Lorenzen Wright, a 34-year-old male, was a former professional basketball player who had spent 13 seasons in the NBA, playing for teams including the Memphis Grizzlies. In July 2010, his promising life was cut tragically short in a brutal murder orchestrated by his ex-wife. The case, which remained cold for years, eventually unraveled a sinister plot involving betrayal and greed.
Wright was last seen alive on July 18, 2010, when he left the home of his ex-wife, Sherra Wright-Robinson, in Collierville, Tennessee. In the early morning hours of July 19, a 911 call was made from Wright's cell phone to a dispatcher in Germantown, Tennessee. The call was brief, punctuated by the sound of 11 gunshots before it abruptly ended. Ten days later, on July 28, after being reported missing by his family, Wright's decomposing body was discovered in a wooded area in southeast Memphis. The cause of death was determined to be homicide by gunshot wound.
The investigation into Wright's murder languished for years until a key witness came forward. In 2012, Sherra Wright-Robinson's cousin, Jimmie Martin, who was incarcerated for the murder of his girlfriend, began cooperating with investigators. He revealed that Sherra had masterminded a plan to kill her ex-husband and had recruited him and a man named Billy Ray Turner to carry it out. Turner was a landscaper who knew Sherra from church and was reportedly in a secret romantic relationship with her. Martin told authorities that the trio had initially planned to murder Wright in Atlanta, but the attempt failed. He also led them to the murder weapon, which was recovered from a lake in Walnut, Mississippi, in November 2017.
Following the recovery of the gun and Martin's testimony, arrests were finally made. In December 2017, Billy Ray Turner was indicted on first-degree murder charges. Shortly after, Sherra Wright-Robinson was arrested in California in connection with the murder. The prosecution's case was built around the testimony of Jimmie Martin, who was granted immunity in the Wright case. He testified that Sherra was motivated by a one-million-dollar life insurance policy and that she and Turner had ambushed Lorenzen. According to Martin's account of what Sherra told him, they chased Wright, who tried to flee by jumping a fence before they shot him multiple times.
In a surprising turn of events, on July 25, 2019, Sherra Wright-Robinson pleaded guilty to facilitation of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Billy Ray Turner's case went to trial, and in March 2022, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder, with an additional 41 years for the other charges. An appeal filed by Turner, citing various trial errors, was denied by the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals in October 2023.
