Man’s Missing Head Found Amid Reality Star’s Murder Case

The remains were located in the scrub, as I said, in an area that was not in. view of the public or nearby to to any. walking paths. And I believe that they. are the remains of Julian's story. >> Police have confirmed a major. breakthrough in the horrific case. involving former reality TV star Tamika. Cheser. Once known for her onscreen. charm, now she's accused of not only. murdering her boyfriend Julian Story, but also of decapitating him. This. shocking discovery is turning the case. upside down and we are going to be.

speaking with a retired police commander. to find out how this new evidence could. make or break this investigation. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, we're diving into the shocking. transformation of a former reality TV. contestant into an accused killer. You. might remember Tamika Cheser, one of the. beauties from season two of Australia's. version of Beauty and the Geek, which. aired back in 2009. The show that was. co-created by Ashton Kutcher. It paired.

attractive women with maybe socially. awkward but intelligent men, challenging. them to learn from each other through. quirky competitions, makeovers, awkward. dates. You might remember that. Now, at. just 20, Tamika was a cocktail waitress. when she joined the cast, and she made. it all the way to the finale, ultimately. finishing as runner up. And after her. brief reality TV fame, she moved into. modeling. She launched an Only Fans. account and mostly faded from the. spotlight. That is until 2025 because. you fast forward to 2025 and Tamika.

Cheser's name is back in the headlines. in all the wrong ways. This time for. something far darker. Now 34, she has. been charged with the brutal murder of. her boyfriend, 39-year-old Julian Story, in a case that investigators say even. involves decapitation. We first covered. this disturbing story on Long Crime when. police were still searching for parts of. Julian's remains, but now there has been. a major break in this investigation, and. we are revisiting the case with a new. development that you're going to want to.

hear. So, if you haven't been following. the case, here's what you need to know. The afternoon of June 19th around 3:30. p.m., emergency services were called to. an apartment at Port Lincoln. This is a. small coastal town in South Australia. It's roughly halfway between Sydney and. Perth. and neighbors had noticed smoke. that was coming from inside the unit. And according to court documents that. were obtained by the Australian. Broadcasting Corporation, one witness. spots Tama Cheser outside the apartment. and asked what was going on. She.

reportedly replies nothing and then. calmly locks the front door and takes. her dogs for a walk. That's the. allegation. But that witness was. concerned. So they entered the apartment. through the back and inside the bathroom. they found a pile of smoldering rags and. clothing and they quickly doused the. fire with water. But what investigators. discovered next was far more disturbing. than a small fire because buried. underneath the burnt debris were human. remains charred, disfigured, and.

partially destroyed. Police confirmed. that the victim was 39-year-old Julian. Story Tama's boyfriend of about 6. months. But the horror didn't end there. because Julian's body had been. dismembered and his head was missing. Police launched an extensive search. across Port Lincoln through nearby. bushes, parks, peers, even underwater. using dive teams. But for weeks, there. was no sign of Julian's decapitated head. until a recent break in the case now has.

changed everything. And we're going to. get back to that in just a moment. By. the way, talking law like we do so many. times here on Law and Crime Sidebar, there is a reason that Morgan and. Morgan, our sponsor, is America's. largest injury law firm. They're a firm. with over a thousand attorneys. You know. why? Because they win a lot. They have. recovered over $25 billion for more than. $500,000 clients. In the past few. months, client Florida received $12. million after the insurance company. offered just $350,000. Pennsylvania. client was awarded $26 million. That is.

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Police believe Julian was likely killed. at around midnight on June 17th, nearly. two full days before the fire was. reported. And when police arrived at the. scene, they found Tamika reportedly. sitting silent in a garden chair, completely unresponsive. Officers. described her as being in a catatonic. state. That's exactly how police. described her, catatonic. According to. documents that were reviewed by the. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, catatonia is a severe neurossychiatric. condition that disrupts a person's.

movement, awareness, their ability to. respond to their surroundings. And the. Cleveland Clinic describes it as a state. in which someone may appear awake but is. completely unresponsive. People. experiencing catatonia might remain. frozen in rigid or unusual postures, stop speaking entirely, maybe engage in. strange repetitive movements, and it can. manifest in various ways, including. staring blankly, holding awkward. positions for hours, maybe even making. bizarre facial expressions. The exact. cause isn't fully understood, but it is.

commonly linked to psychiatric. conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar. disorder or major depression. And it's. also seen in neurological disorders such. as epilepsy, autism, dementia. It can. result from severe infections, metabolic. imbalances, adverse reactions to. medication. But 10 days later, on June. 27th, Tama Chester was formerally. charged with murder. She appeared in. court via video link from a secure. mental health facility where she remains. in custody. Bail was denied. And now we. get into these next crucial steps of the.

investigation. And for that, I want to. bring on an expert. Okay? I want to. bring on a special guest to help me. break it all down. retired police. commander and host of the podcast. Profiling Evil, Mike King. Mike, it's. great to have you on here. And by the. way, for anybody who doesn't know, you. got a new book out, right? >> Hey, I do. Thanks, Jesse. And it's. always great to be with you. Yes, the. book Wolves in Sheep's Clothing. And it. was actually written for the true crime. enthusiast to help understand a lot of. these concepts that you and I often talk. about.

