[female narrator] she was his high school sweetheart
And became a basketball wife.
He made 55 million dollars playin' basketball.
It seemed to be a true love story
With the two of them.
I knew he was madly in love with her.
[music]
[narrator] on a steamy summer night in memphis,
This fairytale of riches comes to a startling end.
You're literally hearing someone be murdered.
[music]
[narrator] for nearly a decade, the case haunts the city.
And when the truth finally comes out,
A cold-hearted killer is close to home court.
[austin] this wasn't a robbery.
It leads you to believe it was somethin' personal.
I mean, that was the kodak moment,
When they brought that weapon out.
He was nothing more than a pawn on a chessboard,
That did what his queen wanted him to do.
[music]
[narrator] July 22nd, 2010.
In a wealthy suburb just outside of memphis,
Deborah marion makes a phone call to
The collierville police department.
Deborah identifies herself as mother to famed nba star
Lorenzen wright.
The name is well known to the officer...
And everyone else in memphis.
He was what they called a hometown hero.
So you would see his name on billboards everywhere.
Every restaurant you go to,
They'll have something of his nature.
Now, whether it was a jersey or a poster.
[music]
[narrator] deborah tells the officer that
34-year-old lorenzen, who currently lives in atlanta,
Arrived in memphis four days earlier to visit,
But now has disappeared.
One of his sisters was pregnant at the time,
And she was havin' a baby shower.
But he would not have missed that for the world.
He didn't show up for that.
[music]
[narrator] deborah insists this just isn't like her son.
[darren] no one could get in contact with him.
They knew that there was something was wrong,
Something was bad wrong.
The mother filed the missing person report.
All of us became highly concerned then,
Because it was not like ren.
Somethin' has happened.
[narrator] as investigators review the report,
News of the missing nba player spreads quickly across the city
[austin] this was indeed a very big deal.
He was one of memphis' favorite sons.
The whole city was abuzz, wantin' to know what happened.
[music]
[narrator] lorenzen "ren" wright was born on November 4th, 1975,
In oxford, mississippi
To deborah marion and herb wright.
Although his parents never married,
Lorenzen was close to both his mother and his father.
The relationship that him and his mom had
Was a bond that would never be broken.
I mean, he, they were very, very close.
[music]
[narrator] lorenzen's bond with his father,
A former nba prospect,
Centered around their shared love of basketbal.
His father herb was...
Injured, wounded, and was paralyzed.
And herb never let the wheelchair stop him.
Ren loved his daddy.
He loved him, and herb was his first sorta coach.
Taught him a lot about basketball.
[music]
[narrator] by the time lorenzen was in high school,
It was clear that the 6'11" teenager
Was a gifted athlete.
Anybody could see, even when he was in high school,
This guy got a express train ticket to the nba.
[michael] he was one of top players in mississippi.
Then his senior year,
His daddy made the move to get him outta mississippi
And get him to memphis.
[dr. Adkins] memphis produces a lot of top basketball players
And if you want to be better, if you want to get better,
Play the best.
[narrator] during the summers, lorenzen played for
The exclusive amateur athletic union.
[michael] aau is like... They call it all american.
All the top players around the country play in it.
[music]
[narrator] lorenzen was a star on the team,
Gaining plenty of attention from his coach,
As well as from his coach's daughter,
Sherra robinson.
From what I know, sherra's mom died at a young age,
And she met lorenzen through her dad.
[montae] her father was an aau basketball coach.
And by that being the case, sherra had a lot of access
To knowing who basketball players were.
[music]
Sherra was different.
Just different that anything he had been around.
He was madly in love with her.
[music]
[narrator] in 1994, lorenzen began his freshman year
Of college playing for the university of memphis.
That same year, sherra became pregnant with his child.
The couple was excited,
But decided to hold off on marriage
So lorenzen could focus on basketball.
[music]
[darren] here this kid is 6'10", 6'11",
Could run like a gazelle.
He had "it".
And "it" was everything.
[narrator] a year later, lorenzen was still playing at
The university of memphis
When all of his dedication and hard work paid off.
[montae] draft night, lorenzen gets drafted by the la clippers
As the number 7th player of the nba draft.
So instantly, his life changed.
[music]
[montae] so now lorenzen was out on the road
42 times a season, playin' basketball.
