A former reality television contestant now faces trial for murder after her boyfriend’s dismembered body turned up on their rural property, and his skull was later found by a stranger’s wandering dog.
Story Snapshot
- Tamika Chesser, once a contestant on Beauty and the Geek, is charged with murdering her partner Julian Story and destroying his remains.
- Emergency crews found Story’s dismembered body at their Port Lincoln property after a fire on June 19, 2025, with his head missing.
- A local resident found a skull in scrubland on July 31, 2025, which forensic testing later confirmed belonged to Story.
- Chesser pleaded not guilty, and her defense has raised a mental health claim that the court is still working through.
What Investigators Found at the Property
Police arrived at the Flinders Highway property near Port Lincoln on June 19, 2025, after reports of a fire. They found Julian Story’s body dismembered, with his head nowhere in sight. Investigators later said Chesser was sitting in the backyard in what police documents described as a catatonic and unresponsive state when officers showed up. She was arrested and charged with murder and with destroying human remains to pervert the course of justice.
Police also released still images and video they say show a woman they allege was Chesser walking through Port Lincoln streets around midnight on June 17, 2025, two days before the fire was reported. Investigators have pointed to this footage as part of the timeline they’re building around the killing.
A Dog Walk Breaks the Case Open
For six weeks, Story’s head stayed missing. Then on July 31, 2025, a Port Lincoln resident chasing a wandering dog through scrubland stumbled on a human skull. Forensic testing later confirmed what investigators suspected. The skull belonged to Julian Story. The discovery closed a disturbing gap in the case and gave prosecutors physical confirmation to match the dismemberment charge already filed against Chesser.
The find also drew heavy media attention because of Chesser’s reality TV background. She appeared on Beauty and the Geek years before the killing, and that history has shaped much of the coverage since her arrest. Readers should keep in mind that a television résumé has nothing to do with whether the prosecution can prove its case in court.
Not Guilty Plea and a Fight Over Her Mind
Chesser appeared in the South Australian Supreme Court and pleaded not guilty to both murder and destroying human remains on November 2, 2026. Her defense team has since introduced a privately obtained psychiatric report. That report found Chesser “unfit and provisionally mentally incompetent” to have committed the offenses, according to court testimony. Prosecutors did not simply accept the finding. Instead, both sides jointly asked the court to order a second, independent assessment before moving forward.
South Australian law treats this kind of claim with real precision. A defendant can be found unfit to stand trial right now, separately from whether she was mentally incompetent at the time of the alleged killing, and separately again from whether prosecutors can prove she committed the acts at all. These are three distinct legal questions, not one blanket excuse, and the law presumes competence unless the defense proves otherwise.
What the Case Still Has to Answer
Chesser has appeared in court by video link from James Nash House, a secure psychiatric facility, while the competency question gets sorted out. That process can take time, and it means the public won’t see the full clinical picture until the courts finish weighing it. What’s already on the record stands regardless: a body dismembered by fire, a skull found seven weeks later, and formal charges that now await trial.
The not-guilty plea means none of the allegations against Chesser have been proven in a completed trial, and the additional psychiatric report ordered by the court will likely shape what happens next. For a case built on a missing head, a backyard fire, and a reality TV name, the next real test won’t play out in headlines. It will play out in a South Australian courtroom, where the legal standard is proof, not speculation.
Sources:
aapnews.aap.com.au, cairnspost.com.au, thewest.com.au, people.com, lsc.sa.gov.au
