Murder Under the Friday Night Lights is investigating the murder of cheerleader Tristan Dilley, who was shot dead by her older boyfriend, Paul Audrey Adams, at Tristan’s mom’s house in Buna, Texas.
On the evening of October 1, 2017, Tristan’s family came home and concluded the 14-year-old was asleep in her bedroom. However, a short time later, Tristan’s younger brother went into her room and noticed blood. The teenager had been shot dead.
Tristan was a popular cheerleader at Silsbee High School, and her murder shocked this small community. She had attended a school homecoming dance the night before her murder and seemed to have her whole life ahead of her.
The police quickly established a “person of interest,” who was 19-year-old Paul Adams. Despite the age difference, the couple seemed to have had a romantic relationship, and because of the age difference, they were keeping their affair secret.
The Jasper County cops found Adams the evening after the murder at a secluded campsite near a canal. As they approached him, he shot himself in the head.
The killer had recently purchased a hatchet, rope, camouflage burlap sacks, and eight pairs of handcuffs. The cops never figured out why he had these items.
Paul Audrey Adams claimed another man killed Tristan Dilley
Adams left behind a lengthy suicide note in which he denied killing Tristan but claimed he was going to kill himself because he didn’t think anyone would believe he was innocent.
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The teenager started the note by writing, “I know what you’re thinking but I didn’t kill her. I loved Tristan with all my heart. I know we shouldn’t have snuck around but I also know she’s 14 and I am 19 but that did not matter to us.”
Adams then claimed that he and Tristan had been spending the evening together when a mysterious man in his 50s, wearing a Boston Red Sox ball cap, broke into the house. Adams said he initially thought it was Tristan’s parents and hid in a closet.
Paul Audrey Adams shot himself after Tristan Dilley killing
The teenage killer said this man shot Tristan, and he wasn’t brave enough to stop him. The note then claimed that he would be unable to bear the shame of not saving Tristan, so he was opting to kill himself.
The note finished by stating he was sure Tristan had died immediately and that he had stared at her lifeless body before deciding his only option was to run.
Adams shot himself with the same .22-caliber Magnum revolver that was used to kill Tristan. The Jasper County cops concluded that Adams was the real killer and that the man in the Boston baseball cap was a figment of his imagination.
Murder Under the Friday Night Lights airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Investigation Discovery.