[narrator] but he was always eager to return home
To sherra and his son.
Bein' on the road was fine...
[stammering] and it's fun for a while.
But he always wanted to get home to his children.
[narrator] by 1998, the couple had married,
And lorenzen had built both a reputation in the nba
And a handsome bank account.
In 1999, sherra gave birth to their second child.
[michael] oh, the wedding was awesome.
He had a huge wedding in memphis.
The wedding was beautiful. Yeah, he was excited.
We were all excited for him.
[music]
[narrator] his marriage to sherra was a constant...
Even when his nba career had the family moving from
La to atlanta after he was traded to the hawks.
Then, in 2001, another dream came true.
That's where they held the press conference at...
For lorenzen to come in to play for the memphis grizzlies.
It was real, real big.
It was very, very, very much like
This thing is coming back full circle.
[music]
[narrator] sherra and lorenzen moved their family to
The wealthy memphis suburb of collierville.
[dr. Atkins] the neighborhood's a very exclusive neighborhood,
And in the neighborhood were two nfl football players
In the, in that same little cove that they were in.
[narrator] their family continued to grow.
By 2002, they had seven children,
Three girls and four boys.
[michael] sherra was always there for her kids.
She was great as a mother.
They had all kinds of help,
Whether it was family, friends, and live-in nannies.
[music]
[narrator] by 2003, lorenzen and sherra were living a fantasy.
[music]
[narrator] but tragedy struck when their youngest daughter,
Sierra simone, died of sids at 11 months old.
Sherra was heartbroken.
You know, it really, really hurt her a lot.
[dr. Atkins] lorenzen was devastated.
That was probably the pivotal point
In his marriage.
[music]
[dr. Atkins] well, their relationship became
Very volatile.
The arguments just continued on.
On and on and on.
[music]
[narrator] over the next few years,
The relationship was tumultuous but the couple didn't give up.
[michael] they had some issues in memphis,
When he was with the grizzlies, before they got back to atlanta
But they decided that,
"hey, okay, lets just squash it."
They renewed their vows.
[narrator] in 2006, lorenzen was traded once again,
This time back to the atlanta hawks.
But less than three years later he was cut
And wouldn't play again.
By then, it was clear that both his career and his marriage
Were in trouble.
[michael] sherra moved back to memphis.
And lorenzen actually stayed.
I think they started to, to drift apart.
So he lived in atlanta,
And would come back and forth to memphis.
[narrator] in February 2010, the couple finally divorced.
It was still a, a 50/50 thing.
She would have the kids, obviously, during the schoolyear
And whatnot, but lorenzen still made time, whether it's...
Having them here in atlanta, or he was in memphis.
He loved his kids to the fullest.
The kids were a big reason why
That they actually stayed together
For as long as they did.
[music]
[narrator] but on July 22nd,
Just days after returning to memphis to visit his family,
Lorenzen is missing.
[music]
It wasn't entirely unlike lorenzen to go a day or two
Without making contact,
With his family not knowing exactly where,
Where he was.
He did like to travel.
He did have friends in various cities.
[narrator] family members say lorenzen had
An amicable relationship with his ex-wife, sherra,
And planned to stay with her and his kids while
He was in memphis.
[music]
[narrator] when friends and family reach out to sherra,
She isn't overly concerned.
She says, "there's nothing to be worried about,
"I'm sure he's just gone, and he'll come back.
This is what lorenzen does."
But when he hadn't been heard from for four days,
It became an issue.
Lorenzen tended to disappear
Whenever he needed some time to himself,
But he'd always let somebody know.
We're just thinking the worst.
[music]
[narrator] coming up,
Was lorenzen's return to memphs an act of love?
That's one of the reasons he came back to memphis.
He was trying to get back with her.
[narrator] or was it a fatal mistake?
[darren] two hispanic men show up at the house
And they were armed,
And they were looking for lorenzen.
[music]
[narrator] memphis investigators are looking into
The disappearance of nba star lorenzen wright
By tracking his last known whereabouts
The night of July 18th, 2010.
Family members tell police that earlier that day,
Lorenzen was with his college friend,
Phil dotson.
[paul] so mr. Dotson was interviewed,
He was somebody who's a lifelong friend of lorenzen's.
He has dinner with a bunch of his fraternity brothers
From the university of memphis.
Among them, philip.
