The All-Star Murder: The Tragic Case of Lorenzen Wright

November 25, 2024

In this episode, Payton and Garrett delve into the chilling case of Lorenzen Wright, a beloved NBA player whose mysterious disappearance shocked the community. When police receive word that Lorenzen is missing, an intense search begins for one of the town’s most cherished basketball stars.

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to an Oh No Media podcast.

Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast! This is Murder With My Husband.

I'm Payton Moreland.

And I'm Garrett Moreland.

He's the husband.

And I'm the husband.

Thank you for being here! While you’re listening to this, Payton and I are probably in a cabana, by the pool, eating food. We’re not at home; we’re celebrating Payton’s birthday.

It’s also Thanksgiving for a lot of people in the US. Many of you are likely hanging out with your families, but we decided not to this year. Instead, we’re on a little trip to celebrate Payton’s birthday. Thank you so much for supporting us!

While we’re recording this, we’re actually trying to get episodes prepped in advance so we can take this trip. And, let me tell you, Daisy has had it.

For those listening, Payton and I don’t take weeks off from the podcast, even during the holidays. We like to release episodes during the holiday season for anyone who might not have family to hang out with—or for those whose families are stressful. We hope you enjoy spending this time with us instead.

We love you guys and appreciate you being here.

Oh, I need to address something quickly. Apple subscriptions were broken recently, but it wasn’t us—it was Apple. I’m fine calling them out because, yeah, they messed something up. The good news is that it’s fixed now! If it’s still not working for you, try force-quitting the app and going back in. Your subscription should still be there.

Also, a reminder for our Spotify listeners: you can listen to our bonus content directly on Spotify. There’s a banner you can click, and it links to all our bonus episodes. These are the same bonus episodes we release on Apple and Patreon—two per month, ad-free.

Thank you again for supporting us!

That was a long intro, so I’ll just jump into my 10 seconds. Thank you very much!

I got my teeth whitened today. Payton and I both did, actually. I’m never doing it again.

To everyone at the dental office who might listen to us—we love you guys! Shoutout to Sunrust Dental in Utah. If you need a dentist, go there.

That said, I am not getting my teeth whitened again. My teeth are just too sensitive. For about four hours after, I kept getting these zings of pain. It felt like someone was tasering my mouth. It wasn’t the office’s fault, but it was some of the worst pain I’ve ever experienced.

Payton, on the other hand? No pain. She’s perfect. She’s tough.

Honestly, to all the guys listening: girls are tougher than us. I don’t care what anyone says. They are.

We don’t give birth to babies, so I don’t want to hear any arguments. Girls are just stronger. I’ll admit it.

When we’re sick, we’re babies. Guys can’t get pregnant for a reason—we just wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Yeah, that’s my 10 seconds. That’s my hot take, I guess. If you disagree with me, go ahead and shoot me an Instagram DM. We’ll throw one of those pregnancy simulators on you and see how long you last. And on that note, let’s hop into today’s episode.

Our sources for this episode are: abcnews.go.com, ESPN pressroom, si.com, aetv.com, CNN.com, oxygen.com, localmemphis.com, yahoo.com, Dateline, and wegotthiscovered.com.

There’s something about celebrities—whether they’re actors, pop stars, or athletes—that almost makes them seem invincible. It’s easy to forget that, when they’re not on our screens accepting an award or winning a championship game, they’re just out there living ordinary lives.

They have families. They go to dinner with friends. They fight with their loved ones. We often forget they’re real people, which is why it’s so shocking when we hear about one of them—whether we’re fans or not—passing away. And if it’s because of murder? Well, that feels especially bizarre.

You’d figure a celebrity’s death would absorb every resource available—the local police, the FBI—and the pressure would be immense for authorities to solve the crime. But when it came to the NBA’s Lorenzen Wright, even Memphis’s finest couldn’t give the public the answers they wanted. His case probably would still be cold today if not for one very lucky break—and the unwavering commitment from his family and fans who kept Lorenzen’s story in the spotlight for years until it was finally solved.

Good news: it’s not a cold case anymore.

The story begins in Oxford, Mississippi, in 1975. On a brisk November 4th, Lorenzen Wright entered the world. A few years later, his family picked up and moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Lorenzen’s father, Herb Wright, was a retired NBA player who then joined the Memphis Police Department. But when Lorenzen was only seven, a tragic accident changed his family’s life forever.