>> And I wonder given the allegations in. this case if this might be a prime. example of that. But let's talk about. it. Okay. What investigative techniques. would be prioritized in a case involving. dismemberment and the search. unfortunately for missing body parts? >> Well, I think this one's really. intriguing because uh Tama. by all reports that we're able to get. out of Australia has been having some. type of u psychological episode for some.

period of time according to some family. members. So, it'll be interesting to. know if there's ever been a diagnosis, if a diagnosis like you were talking. about that would support that catatonic. state of schizophrenia or other things. But when you think about the process of. decapitation, usually when when you see. that in a predator, if it's a repetitive. serial predator, that's often part of. the fantasy that they have and part of. this this thrill that they get, which is. just so disturbing to think about. But.

then when you look at um somebody who. suddenly commits a crime perhaps like. this homicide is kind of looking like. sometimes you'll see these efforts of. decapitation, dissection of the body as. efforts to conceal evidence and and to. destroy evidence and and it's really. starting to come become more interesting. as we learn more about where the the. head was recovered. As you well know, I've spent a lot of time in Australia. I've looked at a number of uh homicide.

cases there. I know that area. I've not. been in port uh Port Lincoln personally, but I've been everywhere on that at. least eastern coast of that Spencer Bay. area where that's situated. In fact, Adelaide is the closest big city that. people kind of know when they think. about Australia and it's across the bay. from Port Lincoln. But you start. thinking about why was the head disposed. of in the ocean? Was it in hopes of. taking advantage of the tidal influence?

And there's about a I did some research. this morning about a 4ft tide in that. area. So, it's not dramatic like you'd. see in other parts of Australia where. that tide can be much more, but the. strength of the tide is what becomes. interesting. And right near where that. head was recovered, there's also a pier, a really long pier. And so it's a. perfect place for someone to walk out. and displace the head, throw it into the. water, and hope that it might be sucked. out with an outgoing tide and displaced.

and then animals doing the the predation. thing that they do in the ocean. >> It's pretty disgusting to be thinking. about what we're talking about. Um, when. you deal though with fire and you're. dealing with alleged attempts to destroy. evidence, what kind of forensic evidence. are most critical in these cases? how. you know how difficult how much of it. this is a challenge for you to get to. the bottom of what happened. >> Yeah, I think I think it's going to boil. down to what what the firefighters. discovered and the arson investigators.

discover on the origination of the. flames that the neighbor reported and. and that led to being put out. And. again, if there's effort to destroy the. body through chemical means, some of. that could be inducive of creating a. flame. So the question becomes, did. Chester, if she's in fact responsible. for all of this, ignite those rags on. fire and then leave so that she had an. alibi that I was away from the residence. or was it a natural combustive effort.

from chemicals that were being used to. dissolve the body and do other kinds of. things that might help remove evidence. So, we have to kind of keep an even. plane here while we look and wait for. the information to come out that might. give us a better sense of whether it was. a planned event. I'm going to burn this. apartment down and hopefully destroy the. body and uh any evidence that might be. there, which then becomes a little weird. of why you would take and decapitate the. head and take it with you because why. wouldn't that same fire destroy the.

head? Or was it just accidental that the. flames erupted from the chemicals and. there was a long-term plan ahead to go. out every day for a walk with the dogs. and destroy and get rid of another body. part. And all of that is just so. gruesome to understand. And all of us. are sitting back thinking, how can any. human being make those kinds of. decisions? But sadly, we've seen it in. criminal cases before. How often do you encounter cases where. you're dealing maybe with grotesque.

subject matter like this and allegations. and the suspect is in this catatonic. state? You know, you talk about the. allegations and what could be the. mindset of somebody would do something. like this, but have you encountered. somebody who isn't in that state who's. not able or not willing to provide some. sort of information? Maybe the answer is. yeah, not able to if they're in this. catatonic state. How common is that? What's your experience with that? >> Yeah. Yeah. I've had a few experiences. in my career where I was a responding. officer and had that opportunity to see.

somebody in that uh position. I I think. of one as a young patrol officer, Jesse, I got called to a a a vehicle in a guy's. uh driveway and and the neighbors were. complaining of the smell. When we. finally got the door, the trunk opened, the man had been in there decomposing. for a couple of weeks, which it's a. horrendous sight, a horrendous smell. that you never forget as an officer, but. the affect on the homeowner was just so.

