49
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go too far, right, but to get
30:52
Speaker 1: on a kayak and row yourself off the island, really,
30:57
Speaker 1: am I supposed to believe that? I would love to
30:59
Speaker 1: argue that to a jury. He was so angry and
31:03
Speaker 1: embarrassed over his sexy dance with another woman that he
31:06
Speaker 1: rode himself off the island with a kayak and he
31:11
Speaker 1: demands police be called. Okay, it was not a cool
31:14
Speaker 1: week if it was one point two miles. Oh, dear
31:17
Speaker 1: Lord and hem and thank you Charlie. So I mean,
31:19
Speaker 1: after about thirty feet with a kayak, I'm like, Okay,
31:22
Speaker 1: I've had enough, I'm going back. Did you say one
31:25
Speaker 1: point two miles, Charlie, like one point two miles? This
31:29
Speaker 1: was not a kind of you know, frustrated, I'm going
31:32
Speaker 1: to row a few feet in order to get out
31:35
Speaker 1: of my aggression. He went one point two miles at
31:39
Speaker 1: you know, in the middle of the night. It was
31:41
Speaker 1: also pitch black. Okay, so doctor bethany a kayak in
31:46
Speaker 1: the middle of the night because he's what angry over
31:50
Speaker 1: the argument and embarrassed because of his sexy dance with
31:53
Speaker 1: another guest. Really, okay, let's see, they had an argument,
31:57
Speaker 1: they're enraged each other. They're fighting. The fighting is whack
32:00
Speaker 1: thing and waning all night long. Usually, when you're in
32:02
Speaker 1: a fight, you do not want to leave the person
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Speaker 1: you're fighting with. This is a known fact. This is
32:08
Speaker 1: why we have anger management groups where we instruct people. Hey,
32:12
Speaker 1: if you're having a horrible fight, you know, give yourself
32:15
Speaker 1: permission to leave the room of the where the loved one.
32:20
Speaker 1: You know how I hate when you talk like that.
32:23
Speaker 1: Give yourself permission, but I stop. Okay, will you try
32:27
Speaker 1: to sight again in regular people talk? Okay, Here's what
32:31
Speaker 1: happens when people are fighting. They will not let their
32:36
Speaker 1: loved one out of the room because the minute the
32:39
Speaker 1: loved one leaves the room, they feel abandoned. They become
32:42
Speaker 1: terrified that the other person is going to go, cheat, betray,
32:46
Speaker 1: you know, find somebody. Wait a minute, I never think that.
32:50
Speaker 1: If David and I have an argument, he immediately goes
32:53
Speaker 1: to pick up his dry cleaning and I say, go
32:56
Speaker 1: go now, go leaf, Nancy, that's why you're still married.
33:02
Speaker 1: And I'm never a friend. He's going to hop in
33:05
Speaker 1: a kayak and row away, or have an a fair,
33:08
Speaker 1: or get drunk or high. I know that he's going
33:12
Speaker 1: to come back. I mean, would you say that again?
33:15
Speaker 1: But Nancy, you're normal, You're normal. Okay. So most couples
33:21
Speaker 1: who have very conflicted relationships will not allow themselves or
33:31
Speaker 1: allow the other person to leave the room once the
33:34
Speaker 1: fight begins. This is well known in my field. They
33:38
Speaker 1: will fight and fight almost to the death all night long.
33:41
Speaker 1: They'll fight for hours because the minute their husband, wife,
33:45
Speaker 1: partner leaves the room, they become filled with abandonment anxiety,
33:50
Speaker 1: and then there are frantic attempts to re engage the
33:53
Speaker 1: other person and then pull them back into the room.
33:56
Speaker 1: So it's really unusual for couples who are in the
33:59
Speaker 1: middle of a very severe fight to separate from each other.