And then after dinner,
Phil dotson takes him over to the gym.
[music]
[narrator] at the gym, they watched lorenzen's son
Play in a pickup game of basketball.
But their time was interrupted by a constant stream of texts,
All from sherra wright.
Sherra started sending lorenzen, you know, nudity pictures.
You know, "okay, well, come on, come on and get this."
Sherra sending him these sexually explicit text messages,
"I want you to come see me, you know, we're gonna do
This, that, and the other."
[narrator] eventually, phil tells the investigators,
He took lorenzen and his son to sherra's house.
[austin] they then all get in the car,
And mr. Dotson drives them out to collierville
And drops them off, I believe around 10pm.
[narrator] and that was the last time
He saw or heard from lorenzen.
[paul] mr. Dotson was extremely cooperative.
He was somebody who's a lifelong friend of lorenzen's.
As far as he was concerned, there was nothing odd.
[music]
[narrator] since sherra's home was
Lorenzen's last known location,
Investigators speak with her next.
Sherra corroborates phil's stor and tells detectives
She last saw lorenzen after he returned to the house
With their son on the night of the 18th.
[austin] she has lorenzen come into the house,
I think around 10 o'clock that evening.
Then spending some time together.
And then lorenzen was making comments about having
A box of drugs.
[narrator] sherra claims around 10:30pm that same night,
Two men she had never seen before
Arrived to pick up lorenzen.
[darren] two hispanic men show up at the house,
And they're wearing long overcoats.
And they were armed,
And they were looking for lorenzen.
[music]
[darren] then he left. Got in the car with them.
[music]
[paul] the words comin' out of her mouth would
Alert, alarm, and suspicion, you know, to anybody.
There's red flags poppin' up.
The entire tenor of the story is one that
Would make us concerned for his welfare.
[music]
[narrator] after they finish their interview with sherra,
Investigators continue speaking with those close to lorenzen
And learn it's no secret
The couple has had their troubles.
Both were having extramarital affairs.
[music]
[michael] they didn't argue in front of people.
So whatever happened, it happened behind closed doors.
[narrator] however, the infidelity was nothing
Compared to the financial shock that came when
He was cut from the hawks.
[austin] he made 55 million dollars playin' basketball.
I think by the time they got divorced,
That was basically gone.
[darren] they had cars that had been repossessed.
And I don't think he was in a good place financially.
[narrator] but in spite of all their problems,
When the divorce became final just a few months ago,
They seemed to regret it almost instantly.
[dr. Atkins] and that's one of the reasons
He came back to memphis.
She asked him to come back, and...
And he came back.
He was trying to get back with her.
[music]
[narrator] did lorenzen's financial troubles lead him
To get involved with the wrong crowd?
Investigators need to verify sherra's story
And identify the two men lorenzen left with.
They immediately subpoena his phone records.
Back then, it took a little bit longer than it does
For detectives to get his call records
That include location information.
[narrator] while detectives wait for the phone's location data,
They are able to check the last call made
From lorenzen's phone,
And they spot another red flag.
And they see that there's an outgoing call at 12:12am,
So just right after midnight.
They realized that the last call that was made was 911.
[music]
[narrator] on July 27th, detectives obtain a recording
Of the call from neighboring germantown,
Just 22 miles east of memphis.
And what they hear is terrifying.
[phone dialing]
[music]
Anyone listens to it, it is chilling and it's...
It's... Pretty brutal.
[music]
[darren] so they in turn then contact
The germantown police departmen
To follow, well, what did germantown do?
What did the germantown police department do...
To follow up on this 911 call?
[narrator] they get an answer they didn't expect.
[paul] that call was not followed up on at all.
It wasn't shared with any of the other agencies.
It was just...
Ignored.
[darren] the tower that the call is pinging off of
Kinda sits right in the middle of three jurisdictions.
So when germantown looked at the longitude and latitude,
They saw that it was not in their jurisdiction,
So they just dropped it.
[austin] it's brutal, it's shocking.
I don't know how you hear that phone call and just go,
"well, that was weird," and move on.
It was shocking.
[darren] you hear these shots, I mean,
You have to imagine that at some point,
Lorenzen is running for his life as he's being shot.
[music]
[narrator] more than a week after the 911 call,
Collierville detectives get the phone information
They've been waiting for.
