{"id":5293,"date":"2026-07-24T06:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5293"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T06:34:31","slug":"durham-teen-claimed-his-girlfriend-shot-herself-why-police-say-it-was-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=5293","title":{"rendered":"Durham teen claimed his girlfriend shot herself. Why police say it was murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n

Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

Four days after her 18th birthday, a Durham teen was fatally shot in an elementary school parking lot in what her boyfriend may have tried to disguise as a suicide, a newly released search warrant indicates.<\/p>\n

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Hailee Maye had just graduated from high school when she was shot in the head on May 15, 2025, behind Southwest Durham Elementary School, according to court documents and a GoFundMe.<\/p>\n

Jason Torres, 18, was arrested about four months later in her death on a charge of first-degree murder, court records show.<\/p>\n

Torres called 911 just before 8 p.m. that night, claiming Maye had shot herself, search warrants state. She was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n

But warrants show that investigators discovered holes in Torres\u2019s narrative of the events that night.<\/p>\n

Torres told police he picked up Maye from work before they parked at the elementary school that night, according to search warrants. While they were in Torres\u2019s vehicle, Maye began \u201cplaying with a gun,\u201d Torres said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to JT, while he was on the phone, the gun \u2018just went off,\u2019\u201d an investigator wrote. \u201cMaye was struck and killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torres declined further interviewing at police headquarters, invoking his right to a lawyer.<\/p>\n

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Video surveillance gives police further details on the timeline of events. Footage from the school showed Torres\u2019s vehicle arrived at 7:03 p.m. Torres exited the vehicle roughly 40 minutes later and called someone, search warrants state.<\/p>\n

Torres didn\u2019t call 911 for more than 8 minutes, investigators wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the time period between when JT left his vehicle and when he called 911, he was seen speaking on his phone several times,\u201d search warrants state. \u201cAccording to JT\u2019s statement, he immediately began CPR on Maye, and then called 911. However, the video showed JT spent a large amount of time out of the vehicle and on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Torres could also be seen going to a nearby section of grass to wipe his socks off, two minutes before he called 911, according to the warrants.<\/p>\n

Torres told investigators Maye \u201cliked playing with and posing with guns,\u201d an assertion police searched Maye\u2019s Instagram account to try to verify. It\u2019s not clear if Torres\u2019s statement was ultimately corroborated.<\/p>\n

Maye\u2019s mother also told police Torres \u201cwould often make playful threats to Maye that he would shoot her,\u201d search warrants state.<\/p>\n

Torres, who has remained in jail since his arrest, maintains Maye\u2019s death \u201cwas a tragic accident that will haunt him for the rest of his life,\u201d his attorney wrote in a motion for bond reduction. His bail has remained at $1 million secured since Oct. 6, court records show.<\/p>\n

Student U, a Durham nonprofit promoting equitable education, wrote in an Instagram post<\/a> that Maye \u201cwas known for her energy, her kindness, and her deep involvement at Student U.\u201d Maye\u2019s loved ones said in a GoFundMe<\/a> that the teen had planned to attend nursing classes.<\/p>\n

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Torres\u2019s case is next set to be discussed in court Oct. 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Court warrants outline how surveillance and phone records contradicted Jason Torres\u2019s account in the May 15, 2025, death of 18-year-old Hailee Maye in Durham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"\nDurham teen claimed his girlfriend shot herself. 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