In what is the most gruesome example of domestic violence allegations against any current or former NFL player this offseason, Darron Lee now faces a charge of first-degree murder after being formally indicted by a Hamilton County, Tenn., grand jury.
Lee, a 2016 first-round pick of the New York Jets who also played for the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills, was charged Wednesday in connection with the death of his girlfriend, Gabriela Carvalho Perpétuo.
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Former New York Jets linebacker Darron Lee was arrested by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office on February 6, 2025 and charged with first degree murder and tampering with evidence. (Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com/Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office)
Lee will be sentenced in Hamilton County Criminal Court in what is potentially a death penalty case. Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp has stated that the case is eligible for the death penalty, but a final decision on whether to seek that sentence will be made as the case progresses.
Wamp told Chattanooga’s News 9 that prosecutors dismissed a separate tampering with evidence charge against Lee.
“We will focus solely on Gabriella’s murder,” Wamp said.
This case is tragic and also bizarre as Lee allegedly consulted ChatGPT after Perpétuo’s death to allegedly stage the scene to appear as if she had died after a fall in the shower.
Lee reportedly asked the AI chatbot about injuries that would be consistent with someone falling in the shower.
Darron Lee of the Kansas City Chiefs walks off the field before a game against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 10, 2019. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
At Lee’s bond hearing in February, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Brian Lockhart, one of the first investigators on the scene, described a violent crime scene.
Lockhart testified that there was blood on the stairs, banisters, walls, floors and in almost every room of the house. The detective added that the microwave glass was broken, more glass was scattered throughout the home and liquor bottles were present everywhere.
Detectives also found cleaning supplies upstairs, including bleach wipes and a spray bottle — all presumably intended to scrub the scene.
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Lockhart confirmed that Lee was the one who called the police to the scene. Lee told 911 dispatchers he found Perpétuo unresponsive and suggested she may have fallen in the shower.
But an autopsy suggested otherwise.
It showed Perpétuo had multiple severe brain injuries, a broken neck, bruises across her body, a bite mark on her shoulder, a bite mark on her thigh, puncture wounds on her leg and bruises and cuts on her face. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Darron Lee of the New York Jets runs the ball in the third quarter against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., on Sept. 10, 2018. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
This was not the first violent incident Lee was involved in that required law enforcement.
He was involved in an incident in 2023 at Ohio — he played collegiately at Ohio State — in which records show Lee pushed a woman and punched her in the face several times. He was on probation for that case at the time of his court appearance in Tennessee.
A Tennessee Department of Corrections and Parole officer testified during the 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 end of the 2020 season, was denied bond and remains in custody – a circumstance in which the official charge of murder, of course, will not change.
The NFL has seen a number of domestic abuse incidents this offseason, with at least nine current or former players arrested, sued, arraigned or simply alleged to have been involved. The NFL has declined to comment on the matter.
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An arraignment date on Lee’s first-degree murder charge 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.
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