34:02
Speaker 1: In fact, in my field, we teach couples that when
34:06
Speaker 1: they're fighting, they have to leave each other for what
34:09
Speaker 1: we call a cooling off period, because typically they will
34:12
Speaker 1: not do that on their own. So this husband to
34:15
Speaker 1: get into a kayak in the dead of night row
34:18
Speaker 1: one point two miles to another island. That does not
34:22
Speaker 1: happen with conflictual company. Yeah, you know, Gary Davison, I
34:25
Speaker 1: think she's right. Gary Davison, high profile lawyer joining us.
34:29
Speaker 1: I would love to see you arguing this to a
34:31
Speaker 1: jury that he got into a kayak and rowed away
34:35
Speaker 1: from the island because he was angry and humiliated. I
34:38
Speaker 1: would call it flight. You know what that is evidence
34:41
Speaker 1: of wrongdoing, evidence of guilt when you take off like
34:45
Speaker 1: Scott Theaters and dying as air blonde and taking off
34:48
Speaker 1: with ten grand fake id and bleach blonde air. Oh yeah,
34:51
Speaker 1: and viagra that too. But Gary, I mean, it's flight,
34:56
Speaker 1: that's why he left. How are you going to spend
34:59
Speaker 1: that in front of a jury and on a kayak?
35:01
Speaker 1: Now us welcome on a kayak presumably based on what
35:06
Speaker 1: we know. So far with his wallet and his passport.
35:12
Speaker 1: What in the world is somebody on a remote island
35:16
Speaker 1: going to be doing on a kayak in the middle
35:19
Speaker 1: of the night or early in the morning. That's a
35:21
Speaker 1: really good point, Gary Davidson yet again, which leads me
35:27
Speaker 1: to Jemia Norman at GMA, thirty eight year old Dawson
35:31
Speaker 1: had allegedly already fled the all inclusive resort where the
35:35
Speaker 1: couple had been staying. He left. He's a GPS watch
35:40
Speaker 1: when the island clouds are but he's walked impossible, and
35:46
Speaker 1: John kayak and was trying to escape the island. Everattingion
35:50
Speaker 1: was to every arrived in the mainland, perhaps atually my
35:54
Speaker 1: sex to the universtate. That was very grainy, but that
36:00
Speaker 1: it's where he could catch a flight perhaps back to
36:03
Speaker 1: the US. So Gary Davidson, you just hit the nail
36:07
Speaker 1: on the head yet again. That's why I believe he
36:10
Speaker 1: left the island, because he couldn't get a flight of
36:14
Speaker 1: this remote from this remote area. Then the investigation begins.
36:20
Speaker 1: Take a listen to this. The Dawsons then left the party,
36:23
Speaker 1: but their argument continued on the beach on their way
36:25
Speaker 1: back to their private bungalow. About midnight. Bradley Dawson maintains
36:29
Speaker 1: that Christie Chen's death was an accident. Guest next door
36:32
Speaker 1: said they heard arguing, allowed, scream and then silence. Chen
36:36
Speaker 1: was found slumped in the tiny space between the toilet
36:39
Speaker 1: and the wall of the bathroom in their bungalow, covered
36:41
Speaker 1: in blood. According to a dailymail dot com source, the
36:44
Speaker 1: lid of the toilet cistern was cracked and broken, an argument,
36:48
Speaker 1: allows scream and then silence, and that silence must have
36:51
Speaker 1: been deafening. I think that was the last utterance that
36:55
Speaker 1: was ever made by the bride, Christie Chen. How would
36:59
Speaker 1: the did of the commode be cracked and broken? Does
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Speaker 1: it suggest to you, John Guard joining us from Pitt
37:08
Speaker 1: County Sheriffs, that her head was slammed into It could
37:13
Speaker 1: be a possibility. Absolutely. You know, John Guard, you specialize
37:17
Speaker 1: in investigating domestic violence cases. When I hear a loud argument,
37:21
Speaker 1: a scream, and in silence, that's chilling to me. Absolutely.
