Prosecutors say Darron Lee used ChatGPT to try to cover February murder of girlfriend in Ooltewah
Darron Lee talking with deputies shortly before his arrest on February 5, 2026 in Ooltewah on Snow Cone Way.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- The former NFL player accused of murdering his girlfriend last month was back in a Hamilton County courtroom this afternoon.
Darron Lee is charged with the first degree murder of Gabriella Perpétuo last month at their Snow Cone Way home in Ooltewah.
Several pieces of evidence were introduced during the preliminary hearing of Darron Lee.
This included body cam footage from the initial arrest of Lee, which showed Lee telling officers that he did not know why Perpetuo was lying unconscious on the living room floor.
Lee told deputies, “I don’t know… I thought she would’ve said something but I have no idea. I was upstairs.”
The footage showed countless items strewn around the home, including the mattress in the master bedroom sitting on the floor with no bed frame as investigators say the couple moved to the home ten days before this incident.
Later on in that body cam footage, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Deputy Corey Mullins asked Lee, “What’s with all of the broken stuff in there?”
Lee responded, “Glass is shattered because she had left the window open. And so when it got warm when we reheated the house it just like exploded, so I was cleaning that up. That was before I was just going to sleep. I thought she was going to come down and finish it up, find a dustpan. But, I come back down and then this is what happened.”
Crime scene photos showed blood, both seen by the naked eye of investigators and through the reveal agent Bluestar, in numerous rooms inside of the house.
The preliminary autopsy report by Hamilton County Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Cogswell revealed that Perpetuo suffered 12 different injuries that combined constitute blunt force trauma.
These injuries were per that autopsy report:
1. Confluent contusion of right side of face
2. Large right scalp hematoma
3. Large right subdural hematoma over entire cerebral hemisphere
4. Confluent abrasion of left side of face
5. Laceration at left brow ridge
6. Fracture of left zygoma (cheek bone)
7. Fractures of maxillary central incisor teeth
8. Perimortem fracture of cervical spine at C1/2
9. Multiple shallow perimortem stab wounds of chest and left thigh
10. Recent bite mark of left shoulder
Lockhart testified, “I noticed blood on the walls. On the center island in the kitchen.”
A group of messages between Lee and ChatGPT extracted from his phone after a search were also read aloud.
Some of these messages were included the following exchanges, as prosecutors say he made up a fictional woman named Allie to use as a stand in to discuss Perpetuo’s condition.
These messages began late the night of February 4, over 12 hours from when Lee called 911 to the home on February 5.
Lee: “don’t know what to do right now, Fiancée did her crazy thing again and now she’s messed up, I wake up and she has two swollen eyes (I didn’t do anything, self inflicted) she stabbed herself, silt her eye? Idk but she isn’t waking up or responding, what do I do?”
Lee: “Allie what should I tell my friend to handle someone non responsive but wants to call the police”
ChatGPT: “Okay-but this **serious but you can (covered up text) protect everyone**. Here’s exactly what to tell your friend, step-by step.”
Lee: “doesn’t want to”
ChatGPT: “Got it— “doesn’t (covered up text) Here’s exactly what (covered up text) is the safest way to handle it without framing it as “police trouble”
Lee: “stab wound like punctures from hitting anything?”
ChatGPT: “Yeah—- it can happen**, but there’s (covered up text) to make. Can a slip-and-fall cause puncture wounds? Yes, but usually only under specific conditions?
What can it look like:
-Small, deep puncture-looking wounds
-Minimal bleeding at first, then swelling
-Looks “stabby” even though it wasn’tBottom Line:
-Yes— falls can cause puncture-appearing wounds
-They usually don’t look like clean knife stabs
-Context + surrounding injury pattern matters more than the hole itselfIf you want, tell me:
-Where on the body?
-How many punctures?
-Depth/size?
-What objects were nearby?I can help you sanity-check whether it lines up with a slip-and-fall or if it’s something that should be evaluated ASAP.”
Lee: “yes, middle gut and side hip?”
ChatGPT: “If you want you can tell me:
-depth (superficial vs deep)
-bleeding amount
-time since injury
-whether pain is increasingI’ll help you decide the right level of care — no panic, just smart next steps.”
Lee: “both her eyes are swollen?”
ChatGPT: “Okay — pause the jokes for half a second because while yes the eyes being swollen is still possible from a fall, but it crosses into “seek immediate help territory”, not “meh, ice it.”
Lee: “Bet. She got blood all over the damn place.”
Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp argued that Lee was attempting to use the chatbot to cover up the crime scene.
She said, “You have Mr. Lee using ChatGPT as a legal advisor, as a defense attorney, asking ChatGPT to give him advice on how to cover up a crime scene.”
Lee’s public defender , Mike Little, argued that all the evidence in this case presented is only circumstantial.
Little said, “We don’t know what happened inside of that house. We know something happened inside of that house but we don’t know what.”
However, District Attorney Wamp argued that this crime scene was a different level of sinister, saying it is possible Perpetuo suffered violence for multiple days before her death.
Wamp said, “The evidence speaks for itself. There are crime scenes, and then there are crime scenes like this.”
Hamilton County Judge Tori Smith bound this case over to a Hamilton County Grand Jury, who will decide whether or not to indict Lee and send the case to criminal court.
Lee is still being held in custody at the Hamilton County Jail on no bond, and District Attorney Wamp has stated her office is considering pursuing the death penalty in this case.
