- Former NFL linebacker Darron Lee is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, Gabriella Perpetuo.
- Prosecutors presented evidence during a March 9 hearing that Lee used ChatGPT to ask what to do for an unresponsive person hours before calling police.
- Lee, who was on probation for a prior domestic violence charge, is being held without bond in Tennessee.
A former NFL and Ohio State University football player asked ChatGPT about what to do for someone who was unresponsive more than 12 hours before calling police, who later found his girlfriend dead in a Tennessee home.
Darron Lee, 31, is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in Hamilton County, Tennessee, where he remains held without bond. Lee appeared for a preliminary hearing on March 9, where a judge ordered his case be bound over to a grand jury.
Lee, who last played for the Buffalo Bills in 2020 during a five-year NFL career, is accused of killing his girlfriend, 29-year-old Gabriella Perpetuo, inside a home the couple had begun moving into 10 days before she was found dead on Feb. 5.
Perpetuo’s preliminary autopsy found she suffered multiple injuries that led to her death, including knocked-out front teeth, a broken jaw, brain hematomas, shallow stab wounds and a broken neck, WDEF-12 News in Chattanooga reported.
WDEF reported a detective presented evidence gathered during a forensic download of Lee’s phone during the March 9 hearing. That evidence included a Feb. 4 conversation with ChatGPT, an AI agent, about 12 hours before police were called.
The detective testified Lee called the AI agent ‘Allie’ and sent messages under the moniker ‘Xander,’ a shortened version of Lee’s middle name.
‘Don’t know what to do right now. Fiancee did her crazy thing again and now she’s messed up,’ one of the messages shown in court said. ‘I wake up and she has two swollen eyes (I didn’t do anything, self-inflicted) she stabbed herself, slit her eye? but she isn’t waking up or responding what do I do?’
Lee also sent messages asking what he should tell a friend to do and asking about injuries that would be consistent with someone falling in a shower.
‘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’,’ ChatGPT responded, according to the TV station.
‘Bet. She got blood all over the damn place,’ Lee responded.
Lee initially told responding deputies that Perpetuo had fallen in the shower and he found her unresponsive. Perpetuo was found on the home’s living room floor.
Detectives testified at a previous hearing that blood was found in nearly every room of the couple’s home, including on handrails and walls. Attempts also appeared to have been made to clean up some evidence.
Perpetuo’s family has filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Lee. The Hamilton County District Attorney’s office previously said it was evaluating the case to determine if the death penalty would be sought. That process remains ongoing with no decision yet made.
In 2023, Lee was charged in Franklin County Municipal Court with domestic violence after an incident involving a female family member. During that investigation, Dublin police learned of another incident involving the mother of Lee’s child.
Lee pleaded guilty to a reduced charge in 2025 and received a sentence of probation, which he was on at the time Perpetuo died.
Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com.