Tristan Dilley: What Happened to the Silsbee Cheerleader?

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and suicide. Reader discretion is advised.

On October 1, 2017, Tristan Dilley’s younger brother found her dead of gunshot wounds in her bedroom in their Buna, Texas, home. According to People Magazine, Dilley, a high school cheerleader, had been shot twice in the head before her 15th birthday. Police soon learned that she had been dating 19-year-old Paul Audrey Adams at the time. Moreover, the couple had been deceiving Dilley’s family about Adams’ real age.

The outlet reported that authorities began looking for Adams and suspected his involvement in Dilley’s killing. But Adams maintained his innocence, alleging that an intruder shot Dilley while he hid in the shower. Authorities believed he was deflecting the blame with the story.

Paul Audrey Adams then died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on October 2, 2017, per the New York Post. Adams also left behind a mysterious suicide note.

Tristan Dilley’s murder case premiered in an episode of ID’s Murder Under the Friday Night Lights on January 17, 2024.

Who was the suspect in Tristan Dilley’s murder case?

The aforementioned People Magazine report stated that the police believed from the beginning that Tristan Dilley, 14, was familiar with her killer. Jasper County, Texas, Sheriff’s Lt. Ryan Cunningham told the outlet, “She never saw it coming. You could tell from the scene there was not a struggle or a fight. She was comfortable with knowing the person.”

Dilley’s 13-year-old brother found her dead of two gunshot wounds to the head two days before her 15th birthday. The murder weapon was identified as a .22-caliber magnum revolver. One day before the murder, she had attended a school dance and sleepover at a friend’s house. Detectives also ruled out a break-in and soon learned that she was dating an older teen.

The outlet reported that Tristan Dilley’s friends and family believed she was dating a 16-year-old boy named “Adam.” But police soon found out her boyfriend’s true identity—Paul Audrey Adams, a 19-year-old nursing student at Lamar State College. Lt. Cunningham told People, “Both kids were deceiving the parents. He [Adams] knew he was too old to be seeing the child.” Digital evidence, such as Dilley’s phone records and Facebook activity, proved that the couple planned secret meet-ups.

Police began looking for Adams and found his address in nearby Vidor, Texas. While searching his room, they found a spent .22-caliber magazine casing lying in his bedroom, which was “probably the type of round used [to kill] Tristan.” While Texas Rangers were questioning his mother, Adams called her. Cunningham said, “The Ranger listened for a few minutes and took the phone. He tried to get Paul to come in and speak to us, but he didn’t want to come in.”

Adams reportedly admitted to the Ranger that he was at Tristan Dilley’s house the day she died but claimed that an intruder killed her. He then described the intruder to be an older white male with a beard who shot Dilley before running away. Adams alleged that he hid in the shower and only came out to find her dead. He claimed, “he didn’t know what else to do, so he ran,” said Cunningham. Investigators believed Adams was trying to mislead the police with his story.

What happened to Paul Audrey Adams?

On October 2, 2017, authorities located Paul Audrey Adams in a campsite near Vidor. Seeing the police approach, Adam reached for a gun and shot himself in the head. They found a suicide note at the scene, in which Adams denied shooting Tristan Dilley. In the note, he wrote, “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 an intruder shot Dilley, the same story he told the Texas Ranger. The note read, “We thought it was her parents, but it was some man. Thinking it was her parents, I hid in the bathroom, but I realized it wasn’t her parents when Tristan started screaming,” per The Post. He apologized to the victim’s parents and said, “Now this is all happened I feel it will just be better to end my life.”

Detectives later learned that Adams bought several knives, dumbbells, duct tape, an axe, a machete, a hatchet, and a burlap sack before Dilley’s murder. Lt. Ryan Cunningham believed, “It was a premeditated event.” He also told People Magazine that they learned Adams had downloaded apps to his cell phone to listen to police dispatch traffic. Cunningham added, “I think he knew we were coming,” he said, “but I don’t think he realized it was going to be quite so fast.”

The murder-suicide case of Tristan Dilley was featured on ID’s Murder Under the Friday Night Lights episode.

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