Heather Trinee Lee was born on July 13, 1982, and lived much of her adult life in Escambia County, Florida. She resided in a modest trailer park community in Ensley, a town near Pensacola, sharing the neighborhood with Tina Lasonya Brown and Brown’s teenage daughter, Britnee Angelique Miller. While Lee kept a relatively low profile in public records before the crime, she was known locally as a neighbor and occasional friend to both Brown and their eventual victim, 19-year-old Audreanna Zimmerman. The women’s relationships were casual but volatile, shaped by the dynamics of close proximity in a small trailer park and complicated by disputes over personal conflicts and alliances.

Prior to the murder, Lee’s life does not appear to have included serious criminal convictions. However, she was drawn into escalating tensions between Brown, Miller, and Zimmerman—tensions sparked by jealousy, betrayal, and a fight involving a stun gun after Zimmerman was accused of being involved with Miller’s boyfriend. Although Lee was not the primary instigator, she became deeply involved in the plan that would soon turn deadly. She was 27 years old when the events unfolded, old enough to understand the gravity of her actions but ultimately choosing loyalty to her neighbor over her own moral judgment.

On March 24, 2010, Heather Lee joined Tina Brown and Britnee Miller in a premeditated assault that would end the life of Audreanna Zimmerman. That afternoon, under the pretense of reconciliation, Brown invited Zimmerman to her trailer. Once inside, Lee participated alongside Brown and Miller in physically attacking Zimmerman. She helped beat Zimmerman with fists and likely assisted in subduing her as Brown wielded a crowbar and a stun gun.

After the brutal beating, Lee assisted in forcing Zimmerman into Brown’s vehicle. They drove her to a secluded wooded area nearby. Once there, Lee stood by while Brown poured gasoline over Zimmerman. In a final, horrific act, Brown set Zimmerman on fire while she was still alive. Though Lee did not strike the match herself, she was fully complicit in the abduction and the escalation to murder.

Miraculously, Zimmerman survived long enough to stumble to a nearby residence, where she managed to identify her attackers before being rushed to the hospital. With burns covering 60% of her body, Zimmerman clung to life for 16 days before succumbing to her injuries on April 9, 2010.

The three women were arrested and charged with first-degree premeditated murder. As the prosecution prepared for trial, Lee decided to cooperate in exchange for leniency. On November 3, 2011, she reached a plea agreement: she pled guilty to second-degree murder, agreed to testify against Brown and Miller, and in return, prosecutors dropped the kidnapping charge and removed the death penalty from consideration.

On July 20, 2012, Heather Lee was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Her cooperation was critical in securing convictions against the others. She began serving her sentence at Gadsden Correctional Facility, with a projected release date of September 2, 2031. As of 2025, Lee remains incarcerated, reflecting on the devastating crime that ended a young woman’s life and forever marked her own.