They're able to use cellphone location information
To triangulate where that came from.
The location where this happened,
The suburbs of memphis.
Name of the street is callis cut off.
[narrator] along with a full forensic team and k-9s,
Investigators head to the narrow street.
[darren] collierville police department led that,
Gridded everything out,
And then they kinda began that, that very exhaustive search.
[paul] they go over the barbed wire fence,
Walk through a field, up a little hill,
By some bushes,
And probably haven't walked mor than maybe 120 yards,
And they found his body.
[music]
[darren] so you talkin' nine days of decomposing body.
Laying out nine days...
In the...
Memphis weather in July.
He was nothing but bones.
[paul] just unrecognizable as a person.
Except for...
The bright white tennis shoes that remained.
[music]
[narrator] between the shoes, jewelry, and clothing,
Investigators are all but certain
The body belongs to lorenzen.
[music]
[narrator] as the medical examiner collects the remains,
Investigators comb the area around the body for evidence.
They search numerous times in an attempt to find his cellphone.
It's never found.
But they find at least two different kinds of casings.
One, a small caliber handgun, and one, a 9 millimeter.
It suggests, more than likely, multiple perpetrators.
[austin] a .25 caliber gun's not gonna shoot 9 millimeter,
And vice versa.
Typically, in my experience,
People aren't shootin' two fisted.
[music]
[narrator] detectives believe that this wasn't
A random attack.
He still has his watch on,
He still has diamond earrings,
And, and a chain, which kinda right off lets you know
This wasn't a robbery.
It leads you to believe it was somethin' personal.
[music]
[narrator] investigators aren't able to keep the discovery of
The body under wraps for long.
[kontji] you could see his mother, deborah,
Pacing and wanting answers from the police.
[dr. Atkins] that was breaking news.
And...
His mama...
[music]
...Was one of the first to get to the scene.
[music]
[kontji] it was just so visceral.
It was just really, really hard to watch her
Find out that moment that it was him.
[music]
[narrator] a day later,
The medical examiner uses dental records to confirm that
The remains belong to the basketball star.
[music]
He was shot five times.
He was shot in the head.
He was shot in the chest.
[kontji] what could have possibly happened?
You just got this really chilling visual of just
Those last moments, and so you felt like it had to be
Some type of execution.
[music]
[narrator] coming up,
Sherra's story continues to raise questions.
[austin] once the officers start pointin' out to her that
She's saying things that don't match up,
She gets a lawyer and stops talkin'.
[narrator] and a darker truth begins to unfold...
[austin] his phone was hitting on a tower
Overlapping the same general area where
Lorenzen wright's 911 call was overlapping.
[music]
[narrator] having found the badly decomposed body of
Nba star lorenzen wright,
Investigators follow up on his ex-wife
Sherra wright's claims that he left her house
With drugs and two mystery men.
[paul] originally, she was just telling family members,
"just lorenzen being lorenzen. Don't worry about it."
And then it wasn't 'til she was
Interviewed by police the first time
That she tells this story about
Him leaving in the middle of the night.
If anyone left under those circumstances,
Disappeared, the loved one who witnessed that
Would immediately be concerned for the welfare,
But sherra was not.
[music]
[narrator] when investigators follow up with
More of lorenzen's family and friends,
They explain that if lorenzen blew through his fortune,
He had plenty of help from sherra.
[dr. Atkins] she would often brag
That the clothes that she wore,
You know, was valuable than most people's cars.
This was her style.
And she loved to spend money.
[music]
[narrator] lorenzen's loved ones say that even if lorenzen was
Having money problems,
There's no way he was involved in drugs.
Anybody that knows lorenzen, first of all,
Know that he don't have a bad bone in his body.
Drugs, no. Lorenzen is not a street guy.
[music]
[narrator] after the interview,
Investigators want to speak to sherra again.
But she throws up a roadblock.
[austin] once the officers start pointin' out to her that
She's saying things that don't match up,
She gets a lawyer and stops talkin'.
[music]
[paul] so they begin looking at the text messages
That she sent to lorenzen to get him to come to memphis.
[narrator] investigators subpoena
Sherra's phone records,
And it's clear that sherra had been on a campaign to get
Lorenzen to come to memphis for days before he arrived.
[music]
She's sending him pretty sexually explicit text messages
To come to memphis and see her.
