A preliminary hearing tied ChatGPT messages to the death of Gabriella Perpétuo as the case moved toward a grand jury.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — The murder case against former NFL linebacker Darron Lee moved deeper into the Tennessee court system after prosecutors used a preliminary hearing to link his phone messages, the condition of an Ooltewah home and a violent autopsy report to the death of Gabriella Carvalho Perpétuo.
The immediate legal result was not a verdict but a gateway. Judge Tori Smith found probable cause, keeping the case alive as it heads toward grand jury review. Lee, 31, already had been denied bond and remains in jail while facing first-degree murder and tampering with or fabricating evidence charges. At the same time, District Attorney Coty Wamp has said her office is considering whether to pursue the death penalty, and Perpétuo’s family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking $50 million. The hearing therefore mattered both for what it revealed and for where it now sends the case.
Prosecutors built the hearing around chronology with a clear legal purpose. They said conversations on Lee’s phone with ChatGPT started on Feb. 4, the day before first responders reached the couple’s house on Snow Cone Way in Ooltewah for a CPR call and found Perpétuo dead. In body camera footage shown in court, Lee told deputies he had been asleep, came downstairs and found her unresponsive. The state used the order of those events to argue consciousness of guilt. According to prosecutors, Lee was not first calling for emergency help and then searching for medical answers. He was searching first, and searching in ways that touched the very injuries and scene conditions later described in court. Wamp told the judge that Lee was using ChatGPT as “a legal adviser” and asking how to cover up a crime scene. That phrasing placed intent, not technology, at the center of the state’s argument.
The defense answered by narrowing the question. Public defender Mike Little said the proof remained circumstantial and told the court that while something happened inside the house, the evidence did not yet show exactly what happened. That is a common defense posture at a preliminary hearing, where the issue is whether enough evidence exists to continue, not whether a jury should convict. Still, the state had more than phone messages. Investigators testified about blood visible in the house and blood revealed by Bluestar, scattered items, broken glass and an overall scene they said was inconsistent with an accidental fall. Prosecutors presented those details as signs of an attempted cleanup and of a struggle that moved through more than one room. The legal significance was simple: each piece reinforced probable cause even if no single piece stood alone.
The medical evidence sharpened the stakes. Testimony from the preliminary autopsy report described a broad set of injuries, including severe facial trauma, broken teeth, a fractured cheek bone, a large subdural hematoma, a fracture high in the cervical spine, shallow stab wounds and a bite mark. Prosecutors used that list to argue that the injuries did not fit the accidental scenarios Lee appeared to explore in his messages. One exchange discussed puncture wounds after a fall. Another mentioned swollen eyes. Another referred to blood at the scene. The state’s theory is that Lee was pressure-testing explanations before anyone else examined Perpétuo. The defense has not had to prove an alternate theory yet, but it has signaled that it will attack the state’s effort to turn troubling evidence into a definitive sequence and motive.
Outside the courtroom, the case has already split into two tracks with different goals. The criminal matter could lead to indictment, trial and potentially a capital decision if prosecutors decide to seek death. The civil lawsuit, filed by Perpétuo’s family in Hamilton County, seeks money damages and alleges that Lee intentionally assaulted her. Civil and criminal cases operate under different standards, but each can shape public understanding of the other by bringing records, claims and sworn testimony into view. Lee’s background as a former first-round draft pick out of Ohio State has added attention, yet the court record has focused less on football than on what was found in a rented home about 30 miles outside Chattanooga.
That is why the hearing’s most important effect may be procedural. It gave prosecutors a courtroom record to preview their theory before grand jurors and, later, potentially before a trial jury. It also gave the defense a first look at how aggressively the state will frame the digital evidence. For now, Wamp’s office has signaled seriousness by discussing a possible capital path, and the judge’s rulings have kept Lee jailed and the case moving forward. The unanswered questions are the ones that normally define the next phase: whether a grand jury indicts, whether prosecutors formally elect capital punishment, and how much more forensic detail appears in later filings and expert reports.
As of April 6, the case stands at that waiting point. Lee remains in custody, Perpétuo’s family is pursuing a civil claim, and the next milestone is grand jury action that will determine the shape and speed of the prosecution ahead.
Author note: Last updated April 6, 2026.