Reality television contestant Tamika Chesser is to mount a mental health defence after pleading not guilty to murdering her partner and destroying human remains to pervert the course of justice.
Chesser, 36, appeared by video link from a wheelchair at an arraignment hearing in the South Australian Supreme Court on Monday. She confirmed her not guilty pleas twice during the hearing.
She is accused of killing Julian Story, 39, and dismembering his body at the couple’s home in Port Lincoln on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula in June 2025.
Prosecutors told the court they had received a medical report from the defence which found Chesser was unfit and provisionally mentally incompetent to have committed the offences.
Both sides applied for a further assessment of Chesser’s mental competence and fitness to stand trial. Justice Adam Kimber granted the order.
Chesser, who was runner-up on Beauty And The Geek in 2010, is being held at the psychiatric facility James Nash House under a mental health detention order.
Police discovered Story’s dismembered body after firefighters were called to the Port Lincoln property following reports of a blaze. Major Crime detectives subsequently appealed for information to locate his head.
Police released still images and video recorded after Story’s death which they allege showed Chesser walking through Port Lincoln wearing a black headscarf and full-body coverings while carrying a bag.
On July 31, a Port Lincoln resident told police they had found a skull in scrub while searching for a wandering dog. Forensic testing later confirmed it was Story’s skull.
Chesser was reported to have been pregnant when she was arrested and gave birth in early 2026.