[music]
[narrator] was sherra really that eager
To reconcile with her ex?
Or was she luring him into a trap?
As investigators comb through the texts in the days before
Lorenzen went missing,
They discover a number of messages between
Sherra and two men:
Billy turner and jimmie martin.
[paul] sherra had exchanged a series of suspicious,
Appeared to be coded,
Text exchanges with jimmie in the days before the murder.
[narrator] investigators discover that jimmie is
Sherra's cousin, and he is currently out on bail,
Awaiting trial for 2nd degree murder.
[paul] at the time lorenzen was killed,
Jimmie martin had his own legal problems going on
He had been charged with the murder of his girlfriend.
[narrator] when detectives ask around about the other man,
Billy turner, they learn he is sherra's landscaper.
[darren] her and billy met at church.
He was a deacon at the church.
And he also became her yard guy.
[music]
[narrator] when detectives pull location data from their phone,
Billy's phone is the only one that raises an alarm.
[austin] his phone was hitting on a tower
Overlapping the same general area where
Lorenzen wright's 911 call was overlapping.
That helped us put billy close to, if not on the scene
Shortly after the murder happens.
[music]
[narrator] investigators reach out to billy and jimmie,
But both men deny any involvement.
We have a crime scene that's been covered up.
The 911 call was not followed u on at all.
[austin] they ran down all these tips.
They got phone records.
They talked to a lot of people.
But eventually, you kinda run up into a wall where...
What else are we gonna do here?
And if you don't catch them with I guess
The literal smoking gun in this case,
You kind of run into a dead end.
[music]
[narrator] lorenzen's mother refuses to let the case go cold
[austin] deborah marion, who was pushin', pushin', pushin'
"I want this investigated, I want justice for my son,
And I'm not gonna leave you alone until I get it."
[narrator] while deborah is dogged in her efforts to get
The case solved,
Investigators learn sherra is on a different quest.
She had nearly spent a million dollars in 10 months
Of the insurance money after lorenzen's death.
I was covering the court case.
His dad was suing sherra to try to stop the money bleed.
[darren] she burnt through it
Like sherman burnin' through georgia.
She just went through expensive trips, houses,
Furniture, lawn equipment.
[music]
[narrator] two years pass, and it looks as if
Lorenzen's murder will remain unsolved.
Then, in 2012, sherra's cousin
Jimmie martin's murder trial wraps up
And brings an unexpected twist.
[paul] jimmie gets convicted, and at that point,
He comes forward to authorities.
It's like a lot of prisoners in jail,
They're trying to get better conditions.
They sometimes wanna be moved to a different prison.
They tryin' to work a deal.
[music]
[narrator] jimmie shocks investigators when he says
He is finally ready to talk about lorenzen's murder.
[austin] jimmie martin told police about
Meeting with sherra wright
And billy turner at sherra's home,
And talking about a plot to kill lorenzen wright.
Jimmie, he really didn't take her seriously.
[music]
[narrator] jimmie claims when they decided to put the plan
In motion on July 18th, he was abruptly left out.
His story is, "that night, I was supposed to be there.
But they never came and got me."
[narrator] after midnight,
Jimmie says he finally heard from billy,
Who told him that he and sherra needed his help.
Billy admitted that lorenzen wa already dead,
But during the attack,
Sherra had panicked and left a .25 caliber pistol
At the scene on callis cut off road.
They told him that she started shooting,
And essentially ran up the street in a panic and threw it.
[darren] he talked about getting a metal detector,
And they kinda went back to the scene the next day.
Used the metal detector to find the gun.
[music]
[narrator] jimmie says that sherra took
The .25 caliber pistol with her
While he went with billy to get rid of the 9 millimeter.
He talked about this lake that he and billy went out to,
And threw one of the guns in the lake.
[narrator] jimmie's story matches evidence recovered at
The scene by investigators.
[austin] up on the road, you had .25 caliber shell casings,
And one 9 millimeter shell casing.
[narrator] but investigators also know they will need
More than a convicted murderer' word to bring
This case to justice.
We were going to follow up on that evidence,
And we were going to let the evidence drive
The investigation.
[music]
[narrator] coming up,
Investigators take a deep dive for evidence.
The divers told us if it's there, we're gonna find it.
[narrator] and they stop at nothing to uncover the truth
The plan for the wire tap was to tap both of their phones.