Herb Wright was shot—presumably in the line of duty—and the injury left him paralyzed. The former NBA athlete was wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life. But that didn’t stop Herb from teaching Lorenzen everything he knew about basketball. Lorenzen wanted nothing more than to follow in his father’s footsteps and make him proud.

By the time Lorenzen was a teenager, he was already pushing 6'11" tall.

Holy crap.

He quickly became a local celebrity, dominating his high school basketball court. He also played in a highly competitive national league called the Amateur Athletic Union, which caught the attention of scouts from around the country.

It was during this time, actually, that 16-year-old Lorenzen fell in love. Not only was he a basketball star, but he also found a girlfriend—and it turned out to be his coach’s daughter. It’s like something out of a movie.

She was an older girl with more life experience, if you will. She was more mature—actually 21 years old. Her name was Sherra Robinson. The two began a relationship and stayed together even as Lorenzen joined the team at the University of Memphis in 1994.

That same year, Sherra became pregnant with their first child, a little boy they named Lorenzen Jr. Despite now being a father, Lorenzen always kept his head in the game—literally. In 1996, he was the seventh overall pick in the NBA draft.

He was scooped up by the Los Angeles Clippers, and overnight, Lorenzen became a millionaire. Sherra and Lorenzen Jr. relocated with him to Los Angeles, and the two finally tied the knot in 1998. The following year, they welcomed their next child in 1999.

That season, Lorenzen was traded to the Atlanta Hawks, which was likely a welcome change as it brought him closer to his hometown of Memphis. Again, he signed a multi-million-dollar contract. Sherra was certainly enjoying the benefits as well. The family bought a stunning 13,000-square-foot home in the suburbs, and Lorenzen purchased a couple of Ferraris and other sports cars.

He also opened a restaurant and treated his friends to extravagant vacations. As J. Cole says, “What’s first class if my friends ain’t with me?” On top of that, Lorenzen donated generously to local charities.

The Wright family eventually grew to include seven children—three girls and four boys. Props to anyone out there with more than three kids, or honestly, even one.

But it wasn’t all diamonds and roses in the Wright household. The couple faced their fair share of hardships. In 2003, while Lorenzen was playing for his hometown team, the Memphis Grizzlies, he received devastating news. While on the road, Sherra called to tell him their daughter, Sierra, had passed away from sudden infant death syndrome just days before her first birthday.

Heartbreak doesn’t even begin to describe it. To say both Sherra and Lorenzen were ruined by the loss is an understatement.

This tragedy only worsened an already rocky marriage. Arguments between the couple escalated. Lorenzen increasingly lost himself in the glitz and glamour of his career, spending nights out partying with other women. Meanwhile, rumors circulated that both he and Sherra were unfaithful.

Around this time, Sherra claimed that there was domestic abuse in their marriage, though no official charges were ever filed against Lorenzen. That doesn’t mean her claims shouldn’t be believed, but at the time, no public allegations were made against him.

From what I can tell, after a while, it seemed like the couple’s problems sort of fixed themselves. In 2007, they even renewed their vows in a small ceremony.

Over the next two years, though, Lorenzen’s career in the NBA started to wind down. He went on to play for the Sacramento Kings, then the Cleveland Cavaliers. By 2009, after 13 seasons of professional basketball, the now 33-year-old Lorenzen Wright was ready to retire.

At this point, Lorenzen had made an estimated $55 million from his career. Holy crap.

But 2010 would bring major changes for Lorenzen. With basketball behind him, he decided it was time to start fresh. He also felt it was time to put his marriage behind him. That year, he and Sherra divorced. Lorenzen moved to Atlanta, Georgia, while Sherra stayed in Memphis so the kids could continue attending the same school.

Sherra seemed to be finding her own way, even working on becoming an ordained minister at her church. Lorenzen, however, frequently returned to Tennessee to visit his family. By July 2010, it seemed like the couple had learned how to co-parent civilly.

On July 18th, Lorenzen flew to Memphis to spend the weekend with Sherra and the kids. This time, he even planned to stay at Sherra’s home. That evening, Lorenzen met up with some of his old fraternity brothers from the University of Memphis for dinner.

