Man accused of former partner's murder denied bail for second time

Man charged with murdering former partner Crystal Beale and dumping her body denied bail for second time Thu 25 Jun 2026 at 10:44am A Queensland man charged with murdering his wife after she allegedly accused him of rape has been denied bail for a second time. Jesse Wahlen Beale is accused of killing 49-year-old Crystal Beale, then dumping her body in the Brisbane River at West End in February last year. She was last seen alive in a car park via CCTV vision, on the evening of February 21, before a rower found her body in the Brisbane River at Yeronga the next day. It's alleged the couple had been arguing in the hours prior to Ms Beale's death, after she had accused her husband of raping her while unconscious, and taking non-consensual images of the acts on his phone. Seven months later, in September 2025, Jesse Beale was charged with domestic violence related murder, and interfering with a corpse. He applied to be released on bail a month later but was denied, before making a second attempt earlier this year, arguing a fresh pathologist report hadn't been able to exclude drowning as a possible cause of death. Today in the Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Patrick McCafferty KC dismissed Mr Beale's second bail application, stating he wasn't satisfied there'd been a material change in evidence. The court heard the mother of two was found with significant neck injuries consistent with strangulation or suffocation, but an autopsy report was unable to conclude how she died. It stated there were a number of other possibilities including drugs, alcohol, drowning, or a combination of all, while Ms Beale's previous suicide threats were also raised. According to Justice McCafferty the previous judge had dismissed Mr Beale's original bail bid stating the Crown had a "reasonably strong" circumstantial case. Crown Prosecutor Dejana Kovac previously stated Mr Beale had allegedly looked up CCTV camera locations and tide time charts on the night his wife died, and the pair had been seen arguing in the hours prior. On Thursday, Justice McCafferty said he didn't feel the fresh pathologist report had altered the evidence substantially, as the autopsy report had already cited drowning, along with other factors, as a possible cause or partial cause of Ms Beale's death. Jesse Beale has been remanded in custody since his arrest, and is now set to remain behind bars until he faces trial. A trial is likely to go ahead in 2028.