Left inset: Christopher Whitley (Durham Police Department). Right inset: Auriel Lowe (GoFundMe). Background: Police outside the Durham, N.C., apartment where Christopher Whitley allegedly strangled Auriel Lowe and then barricaded himself inside (WNCN/YouTube).
A tragic incident unfolded in North Carolina as a nurse, who aspired to settle down and start a family, was murdered by a man she had met through a dating app. Heart-wrenching 911 calls have surfaced, shedding light on how the suspect allegedly used FaceTime to confess to a friend while showing the victim’s body, according to her family and police.
In a chilling account reported by The News & Observer, a woman called police to recount how her friend, Christopher Whitley, 31, purportedly admitted to strangling Auriel Lowe in her Durham apartment on September 10. “He murdered his girlfriend and then switched to FaceTime … and she’s laying on the floor,” the friend reportedly stated during the call. “I’m the only one that knows.”
Auriel Lowe, 34, was just beginning what she described as her “dream job” as a nurse anesthetist at Duke University Hospital. Having worked diligently to reach this milestone, her promising career was cut short by her untimely death, which her loved ones have described as both tragic and incomprehensible in a GoFundMe post.
“The circumstances of her death are devastating and beyond belief for the Lowe family,” the fundraising page notes, echoing sentiments shared by Lowe’s stepmother, Teresa Lowe.
Teresa Lowe elaborated on Auriel’s professional journey, explaining, “She was in ICU during her residency for two and a half years, and she had just been promoted to her career path in the operating room, moving towards her role in nurse anesthesiology.”
“She was in ICU during her residency for two and [a] half years, and she had just literally gotten promoted into her career path in the operating room to move towards her nurse anesthesiology,” Teresa Lowe explained.
The stepmom told the Observer that Lowe met Whitley on a dating app and began quietly dating him for a few months. “She was being private about it,” said Teresa Lowe. “I think he may have been overpowering her, based on what I’ve seen … So she may have been afraid to speak up if he was there.”
According to the Observer, multiple women have posted on social media in the wake of Lowe’s death to accuse Whitley of abusing them after meeting him on dating apps. Whitley was reportedly convicted in Texas of assault causing bodily injury to a family member in 2019; a suspended sentence of a year in jail and 15 months of probation was handed down to him.
“She just picked the wrong guy, unfortunately, and she didn’t know how to vet him,” Teresa Lowe told the Observer. “What I’m upset about is those dating apps; they need to do more background checks.”
After killing Lowe, Whitley locked himself inside her apartment and began calling and texting people, according to police. One acquaintance who allegedly received messages from him called authorities and said Whitley told him he “committed a crime against his girlfriend,” per the Observer.
“[The friend] advised he thought suspect was joking until he sent pictures of victim,” the 911 call log reads, according to the local newspaper.
A total of five hours elapsed between the time Lowe was killed and when Whitley began contacting his friends, police say. Lowe’s autopsy revealed that she was strangled around 5:30 a.m. and was later declared dead by paramedics around 2:30 p.m. after police were called. Whitley’s family reportedly convinced him to turn himself in after he barricaded himself inside Lowe’s residence.
Whitley was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He remains in the Durham County Detention Facility without bail.