After dinner, Lorenzen went with his friend Phil to watch Phil’s son play basketball. While they were there, Phil noticed Lorenzen receiving a series of texts from Sherra.

Lorenzen eventually asked Phil to drop him off at Sherra’s house after the game, and Phil did so around 10 p.m. Phil told Lorenzen to call him later, hoping they could catch up one more time before Lorenzen left town for Vegas in a few days. Lorenzen promised he would, hopped out of the car, and said goodbye.

But when two days passed without hearing from Lorenzen, Phil started to worry. He tried calling him, but there was no answer.

By this point, Lorenzen’s mother, Deborah, was also concerned. Lorenzen had been expected to attend his sister’s baby shower in Memphis on July 21st, but he never showed up.

This wasn’t like him. Lorenzen was a 6'11", 255-pound local celebrity. In his hometown, an NBA star like him didn’t just vanish or blend into a crowd. Deborah knew something was wrong.

On July 22nd, Deborah filed a missing person’s report with the Collierville Police Department, just outside of Memphis.

Given Lorenzen’s fame as an athlete, the police took the case seriously and quickly got to work. Naturally, they went to the person Lorenzen was supposed to be staying with: his ex-wife, Sherra.

What Sherra told the police was both scary and alarming.

She says that in the weeks leading up to Lorenzen's disappearance, men she didn’t know had started showing up at her house. They would have guns tucked in their waistbands and come banging on the door at night, calling for Lorenzen.

Sharrah said she didn’t know what they wanted until the night of July 18th. Remember, this is the night Lorenzen disappeared. She says that evening, after Lorenzen was dropped off by his friend Phil, the men came back at around 3:00 a.m.

According to Sharrah, Lorenzen grabbed a box of something from the house, got in the car with the two men, and drove off. This was the last time she saw or heard anything from her ex-husband.

This is a big deal. I was going to speculate on what I think is going on, but we can keep going.

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So, at this point, police are wondering: who are these mystery men that Lorenzen drove off with? And what is the box he was seen carrying when he left?

To find out more, they dig through Lorenzen’s phone records and discover that the last call he made from his phone was to 911.

It had pinged off cell towers in Germantown, a suburb of Memphis. At this point, Lorenzen had been missing for eight days.

What happened when he called 911? What’s in the call?

I’ll play it for you.

The call was made just after midnight on July 19th, shortly after Lorenzen was last seen.

So, police contacted Germantown officers to ask, "Do you remember getting a 911 call, maybe from someone named Lorenzen Wright?" They basically said no, but they did recall a call they couldn’t geolocate, so they just let it go.

I’m trying to see both sides here. It’s horrible and frustrating, but also, the number of incorrect or accidental 911 calls they deal with daily is significant.

Do you want to hear the 911 call before jumping to conclusions? Let’s listen to it now.

“Hello 911, where’s your emergency?”

“Hello? Hello? I don’t hear nothing but gunshots!”

In the audio, you can hear what sounds like someone running through the woods, followed by a scream—“Goddamn!”—before several rounds of gunshots go off.

Then, the caller says, “Nope, never mind. Everything I said after that, take it back.”

After that, there are no more voices, just the operator repeatedly saying, “Hello? Hello?” before the call ends without any action being taken.

Did they just do nothing after hearing gunshots?

Apparently, yes. They couldn’t locate the source of the call.

I have no idea how or why a call like this could go uninvestigated. At one point, the operator even acknowledges hearing the gunshots. It definitely feels like something they should have tried to look into—but they didn’t.

Not until officers actively investigating Lorenzen’s case get their hands on the 911 call. Suddenly, everyone’s like, “Okay, we need to follow up.” But by then, it’s been eight days since the call was made.

On July 28th, they trace it to a wooded area in southeast Memphis. That day, equipped with a team of cadaver dogs, police find the body of 34-year-old Lorenzen Wright.

What?! That’s insane.

He had been shot to death, and his body was already decomposing in a field under the summer Memphis heat.

Were there any clues at the crime scene?

Yes, there were. Police found shell casings from two different weapons—a 9mm revolver and a small-caliber handgun. Typically, one person doesn’t use two kinds of guns to kill someone. To investigators, this suggested there were at least two people involved in pursuing and murdering Lorenzen Wright in that field that night.

They also noticed Lorenzen still had all his jewelry on and a good amount of cash. However, his wallet and cellphone were missing.

