MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The ex-girlfriend of the Memphis man charged with murdering his wife on their honeymoon in Fiji is talking about her former relationship with him.
Kristen Baker spoke exclusively to ABC News about dating Bradley Dawson when they were both students at the University of Tennessee.
Dawson is charged with killing Memphis pharmacist Christe Chen, who was discovered brutally beaten on the floor of her hotel room in Fiji on July 9, 2022.
Dawson and Chen met last November, marrying three months later. Chen’s family attorney told ABC News the trip to Fiji was a postponed honeymoon.
Baker said she met Dawson and began dating him in 2005, when they were both undergraduates.
“We fell madly in love, and it was definitely intense and fast,” said Baker.
But she claims Dawson could sometimes be jealous and controlling, and that on one occasion he pushed her.
“When I really did want to leave him. He did push me down once on the bed and chased me. He was very verbally, verbally manipulative and threatening and jealous,” said Baker.
Baker said she and Dawson broke up for good a year later.
Dawson married another woman in 2019, and according to documents obtained by ABC News, that marriage ended in divorce, which was finalized this past January – just one month before he and Chen were married.
When Chen was found murdered, 38-year-old Dawson had allegedly already fled the all-inclusive resort by kayak. He was captured in the city of Nadi.
Dawson’s attorney denied the Memphis man is a murderer, and said he had no criminal record before his arrest.