37:28
Speaker 1: In a lot of cases we don't we don't have this,
37:31
Speaker 1: but in this one you certainly do have witness statements
37:35
Speaker 1: that point that out think can confirm it. And it
37:38
Speaker 1: all started over a dance a flirtatious dance or did
37:43
Speaker 1: it because John guard I remember working at the Battered
37:47
Speaker 1: Women's Center as a volunteer for many years. One woman
37:51
Speaker 1: said her husband beat her just horrible. She ended up
37:54
Speaker 1: in the hospital because she had made He asked for
37:56
Speaker 1: Mexican that night, and she had made tacos instead of
38:01
Speaker 1: enchiladas or vice versa, and they were having guests over
38:04
Speaker 1: that night, and that made him so angry he beat
38:08
Speaker 1: her to a state that she had to go to
38:10
Speaker 1: the emergency room. But my point is, it's not over
38:13
Speaker 1: tacos versus enchiladas. It's not over the flirtatious dance. It's
38:17
Speaker 1: over something else. John Guard absolutely, I mean there was
38:21
Speaker 1: something in his mind that that pushed him to do that.
38:26
Speaker 1: But again, the signs are their crime of passion and
38:32
Speaker 1: just what happened post post death. You know that it's
38:37
Speaker 1: been reported guys regarding her body, take a listen to
38:42
Speaker 1: Dave mac Christie. Chen's family flew to Fiji to have
38:45
Speaker 1: her body cremated. The family's lawyer says the injuries to
38:48
Speaker 1: the thirty six year old's face, head, and back were
38:51
Speaker 1: so severe that her body could not be transported back
38:54
Speaker 1: to the US. Reportedly, the morgetendent feared that the laceration
38:58
Speaker 1: around Chen's eyes were so deep the embalming fluid might
39:02
Speaker 1: leak out. That's why the hospital recommended the body be cremated.
39:05
Speaker 1: A leading US pathologist, doctor Michael Boden, however, tells Fox
39:09
Speaker 1: News Digital that Chen's remains could have been returned in
39:12
Speaker 1: a sealed casket for further forensic analysis. Doctor Williams agree
39:16
Speaker 1: or disagree? Yeah, I agree with that completely. Yeah, I've
39:19
Speaker 1: received bodies. You can pack him in from aldehyde powder.
39:23
Speaker 1: It's ugly, it's ugly. When you get him back. You
39:25
Speaker 1: can have funeral directors hospitalized because of There's absolutely no
39:30
Speaker 1: reason that that body could not have been shipped anywhere
39:33
Speaker 1: for a second autopsy. So that was a grave mistake.
39:37
Speaker 1: But that's what we're left with. Charlie Lights and joining
39:40
Speaker 1: us from dalimail dot com. Where does the case stand
39:43
Speaker 1: now and where is Bradley Dawson the groom. Bradley Dawson
39:47
Speaker 1: is currently behind bos in Fiji. He's on the mainland now.
39:52
Speaker 1: He has secured the services of a lawyer. He refused
39:57
Speaker 1: to give DNA evidence to for Gian officials after he
40:01
Speaker 1: was arrested, and he insists that he is not guilty
40:06
Speaker 1: of his wife's murder. However, those are the charges that
40:10
Speaker 1: he has been, you know, kind of faced with by
40:13
Speaker 1: Fijian officials. He is insisting that his wife's death was
40:17
Speaker 1: a tragic accident. I'm not quite sure, you know, I'm
40:21
Speaker 1: not the legal expert, but in my mind, a woman
40:24
Speaker 1: who was very clearly severely beaten to death, I don't
40:29
Speaker 1: understand how that's an accident. If you, or anyone you
40:32
Speaker 1: know is suffering from domestic violence, please call a Heartline
40:37
Speaker 1: toll free eight hundred seven nine nine safe eight hundred
40:41
Speaker 1: seven nine nine seven two three three goodbye for