You gotta jump through quite a few hoops to get that.
So, we did that.
[music]
[narrator] two years after the murder of lorenzen wright,
Detectives head out with jimmie martin
To the spot where he claims his co-conspirator,
Billy turner, dumped one of the murder weapons.
Those investigators asked for a volunteer dive team from
Walnut, mississippi to come and search the lake.
They did it on the day after it had rained,
And all the, the lake was muddy
They spent a few hours and were unable to find anything.
[music]
[narrator] detectives are forced to consider the possibility
That the most promising break in years was just a ploy.
[paul] the original detectives
Dismissed jimmie martin's account,
And the case went cold for years.
[austin] I don't know why they didn't go back
And search the lake with a professional dive team
On a day when conditions were clearer.
[music]
[narrator] in the following years, sherra moves to
Riverside, california, and she remarries twice.
Meanwhile, lorenzen's mother, deborah,
Refuses to let her son's case die.
[dr. Atkins] god bless her heart.
She wouldn't let a day go by that she didn't phone call 'em,
Or go up there to the police department.
She kept saying, "ya'll got to find who killed my son."
[music]
[narrator] in 2017, seven years after lorenzen's death,
Deborah gets her wish.
The memphis police department officially reopens the case
With a multi-agency gang unit.
They dub it operation rebound.
I was the operations commander for the multi-agency gang unit,
Which included memphis police officers,
Shelby county sheriff deputies,
Special agents with atf,
Special agents with the fbi.
[music]
[narrator] on June 27th, 2017, memphis detectives bring
An fbi dive team to the mississippi lake where
Jimmie martin told them he helped billie turner
Dump the murder weapon.
[darren] the divers told us if it's there we're gonna find it.
And they went down.
In maybe an hour,
We hear them talking to the command post,
"we, we've got a gun."
That was one of the happiest moments of my life.
I mean, that, that was the kodak moment
When they brought that weapon out.
[music]
[narrator] detectives send the 9 millimeter gun
For ballistics testing.
Over a month later, the results are in.
They took a shell casing from the test fire,
And compared that microscopically
To the shell casing recovered from the scene,
And they matched, 9 millimeter shell casings.
[paul] that was truth test number one for jimmie martin.
So that's a big deal, but that's still not time
To go out and charge somebody.
We decided that a good investigative strategy
Would be go on a wire tap on her phone
And on billy turner's phone.
The plan for the wire tap was to tap both of their phones
After getting a, a court order signed by a judge.
You gotta jump through quite a few hoops to get that.
So we did that for both billy turner's phone
And sherra wright's phone.
[music]
[narrator] on November 9th, 2017,
Memphis police announce the discovery of the gun.
The media latches on to the story,
And within a couple of hours,
It's clear that sherra has heard the news.
She said, "somebody done told somebody about something".
You know, they've got some kind of informant.
She knew not to have those confessional conversations
On the phone.
Luckily for us, we were listening--
Not only to her phone.
We were listening to billy's phone as well.
[narrator] the wire tap also allows detectives to track
The search activity on sherra's cellphone.
[paul] sherra wright begins internet searches on her phone
That include "how long do fingerprints last
On a gun underwater?"
She also searches for the name billy turner.
[music]
[narrator] within days, sherra is on a plane back to memphis.
When she touches down, detectives tail her.
She uses a third party's phone to contact billy turner,
And set up a secret meeting with billy turner.
[darren] we knew they were gonna meet at a certain location,
Then we would kinda get ahead of that and set up surveillance.
[paul] they're not able to get audio,
But they're able to get video of the meeting.
They're actually, billy looking over his shoulder
To make sure nobody else is watching numerous times
During about a 30-minute conversation that is animated.
[music]
[narrator] on December 5th, 2017,
Investigators obtain a search warrant for
Billy's residence in memphis
In an attempt to recover evidence connected to
Lorenzen's murder.
[darren] we conducted a search warrant.
We found some weapons.
Billy's a convicted felon.
He's not allowed to have weapons.
So we arrested him,
And got an indictment on him for weapons charges,
As well as being responsible fo killing lorenzen wright.
So it's beginning to kinda come together.
[music]
[narrator] but when investigators speak with billy,
The only thing he admits to is being more than sherra's friend
[austin] he admitted to police that
He had had sex with her at least once.