That’s odd—it doesn’t seem like a robbery.

Exactly. It looked more like they wanted to obscure his identity rather than rob him. But that’s ironic, considering there aren’t many 6'11" men walking around in general, let alone in Memphis.

And the injuries?

Lorenzen had been shot five times—twice in the chest, once in the forearm, and twice in the face.

In the face? That feels personal.

To police, it did too. This wasn’t just some random robbery gone wrong. It was personal.

For now, though, the next step was breaking the devastating news to Lorenzen’s family, friends, and thousands of fans.

Less than a week later, more than 3,000 people gathered at the FedEx Forum in Memphis for Lorenzen’s televised funeral. Many of those people had, just a few years earlier, watched him dominate on that very same court. They probably never imagined they’d sit in the same seats to say goodbye to their hometown hero.

While it was heartbreaking for fans to bid farewell, the question lingered: How many of those people really knew who Lorenzen Wright was off the court?

It was a question even Lorenzen’s own family might have been asking, especially as police began entertaining a chilling theory:

Was Lorenzen’s death somehow tied to a dark secret he was hiding in his life?

Was there a part of Lorenzen that no one knew?

That’s hard. I don’t want to assume yet, but my initial thought was some sort of gambling or something along those lines. Let’s see where this goes, though, because I have no idea.

Remember how Sherra told police that the last time she saw her ex-husband was when he left the house around 3 a.m. with two strange men and a box? She also said she overheard Lorenzen on the phone that night, talking about flipping a large sum of cash—actually around $110,000.

If you ask Sherra, that’s a very large sum, and she believed the box he was carrying might have been full of drugs. So police have to take this into consideration. Was Lorenzen involved in some drug deal gone wrong that evening? Did he even know the people who murdered him?

You have to wonder—why would someone who made $55 million over the course of his career need to sell or run drugs?

Police start digging into this and find that most of the money Lorenzen had made was gone—spent. Unfortunately, this is common and sad, but it really does happen.

Even though Lorenzen had only been retired for about a year, he was drowning in alimony and child support payments after his divorce. Sherra had spent a lot of their money without his knowledge while they were still married. By 2010, two of their expensive homes had been foreclosed on, and most of their fancy sports cars had been repossessed.

Turns out, the Wrights had been living way beyond their means for a while.

So now you can kind of see why Sherra might suggest his death was drug-related—and why she wasn’t shocked that men showed up on her doorstep in the middle of the night. Police began to entertain this possibility. Motivationally, it made sense.

However, there were a few other accounts they had to take into consideration because all of this information was coming from his ex-wife, supported only by financial troubles.

Lorenzen’s mother, Deborah, was adamant that her son would never get involved with selling drugs, no matter how hard times got. His friends all said the same thing.

When toxicology reports came back from Lorenzen’s autopsy, there were no drugs in his system. While this doesn’t necessarily rule out selling drugs, it often goes hand-in-hand.

Honestly, the more police investigated, the more it became clear that Sherra was the only person suggesting this drug angle. They couldn’t find a single shred of evidence—outside of her statement—that Lorenzen was involved in any drug activity.

Unfortunately, it took time for police to rule this theory out—time that could have been better spent looking at other angles.

If they had listened to Lorenzen’s mother, Deborah, they might have started taking a closer look at Sherra, Lorenzen’s ex-wife.

All right, let’s hear it.

From the beginning, Deborah was confident that Sherra knew more than she was letting on.

It’s always the ones closest to you, man.

But when police go back to try and speak with Sherra in the months after Lorenzen's death, she’s not very helpful. In fact, she’s quite the opposite—radio silent.

Police figure maybe she’s still grieving. After all, she has six kids to take care of on her own now. Maybe she just wants to move forward with life. Just because someone doesn’t want to keep talking to the police doesn’t automatically make them a suspect, but it does seem suspicious that she wouldn’t want to find out who murdered the man who gave her that beautiful family.

However, police don’t think she fits the profile. Not only is she a mother of six, but she’s also deeply religious and in the process of becoming an ordained minister. (Which, honestly, doesn’t necessarily mean much.) And reportedly—this part is wild—she was now dating a cop.

While there’s no evidence of a big conspiracy, her relationship with an officer may have influenced how police ruled her out as a suspect. After Sherra, though, the investigation hits a dead end. There are no new leads.

