Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyQsN4z0r_I
Kendall Rae's Christe Chen Video: A Honeymoon That Ended in a Manhunt
Christe Chen met Bradley Dawson in November 2021 and married him in February 2022. On July 7, 2022, the couple travelled to Turtle Island, Fiji, for their honeymoon. Two days later, resort staff found Chen dead in the couple's bungalow — and Dawson was gone, having left the island by kayak in the middle of the night.
Kendall Rae structures the episode the way she structures most of her case videos: the victim's life first, the relationship second, and only then the crime. Chen's background — a Denver pastry chef who became an award-winning pharmacist — gets a full section before Dawson enters the story, which keeps the episode anchored on who was lost rather than on the man convicted of killing her.
The video, published in May 2025, has drawn more than 870,000 views. It arrived after the case had fully resolved — Dawson was sentenced in February 2025 — so unlike coverage from 2022, it can follow the story all the way from the resort to a Fijian courtroom verdict.
At a Glance
| Video | “Wife Murdered On Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees On Kayak?!” |
|---|---|
| Channel | Kendall Rae |
| Published | May 13, 2025 |
| Length | ~42 minutes |
| Views | 871,436 |
| Subject | The 2022 murder of Christe Chen in Fiji; Bradley Dawson's flight, trial and life sentence |
What the Video Covers
The video opens with Chen's life and career, her whirlwind courtship with Dawson, and the couple's arrival at the luxury Turtle Island resort in July 2022. On the night of July 8, after a beach party, the couple argued in their bungalow — a neighbour heard arguing, a scream, and then silence. In the early hours, Dawson left the island by kayak for a neighbouring island, leaving his phone and smartwatch behind.
On July 9, staff found Chen dead in the bungalow bathroom, amid blood and broken glass. The video covers the autopsy findings — blunt-force trauma to the head, with injuries severe enough that her body could not be embalmed — and the 36-hour search that located Dawson. He initially told police the argument had turned physical and that he had panicked, then stopped cooperating and maintained that her death was an accident and that she was alive when he left.
The final third follows the case through the Fijian legal system: more than two years of proceedings, eight days of testimony, a guilty verdict, and, in February 2025, a life sentence with parole eligibility after 18 years. A closing section covers the impact on Chen's family, who travelled the case from Denver to a courtroom on the other side of the Pacific.
Strengths
The victim comes first, structurally. Chen's career, family and life get real time before the crime is introduced, and a dedicated section on the family's experience keeps her at the centre. For a case often reduced to its resort setting in headlines, that ordering matters.
A complete, post-verdict account. Because the video was published after sentencing, it covers the full arc — the discovery, the manhunt, the changing accounts, the trial and the sentence — rather than ending on an arrest or a pending charge, as earlier coverage of this case had to.
The foreign-trial process is explained. A murder trial in Fiji, for an American victim and an American defendant, raises procedural questions most U.S. coverage glossed over. The episode walks through the proceedings and the timeline in order, which makes the two-year gap between the killing and the verdict understandable.
Weaknesses
The packaging is louder than the telling. The video's own title, with its capitalisation and punctuation, promises sensation; the episode itself is comparatively measured. Viewers put off by the title may never reach the more careful account inside.
The central dispute is presented, not tested. Dawson's claim that Chen was alive when he left is reported, but the episode does not press hard on how that account sits against the autopsy findings and the decision to flee by kayak at night. The evidence is laid out; the cross-examination is left to the viewer.
Light on Fijian sources. The account leans on the case's U.S.-facing record — the family, the proceedings as reported internationally — and local Fijian reporting and resort-side detail are comparatively thin. It is a full account of the case, but largely from one side of the Pacific.
Who Should Watch
- Kendall Rae regulars — a full-length, victim-first case episode in her established format, with the legal outcome included.
- Viewers who followed the 2022 headlines — the honeymoon case was widely reported at the time of the arrest; this is the version that continues through verdict and sentencing.
- Travel-crime case followers — a clear example of how a killing abroad moves through another country's courts, and how long that can take.
- True crime viewers who prefer a closed case — the investigation, trial and sentence are all resolved on screen.
8/10
A victim-first, post-verdict account of a case most coverage left at the arrest — Chen's life is given its due, the kayak flight and manhunt are clearly told, and the Fijian trial is followed through to a life sentence. The packaging is louder than the episode, and the defence claim is reported more than tested, but as a single-sitting account it is complete and restrained.
Source: Kendall Rae on YouTube (“Wife Murdered On Luxe Fiji Honeymoon Before Husband Flees On Kayak?!,” published May 13, 2025); case details as presented in the video, including the February 2025 sentencing in Fiji.