[darren] and then at some point,
He just said he didn't want to talk anymore.
[music]
[narrator] a few days later,
Us marshals arrest sherra in california.
[darren] she was at her boys' basketball game.
And they just followed her from there, made a traffic stop,
Took her into custody.
[austin] neither one cooperated.
Sherra did not give a statement.
[music]
[narrator] on December 16th, 2017,
The memphis police department calls another press conference.
[dr. Adkins] when the announcement was made,
There was a cheer across this town
Like lorenzen had scored a slam dunk.
[narrator] after seven long years,
Lorenzen's mother finally has justice.
[music]
[narrator] but prosecutors know that an arrest
Doesn't assure a conviction...
Especially when it comes to sherra wright.
She stays ahead of the game and she stays ahead of the curve,
And she always outthinkin' her opponents.
[music]
[narrator] coming up,
Prosecutors try to build a witness list.
We reached out to billy turner.
[narrator] but sherra has one last trick up her sleeve.
She knew that if she had to go to trial herself,
Then, you know, what eventually came out would have been
Her own demise.
[music]
[narrator] as prosecutors in shelby county build their case
Against sherra wright,
Her motive is crystal clear.
There's not a doubt that lorenzen wright was worth more
To sherra wright dead than he was alive, at the end.
There's a life insurance policy
There's also an nba pension policy.
Add those together, about two million dollars.
[narrator] prosecutors believe that sherra recruited her lover
Billy turner, to help.
[dr. Atkins] billy ray turner was nothing more than a pawn...
On a chessboard
That did what his queen wanted him to do.
[music]
[narrator] they theorize that on July 18th, 2010,
Sherra lured lorenzen to memphi
With promises of sex and reconciliation.
Then, around midnight, she convinced him
To take a ride with her.
[darren] during some of the family interviews,
Our investigation revealed that oftentime, when
They would kind of get into these heated arguments,
They would go to callis cut off
To kinda have these very deep conversations.
That was their lover's lane.
[narrator] when they arrived, billy turner was waiting...
Gun in hand.
Billy turner was armed, and sherra was armed.
They both fired shots at lorenzen there on the road.
He jumped over the barbed wire fence.
Billy pursued over the barbed wire fence.
They started shooting, and then he ran away,
They had to chase him, and they fired a lot of bullets.
[paul] lorenzen was on his phone trying to call 911.
Billy followed the light from the phone.
Lorenzen thought when he got to those bushes that he had
Some sort of cover, but he didn't.
Billy fired numerous shots and executed him right there.
[music]
[narrator] as they prepare for two trials,
Prosecutors are shocked when sherra's lawyers
Unexpectedly contact them about a plea.
I believe that she knew that if she had to go to trial herself,
Then, you know, what eventually came out would have been
Her own demise.
[music]
[narrator] on July 25th, 2019,
Sherra pleads guilty to
Facilitation of first-degree murder.
A judge sentences her to 30 years.
She will be eligible for parole in 2027.
For those who had waited seven years for her arrest,
The sentence feels like a slap in the face.
For her to get off knowing that she might not even do
The whole 30 years, probably not, you know,
Is, is really sickening.
[dr. Atkins] I was mad.
Angry.
A few other words that I don't wanna use
Because of my, my clerical collar.
She got off easy.
[music]
[narrator] billy turner takes his chances in court.
At his trial in March 2022,
His lawyer places a lot of the blame on sherra.
Billy turner didn't wake up one morning
Wantin' to kill lorenzen wright.
Billy turner's somebody that was manipulated
And used by sherra wright.
[narrator] the tactic doesn't work.
Billy is convicted of first-degree murder,
Attempted murder, and conspiracy.
[music]
In the state of tennessee,
When you're found guilty of first-degree murder,
It's an automatic life sentence.
[music]
[narrator] in memphis, lorenzen's legacy lives on.
But the city is haunted by what might have been.
[montae] I think he would have been
Actively involved in our community.
That is one of the biggest things that,
That lorenzen had.
He had a heart to give.
He had a heart to pour back into.
He had a heart to, to inspire.
We've got some great players on the grizzlies team right now,
Great guys, I mean great.
But none of them have risen to the point where
Lorenzen was with memphis.
And because of that, people still grieve his loss today.
[music]