Suspect allegedly showed photo of Duke nurse’s body to friends, records show
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Records show Christopher Whitley allegedly confessed to friends before his arrest.
- Auriel Lowe, Whitley’s girlfriend, was found dead in her apartment Sept. 10.
- Whitley is charged with first-degree murder in her death.
The man accused of killing a Duke nurse at her Durham home last month allegedly confessed to multiple friends before police arrived, according to public records recently released to The News & Observer.
Auriel Lowe, 34, was found dead in her Laurel Springs Drive apartment Sept. 10, The N&O previously reported. Her boyfriend, 31-year-old Christopher Whitley of Wake Forest, is charged with first-degree murder in her death.
Durham police previously said they were called to Lowe’s home for a “barricaded subject” about 12:30 p.m. that day.
But the first 911 call came in at 10:22 a.m., when a woman reported her friend had confessed to killing his girlfriend, according to a recording obtained by The N&O.
“This man just — this man murdered his girlfriend,” the caller said, gasping and sobbing.
The operator, who initially couldn’t understand the caller, asked her to take a deep breath and repeat herself.
“My friend just called me,” the woman said. “He murdered his girlfriend and then switched to FaceTime ... and she’s laying on the floor.”
The caller said she didn’t know her friend’s address but believed he was at his girlfriend’s house; she gave authorities his name and phone number. Emergency communications personnel were then able to use that phone number to contact AT&T, the phone provider, who pinged the phone’s location to Laurel Springs Drive, according to the computer-aided dispatch log of the incident.
The caller also expressed concern her friend would know she’d reported him to police.
“I’m the only one that [expletive] knows,” she said. “He’s gonna know it’s me.”
Whitley did apparently call the Duke University Police Department in an effort to contact his friend, saying “he forgives her and loves her,” the dispatch log states. But she wasn’t the only person he’d told about Lowe’s death, according to the log, which notes a call from a man who reported Whitley contacted him, too.
“Tel # [redacted], stating Chris Whitley called and said he committed a crime against his girlfriend, then texted compl [complainant] at [redacted] stating that he sees a SWAT van and hears a dog,” the log reads. “[Redacted] advised he thought suspect was joking until he sent pictures of victim.”
Five hours apparently elapsed between Lowe’s death and Whitley’s first call to friends. Lowe’s death certificate states she was fatally strangled about 5:30 a.m. and died soon after, though paramedics couldn’t officially declare her dead until they entered the house around 2:30 p.m.
Whitley remained in the apartment for an unclear amount of time, apparently lingering on the couch with a gun, until he was able to speak with family members on the phone, who persuaded him to surrender to police, according to the dispatch log.
‘May have been afraid to speak up’
Lowe, a California native, was training to become an operating room nurse at Duke University Hospital at the time of her death. She’d lived in Durham since 2023, previously serving as a nurse in the neurology intensive care and hyperbaric units, according to her obituary.
Lowe’s family told The N&O last month she’d only been dating Whitley for a few months, but seemed scared to talk about him with her parents.
“She was being private about it,” said Teresa Lowe, her stepmother. “I think he may have been overpowering her, based on what I’ve seen ... in the writing. So she may have been afraid to speak up if he was there.”
Several women have also posted on social media since Lowe’s death to share allegations of abuse after reportedly meeting Whitley on dating apps.
Whitley was convicted in 2019 of assault causing bodily injury to a family member while living in Texas. He received a suspended sentence of a year in jail and 15 months of probation.
“She just picked the wrong guy, unfortunately, and she didn’t know how to vet him,” Teresa Lowe said. “What I’m upset about is those dating apps; they need to do more background checks.”
Whitley remained in the Durham County jail without bail as of Sunday afternoon.
This story was originally published October 27, 2025 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Suspect allegedly showed photo of Duke nurse’s body to friends, records show."