Weeks turned into months, and months turned into years as Lorenzen’s case collected dust. Sherra, meanwhile, moved on with her life. She became a minister at the Mount Olive Baptist Church, ran a nonprofit called Born to Prosper Ministries to help local kids, and started to rebuild her life—with the help of Lorenzen’s life insurance policy.

Well, sort of. The kids received a $1 million payout from the policy, but within 10 months of Lorenzen’s death, Sherra—who was in charge of managing the payout for their six children—had spent $970,000.

Oh my gosh.

Exactly, which is why in 2013, Lorenzen’s father sued Sherra.

He discovered that the money meant for the kids wasn’t going to them at all. Instead, it had been spent on “luxury expenses.” For example, $32,000 on a Cadillac Escalade, $26,000 on a Lexus, $69,000 on furniture, $339,000 for a down payment on a home, and $111,000 on a trip to New York.

She was living large.

And the life insurance policy wasn’t her only source of income from Lorenzen’s death. Sherra also started collecting insurance and pension money from the NBA teams Lorenzen had played on during his career.

Ultimately, Sherra lost the lawsuit, and a judge ordered a professional to oversee the remaining insurance money. However, by then, there wasn’t much left—a slap on the wrist, really.

Then, it gets weirder.

The following year, Sherra picks up a new hobby: writing fiction. In 2015, she publishes a novel called Mister Tell Me Anything.

This book is about a woman who marries an abusive basketball player.

Wait, seriously?

Yes. While the novel doesn’t mention murder from what I can tell, it’s eerily suggestive. By this point, Sherra—now 44 years old—likely thought her past was behind her. She had moved to Riverside, California, with her family, and the novel seemed to serve as a form of therapy or closure for her.

She’d told her story in her own way, wrapped up in fiction, and likely thought she wouldn’t have to look back.

Little did Sherra know, new information had been brought to the police back in 2012, and they were waiting for all the pieces to fall into place.

In 2012, Sherra’s cousin, a man named Jimmy Martin, was arrested for killing his girlfriend. When he realized he was likely facing life in prison, he went to the police with a proposal.

“I have information you might want to hear. Can I cut a deal?”

The police asked what he had, and Jimmy said, “Sherra Wright is my cousin, and I have information on the murder of Lorenzen Wright.” Then he asked, “Is that worth immunity?”

Wait, did they give him immunity?

The police showed up at the Tennessee prison where Jimmy was being held and arranged a secret meeting to hear what he had to say. Jimmy revealed that two months before Lorenzen’s murder, Sherra had called him to her house.

Question—when they’re making deals like this, where’s the paperwork? Do they just shake on it?

That’s what I’ve wondered too! They always make it look informal, like in Law & Order: SVU. If anyone knows, let us know in the comments or on Instagram or YouTube.

Anyway, Jimmy said that when he arrived at Sherra’s house, he wasn’t the only one there. Another man was present—Lorenzen’s former landscaper, Billy Ray Turner.

Billy had a bit of a criminal history, but in the years leading up to Lorenzen’s murder, he seemed to turn his life around. He started a landscaping business, attended Sherra’s church, became a deacon there, and began an affair with Sherra while she was still married to Lorenzen.

So, he’s a deacon, but his morals seem... lacking.

Exactly. That night, Sherra told Jimmy she could help him out with some cash, but she needed a favor. She looked at Billy, then at Jimmy, and said, “I need you to kill Lorenzen.”

Jimmy claimed he agreed to the plan. He and Billy went to Atlanta one weekend in 2010—remember, that’s where Lorenzen was living after his divorce. They planned to ambush him at his condo.

One night, they crawled in through an open window, ready to shoot him. But Lorenzen wasn’t home. Instead, they found a bald-headed man sleeping on the couch—Lorenzen’s roommate.

What did they do?

They left. Their plan failed. They returned to Sherra and told her what happened.

What the freak?

Sherra didn’t give up. She said, “Okay, let’s make a new plan. Kill Lorenzen the next time he’s in Memphis.”

According to Jimmy, in July of that year, he drove around Memphis with Sherra and Billy, scouting for the perfect place to commit the murder. That’s when Sherra remembered something.

She and Lorenzen used to have a little lovers’ lane they’d sneak off to when they were young.

