Lorenzen Wright was born in 1975, was a star of the NBA professional basketball tournament, played 13 seasons for five different clubs. In addition to his basketball talent, Lorenzen is also famous and loved for his active participation in charity activities. After earning about $55 million during his career, Lorenzen retired in 2009.

On July 18, 2010, after spending the day with his close friend Phil Dotson, Lorenzen mysteriously disappeared while at his ex-wife Sherra Wright’s house. The couple just divorced 5 months ago.

“He said he would call me later. I left around 10 p.m., went home and never heard from him again,” Phil said about his last meeting with Lorenzen.

Family and friends searched everywhere for Lorenzen but to no avail. The state of Tennessee offered a reward of 10,000 USD, the Memphis Grizzlies club and the city government of Memphis both offered a reward of 5,000 USD for any information about the whereabouts of the former star.

Eight days after the disappearance, Memphis Police discovered the 911 call took place in Germantown, a Memphis suburb, and linked it to Lorenzen.

“Oh shit,” Lorenzen said in the recording, before shots rang out. According to police, the call captured the former star’s final moments as he fled in the dark forest before being shot down, making listeners “hair stand up” because they felt Lorenzen’s terror. .

But on the night of the shooting, the dispatcher couldn’t locate the call, didn’t understand what he was saying, and didn’t pursue the case further.

Memphis police traced the call using cell phone tower data. Ten days after Lorenzen disappeared, his body was found in a forest, shot 11 times. Police determined this was an assassination.

At the time of his disappearance, Lorenzen was living in Atlanta but flew to Tennessee that weekend to spend time with relatives and at his ex-wife’s house. Sherra told police that Lorenzen left before 3:00 a.m. on July 19 and did not return.

Lorenzen and Sherra had a long but tumultuous relationship. They first met when Lorenzen was in high school; Sherra’s father was Lorenzen’s basketball coach. Even though Sherra was 5 years older, the couple quickly developed feelings. When Lorenzen started playing in the NBA, they had their first child.

The couple married in 1998, but lived in arguments, jealousy and constantly accused each other of being unfaithful. The marriage was further strained after they lost their daughter to sudden infant death syndrome in 2003.

During a heated argument after Lorenzen allegedly caught Sherra red-handed with another man, media reported that he kicked open the door, pointed a gun at them and assaulted Sherra, causing her to suffer a deep cuts on his hands and many scratches on his face. No charges were filed and Lorenzen publicly denied hurting his wife.

In 2010, the couple divorced but remained connected in life. According to the divorce agreement, Lorenzen purchased a $1 million life insurance policy, the beneficiaries were six children, and Sherra acted as custodian of the money.

From the beginning of the investigation, police and Lorenzen’s family suspected Sherra might be involved in her ex-husband’s death. According to Lorenzen’s mother, her ex-daughter-in-law had wasteful spending habits and was the only person who benefited from her son’s death.

Before the police, Sherra said the last time she saw her ex-husband was when he left her house with a box of drugs that she intended to sell to make quick money. Sherra believes Lorenzen was murdered in a botched drug deal. However, investigators did not find any evidence to support this theory.

The investigation was deadlocked until an unexpected breakthrough in 2012. Sherra’s cousin, Jimmie Martin, was convicted of killing his girlfriend and sought a lighter sentence. He told police that Sherra hired him to kill her ex-husband and gardener Billy Ray Turner. All three met to discuss a plan to stage the murder.

Jimmie said he and Billy once brought guns to Lorenzen’s apartment in Atlanta, but after breaking in, they did not see Lorenzen but only a roommate of the former football player sleeping on the couch, so they panicked and left. out of the apartment. Sherra decided to lure Lorenzen to Memphis by sending her ex-husband a series of suggestive text messages.

Sherra and Billy then tell Jimmie that they successfully committed the murder. According to the story, Sherra lured Lorenzen to the forest where Billy was waiting. Upon arriving, Billy immediately opened fire as soon as Lorenzen stepped forward. The former player tried to run away, jumping over the fence before being hit by several bullets.

Jimmie claimed that he and Billy threw the shotgun into a small lake in Mississippi.

Jimmie was sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing his girlfriend, but was granted immunity from prosecution in the Lorenzen case because he testified against Sherra and Billy.

However, despite Jimmie’s testimony, investigators still did not have enough evidence to arrest the suspect. They recovered the weapon from the lake but could not find it. In 2016, an FBI diving team organized a new search and discovered the weapon more than 80 km from where Lorenzen’s body was found.

Billy and Sherra were arrested in December 2017.

Lorenzen’s mother set off fireworks at the cemetery to celebrate receiving news of the arrests. “We have to celebrate,” she said.

Sherra’s lawyer defended that she orchestrated the attack on her ex-husband simply because she was trapped in an abusive and abusive relationship.

Based on Jimmie’s testimony and other evidence, including phone records, Sherra is believed to have been present when Lorenzen was murdered. The forest where Lorenzen’s body was found was once where the couple had sex.

According to police, it was their private meeting place. To Lorenzen, there was nothing unusual about this place and would not make him wary. Numerous sexual text messages between the two verified that Sherra had lured her ex-husband back there.

In July 2019, Sherra agreed to a plea deal and was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to being an accessory to murder and attempted murder.

During Billy’s trial, prosecutors said Billy and Sherra had an affair. Billy worked as a landscaper in Atlanta and met Sherra at church. Prosecutors say Sherra could easily have manipulated Billy. They presented as evidence cell phone records showing hundreds of calls between Billy and Sherra before and after Lorenzen’s death, along with Billy’s cell phone data from the night of the murder.

In March 2022, Billy, 51 years old, was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder and criminal conspiracy, and received a life sentence.

Although the motive was not clarified in court, Lorenzen’s mother confirmed that Sherra killed her ex-husband to collect compensation from a life insurance policy worth $1 million. She is said to have received the payout quickly after Lorenzen’s death.

During Sherra’s parole hearing in May 2022, two of the six children stood in support of their mother, one opposed early release. Sherra’s next parole hearing is scheduled for 2027.