flatlined and bizarre. It reminded me. almost of watching, if you remember when. you and I talked about Ruby Frankie when. she was first arrested and she's just. passively staring at the police officers. with every question, going for question. after question without responding and. then flatly saying, "I think I better. have an attorney." Now, this seems much. more bizarre than that, but that's the. same kind of personality type. And since. this gruesome discovery, police have. been working to piece together Tama's.

movements in the days leading up to the. killing because she doesn't drive. And. investigators believe she may have. traveled on foot to dispose of the. evidence. And they released CCTV footage. showing her walking her dogs during that. critical window, hoping someone in the. community might recognize her or call. seeing anything unusual. On July 23rd, officers that were searching a nearby. area discovered several discarded items. An Elvis Presley t-shirt, a drink. bottle, a wristband, all partially.

hidden in this underbrush. And according. to Superintendent Darien Fle, these. items have been submitted for forensic. testing, including DNA analysis. And the. Elvis shirt, that detail especially. could prove important because both. Tamika and Julian were apparently known. Elvis fans. again adding possible. significance to this find. But despite. weeks of searching and even some. promising discoveries, the trail seemed. to go cold. July 24th, more than a month. after Julian's remains were first found.

Police officially called off their. search and the superintendent told. reporters that investigators had quote. exhausted all areas of interest and had. no further leads on the missing head or. other potential evidence. And it was a. grim turning point in an already. disturbing case. But then just one week. later, July 30th, that's when everything. changed. And we're going to get there. We'll talk about it. Mike was talking. about it as well. But Mike, back to you. How critical is tracking a suspect's. movement such as being on foot in this. case to build a timeline to gather. further evidence?

Well, I I absolutely important as we are. starting to see from the digital trail. that probably we'll learn more about. when law enforcement starts to. prosecute, when this thing goes actually. to trial, if it ever does. But I think. then we're going to see cell phone. information that will show that that um. Chester is leaving the home. We can see. the fact that through some CCTV footage. that's already been captured that she's. walking those three dogs. At one point.

she has a bag in her hand and her. handbag. Now again, if this if this is a. concerted effort to piece by piece. remove that body from the house and. throw it out into the brush, it becomes. kind of intriguing because that parcala. I think it's parcala trail where the. body or the head was recovered is really. right in line with where her residence. is off of the old flenders highway trail. there. And I I've been in in again that. that area and I I know that area pretty.

well, especially the Flenders Highway. And uh the thing that's intriguing there. is it's only about a 5minute drive, but. it could be a 40 45 minute hike along. that trail to the place where I think. the head was recovered. And again, that. takes her right past that pier, which I. think is so significant if you're really. trying to to get rid of body parts out. into the ocean because that's going to. get you a lot deeper into the water than. uh trying to throw something from the.

shoreline. >> How reliable is forensic testing, like. DNA analysis on discarded items that. maybe were found weeks after a crime? >> Absolutely reliable. I mean, we've seen. it over and again where they're talking. in the um I don't even know the the. number they use that is like millions of. millions of degrees of certainty that. this is the same DNA, but this is still. a pretty fresh piece of DNA even though. it's been in the water where it's going.

to start to decompose more quickly, especially in salt water. And again, with the animal life coming on there, there was probably no tissue attached to. the skull at that point, but they. certainly were able to extract from. inside of the bone marrow and get what. they needed or perhaps some joint tissue. like ligaments where they were able to. get it. And then they have an absolute. way of identifying the body parts. recovered in the apartment complex. >> So yeah, like so like the like the Elvis.

Presley t-shirt, the drink bottle, the. wristband, all that was hidden in this. underbrush. I mean, that's going to be. critical to determine what the DNA. suggests about it. And again, it was. found in this kind of central location, this underbrush, very specific. environment, but weeks later. >> Yeah, absolutely. And the thing that. becomes so important, and I mean, you're. the prosecutor here, but the thing that. really is so important in this thing. when you start tying all that together. is the fact that if in fact those items. were taken and dropped at separate.

times, like she went out on multiple. walks and dropped at different items and. they are positively tied back to the. victim in this case. It provides so much. information about Cheser's if it's in. fact her desire to hide evidence and. people might come up and I think. everyone's saying well she'll certainly. claim that she was mentally ill during. the time of this but this is where. behavior becomes so important because. while she may be mentally ill this is. clearly showing that she understood what.

she did was wrong and she's trying to. get away with it by by displacing. evidence and I think that is so much. more powerful than just a claim that she. might be mentally ill. >> So on July 30th during a press. conference, the superintendent made this. major announcement. >> Police have received information from a. member of the public in Port Lincoln. that they had located in a scrub area. what appeared to be uh a human skull. Um. the remains were located in scrub, as I.

