- When Christe Chen married Bradley Dawson three months
after they met, her friends were concerned,
with when telling "People" that the pharmacy school graduates
decision to marry a recently divorced Dawson
was a shock because it happened so quickly.
And now they're struggling to make sense of the nightmare
that unfolded just two days into the couple's honeymoon back
in July.
The pair was staying at Fiji's ultra-private Turtle
Island, where villas start at $3,500 per night.
On the evening of July 8, the couple
reportedly got into an argument during a beach party.
According to Chen family attorney Ronald Gordon,
the altercation continued after they returned to their villa,
and resort staff later heard loud noises
coming from their suite.
Gordon tells "People" it appears that Dawson may have visited
the island before with his previous wife
on their honeymoon, something Chen
didn't know until that evening, which may have been
the cause for the argument.
The next afternoon, a maid discovered Chen's battered body
in a pool of blood slumped, against a cracked toilet, dead
from a traumatic brain injury.
By then, Dawson had fled the resort in a kayak.
He was arrested 36 hours later on a nearby island, where he
was carrying his passport, over $1,000 in cash,
and a credit card belonging to Chen.
At a September 1 court hearing in Fiji,
Dawson pleaded not guilty to his wife's murder.
He also refused to sign a confession after receiving
legal advice, but authorities insist that he had previously
detailed the events surrounding that tragic night during
an interview after his arrest.
His attorney disputes that claim.
Authorities maintain that Dawson described
a violent, drunken scuffle that left
Chen injured but alive shortly before he left the island.
Chen's friends tell "People" that all of this
has been really tough to swallow, and adds,
quote, "Christe always wanted to be married,
but I just wish she would have asked more questions
about who this guy was."