Former NFL first-round pick Darron Lee indicted on first-degree murder charge in girlfriend's death
In what is the most gruesome example of domestic violence allegations against any current or former NFL player this offseason, Darron Lee is now facing a first-degree murder charge after being formally indicted by a grand jury in Hamilton County, Tenn.
Lee, a 2016 first-round pick of the New York Jets who also played for the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, was indicted Wednesday in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Gabriela Carvalho Perpétuo.
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Lee will be tried in Hamilton County Criminal Court in what is potentially a capital punishment case. Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp has stated the case is eligible for a death penalty sentence, but a final decision about seeking that sentence will be made as the case proceeds.
Wamp told Chattanooga's News 9 that prosecutors dismissed a separate charge of tampering with evidence against Lee.
"We will focus solely on the murder of Gabriella," Wamp said.
This case is tragic and also bizarre in that Lee allegedly consulted ChatGPT after Perpétuo's death to allegedly stage the scene to look as if she had died after a fall in the shower.
Lee allegedly asked the AI chatbot about injuries that would be consistent with someone falling in the shower.
At Lee's bond hearing in February, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Brian Lockhart, one of the first investigators on scene, described a violent crime scene.
Lockhart testified there was blood on the staircase, handrails, walls, floors, and in nearly every room of the house. The detective added that the microwave glass was shattered, more glass was scattered throughout the home, and alcohol bottles were present throughout.
Detectives also found cleaning supplies upstairs, including bleach wipes, and a spray bottle — all presumably meant to scrub the scene.
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Lockhart confirmed Lee was the one who called police to the scene. Lee told 911 dispatchers that he found Perpétuo was unresponsive and suggested she may have fallen in the shower.
But an autopsy suggested something different.
It showed Perpétuo suffered multiple severe brain traumas, a broken neck, bruising across her body, a bite mark on her shoulder, a bite mark on her thigh, stab wounds on her legs, and facial bruising and cuts. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma.
This was not the first incident of violence Lee was involved in that required law enforcement.
He was involved in a 2023 incident in Ohio — he played collegiately at Ohio State — where records show Lee pushed a woman and punched her in the face multiple times. He was on probation for that case at the time of his bond hearing in Tennessee.
A Tennessee Department of Corrections and Parole officer testified during that bond hearing that Lee was also on probation for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon conviction in Florida. The officer added that Lee had moved to Tennessee without approval and was in violation of his terms of supervision.
Lee, who has not played in the NFL since the conclusion of the 2020 season, was denied bond and remains in custody — a circumstance the official murder charge will obviously not change.
The NFL has seen a series of domestic abuse incidents this offseason, with a minimum of nine current or former players arrested, sued, put on trial or simply alleged to have been involved. The NFL has declined to comment on the matter.
An arraignment date on Lee's first-degree murder indictment has not yet been scheduled in Hamilton County Criminal Court.
Lee played three years with the Jets, one with the Chiefs and one with the Bills. He last played in 2020.