A Tennessee hearing put ChatGPT messages at the center of the murder case over Gabriella Perpétuo’s death.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Prosecutors told a Tennessee judge that former NFL linebacker Darron Lee used ChatGPT to shape a story about his injured girlfriend before deputies found 29-year-old Gabriella Carvalho Perpétuo dead in the couple’s Ooltewah home on Feb. 5.

That claim gave the March 9 preliminary hearing its sharpest edge. The state is trying to show that Lee was not reacting to an accident but building an explanation before anyone else entered the house. Prosecutors paired the chatbot exchanges with body camera video, blood evidence and a preliminary autopsy report that described blunt force injuries, stab wounds and a broken neck. Lee is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with or fabricating evidence, and he remains jailed without bond.

The hearing moved first through Lee’s own words. In body camera footage played in court, Lee told deputies he had been asleep upstairs, came downstairs and found Perpétuo unresponsive. He said he called 911 right away and did not know what happened. Prosecutors then shifted to messages taken from his phone. They said the conversations with ChatGPT began late on Feb. 4, more than 12 hours before the 911 call. In one exchange shown in court, Lee described a woman with swollen eyes, possible puncture wounds and blood at the scene, then asked what to do. Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp told the court that Lee was using the chatbot as “a legal adviser” to figure out how to explain the injuries and the scene. That sequence let prosecutors argue that the digital record came before the public story, not after it.

From there, the state filled in the physical evidence. Investigators testified that photos and Bluestar testing showed blood in numerous rooms of the house. Detective Brian Lockhart said he saw blood on walls and on the kitchen island. Prosecutors also pointed to damage and disorder inside the home, including broken glass and items scattered through rooms. In body camera footage, Deputy Corey Mullins asked Lee about the broken items, and Lee said a window had been left open and the glass had shattered when the house was reheated. The prosecution argued that explanation did not fit the larger scene. The defense pushed back, saying the case was circumstantial. Public defender Mike Little told the court that something clearly happened in the house but said the state had not proved what happened or who caused it. That left the hearing with two competing frames: a prosecution describing a staged aftermath and a defense insisting suspicion is not proof.

The most damaging testimony came from the preliminary autopsy report read in court. According to testimony, Perpétuo had 12 injuries that together amounted to blunt force trauma. The report described major facial injuries, a large scalp hematoma, a large subdural hematoma, a fractured cheek bone, broken front teeth, a perimortem fracture of the cervical spine at C1 and C2, multiple shallow stab wounds to the chest and left thigh, and a recent bite mark on her left shoulder. Prosecutors argued those injuries were inconsistent with an accidental fall, a possibility that appeared in the ChatGPT exchanges. One message shown in court asked whether a slip and fall could cause puncture wounds. Another referred to swollen eyes. When the chatbot answered that a fall could sometimes create puncture-looking wounds under specific conditions, prosecutors said Lee appeared to be testing explanations against the injuries in front of him.

The case has moved quickly and publicly since Lee’s arrest. Judge Tori Smith denied bond in February and later found probable cause at the preliminary hearing, sending the case on toward a Hamilton County grand jury. Wamp has said her office is considering whether to seek the death penalty. Outside the criminal case, Perpétuo’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Hamilton County seeking $50 million in damages. The suit says Lee intentionally assaulted her and says the injuries were consistent with a violent struggle. Lee, 31, is a former first-round NFL draft pick who played with the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills after starring at Ohio State. That football background has brought national attention, but in court the focus remained narrow: whether the messages, the blood evidence and the injuries can prove intent and a cover-up beyond a reasonable doubt.

Even with the notoriety, the hearing often turned on plain details from inside the house. A mattress sat on the floor because the couple had recently moved in, investigators said. Deputies walked through rooms with broken items and visible blood. Prosecutors told the judge the scene suggested violence that may have lasted longer than a single sudden event. Little answered that the state was stacking inferences and that the exact sequence remained unclear. Wamp, pressing her view of the evidence, said there are crime scenes and then there are crime scenes like this one. The short line captured the state’s theme that the house itself tells the story. The defense answer was equally simple: no witness described seeing the killing, and no one has yet presented a final medical examiner report in open court.

For now, Lee remains in the Hamilton County Jail with no bond as prosecutors await the next charging step. The next major milestone is grand jury action, which will determine whether the case proceeds on an indictment and toward a possible capital decision.

Author note: Last updated April 6, 2026.