said, in an area that was not in view of. the public or nearby to to any walking. paths. This area had not previously been. searched by police um and it was not an. area of interest to police uh with the. information that we had at the time. Uh. preliminary. um investigations. and and phone calls to forensic science. center has um.

provided information that the remains. are most likely human. Um, and I believe that they are the. remains of Julian's story. Um, to. confirm this, however, um, those remains. are going to be subjected to further. forensic and scientific testing over the. coming days. Um, those remains currently. remain in Port Lincoln, and we'll return. those to Adelaide so that forensic. testing uh, can occur. >> Yeah. So, those remains currently remain. in Port Lincoln. They're going to return.

those to Adelaide so that forensic. testing can occur. Now, during that same. press conference, the superintendent. shared maps with the media, showing. exactly where that skull had been found. and where police would now be focusing. their renewed efforts. >> I might just show on the map um what is. now our area of interest in. concentration where the search. So, um. around the corner is the township of. Port Lincoln. However, you'll see sort. of where those three lines are is where.

we say the remains have been located. Um. the marina of Port Lincoln is sort of. down off the map towards the bottom. But. uh High Marsh Street here, Splitway Road. there, you can see it's quite a a large. area of of scrub and and bush land. Um. that is going to take um a little bit of. time uh to work through. Um that area. does need to be searched now. methodically uh for any other evidence. that that might be there apart from what. we believe to be uh Julian's remains.

So, uh, just a a broader map of where that. is in in terms of the location. So, it's. in that area. And as I said, that's not. an area that had previously been um. searched by police and and wasn't in our. search area. >> Now, the man who discovered the skull, Tyson McCllum, spoke to 9 News about the. moment he made the chilling find, and he. was out walking his dog when the dog. suddenly veered off the path. Macllum. followed and that's when he came across.

this highly unsettling site. He told the. outlet, "I just went in a bit closer and. kind of made the connection pretty. quickly as to what I thought it was. It. was kind of just like, no way, like it's. not what I think it is. Like, no, surely. not, but it was just too coincidental.". Mike tells you how much the public's. role in helping an investigation can be. Right. The police at one point had said, "There's not much more we have. There's. not much more we can do." And this was. an area they hadn't even searched. The. public plays a crucial role in an.

ongoing investigation. >> Oh boy. I'll say and they can cover. ground that law enforcement can't. You. you take the best educated guess when. you're trying to conduct searches. But. again, this is a massive needle in an. incredibly massive hay stack. Imagine. finding something the size of a skull in. brush, in mud, in marshland, in an area. that covers literally miles and miles. and miles and being able to find that.

thing. It it this is usually how they. are found is through somebody stumbling. across it. >> Could advances in technology, drones, ground penetr penetrating radar, can. that improve searches in difficult. terrains? So using a drone or some of those. technologies could certainly help if. you're there quickly enough to be able. to see if ground is disturbed or if. there's some marking of somebody moving. through the marsh for instance and.

parting the brush or footsteps in the. mud. But again, think about this. Those. tidal waters are going to be about every. 12 hours changing that landscape. dramatically, displacing the evidence. that's there dramatically, especially. when you're dealing with a coastal. region. And so that really intensifies. the problem. Being able to find. something like this from the air is. really difficult unless you're looking. for something like a bright colored. shirt or something that might really. stand out as you run a drone over. And. then you can do before and after imagery.

that will really quickly get you from A. to Z on whether there's changes. occurring. That change detection can. lead you to look closer, but it's still. going to require finding that needle in. the haststack. >> One thing we can't forget, the human. aspect of this, because for Julian's. family, they continue to grapple with. this situation, the unimaginable. and. authorities say that they have been in. regular contact providing support. throughout the investigation. In fact, here's what police had to say about the.

family's current state. >> They are still working through what is. an horrific event for their family. Um, but we've maintained contact with them. the whole way along with with every step. of the way in the investigation. Um, they are very comfortable with the. police response. they are uh more than. comfortable with the assistance they've. received from their friends in the Port. Lincoln community and other family. Um. they're hoping that this is Julian. obviously so that they can move on um.

have their funeral with all of Julian's. remains. Um they they're clearly dealing. with a lot, but um they're they're happy. with with the information they've been. given and how things how things are. progressing. And as for Miss Chester, she is scheduled to return to court in. December. Mike King, thank you so much. for coming on. Really appreciate it. >> It's great to see you, Jesse. I'll be in. Australia this weekend. I'll try to. swing by and give you an update. >> That'd be great. If you get more. information, we're going to continue to. follow. Would love to have you back on.

>> Thank you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time. [Music].