It was a wooded area that would be perfect for his murder. Like, is that what I’m saying? Diabolical.

That is so evil. Sherra realized maybe she could lure Lorenzen out there one evening. What a freaking witch with a “B” and—wait—all the bad words that I can possibly think of, but I’m not going to use them on this podcast.

According to Jimmy, she says, “I will lure Lorenzen, my ex-husband, out to our old lovers’ lane meeting area.”

Promising... yeah, sending some sexy text messages. It’s wild. Jimmy and Billy could just be lying in wait. Insane, man.

This does make sense to police because they noticed that in the days leading up to Lorenzen coming to Memphis, Sherra had been texting him a lot. The messages were flirty, seemingly making Lorenzen hopeful for a future between the two of them.

And I think it’s important to note that Lorenzen’s friend came forward after his murder and said that right before he died, Lorenzen had told him he was thinking about getting back together with Sherra.

But the texts didn’t stop when Lorenzen arrived in Memphis. On the night of the murder, while Lorenzen was at his friend’s son’s basketball game, he received a bunch of explicit, X-rated text messages from Sherra.

When police look back on them, they think, while Jimmy could be making all of this up to get out of a bad sentence, it’s all lining up.

It kind of all lines up. It makes sense.

But Jimmy’s account doesn’t end there. He says that on the night Sherra decided it was time to go through with the plan, he wasn’t actually in town. Jimmy was in Batesville, Mississippi, which is why Sherra and Billy ended up committing the murder alone.

That night, according to Jimmy, Billy was already waiting in the woods. Sherra, who had lured Lorenzen back into her arms, told him she needed him to come along with her to pick up some money from a guy. She had chosen their old lovers’ lane spot to do it.

When they got there, Sherra and Lorenzen got out of the car. That’s when Billy started to approach and pointed his gun at Lorenzen.

Apparently, the NBA star started running.

Billy chased after him, and Sherra wasn’t too far behind. Both of them took off after Lorenzen, who was frantically trying to get his cell phone out to make that 911 call.

This is horrible.

And then the shots were fired.

Jimmy says that when he came back to town, Sherra told him everything that had happened—how they had pulled off the murder, exactly where they had done it, and then asked Jimmy to help them dispose of the murder weapons.

So Jimmy essentially tells the police, “Not only do I have this account to help you close this NBA star’s murder, I can also tell you where they disposed of the weapons.”

He says the guns were tossed into a lake in northern Mississippi.

Police are like, “Okay, if we can find these weapons, then we can validate Jimmy’s story and have enough to prosecute.”

No way they find the weapons.

So, they take a little trip 45 minutes southeast to the town of Walnut, Mississippi, and conduct a pretty substantial sweep of the lake for the guns.

And... nothing. They don’t find anything.

So, the police are thinking, okay, is Jimmy just leading us on for some sort of immunity? Did he play us pretty good?

Keep in mind, this is all happening in 2012, two years after Lorenzen’s murder. But because they couldn’t validate Jimmy’s story, the police just sit on the information for years. They don’t tell anybody; they just keep it in the case notes.

Dang. Well, he’s still sitting in jail, and he’s like, I gave you all this information, and I still don’t have immunity.

He’s frustrated because there’s not enough evidence for the police to arrest Sherra or Billy. Meanwhile, as time passes, new leads come in—tips that consistently lead to dead ends. Eventually, new investigators are assigned to the case to give it a fresh set of eyes.

Still, nothing comes of it.

This back-and-forth drags on for five more years.

No one in Memphis can get the mystery of Lorenzen Wright’s death out of their heads. He was a hometown hero, murdered in a field, and no one seemed to know what happened.

By 2017, some of those detectives start revisiting Jimmy’s claims. They think, okay, Jimmy—the cousin—not only said he knew what happened, but he also knew about the flirty, sexy text messages Sherra had been sending Lorenzen.

Those texts were part of the plan, right? Jimmy, as Sherra’s cousin, would have a direct line to her.

The detectives realize, this feels like it could be real. Maybe there’s something to this story.

So, they decide to sweep the lake one more time.

This time, when they send a dive team down, they find a gun.

When the gun is sent back to the crime lab, police confirm it matches the ballistics from the crime scene.

Jimmy Martin was telling the truth.

Take Jimmy out of prison—wait, why is he in prison again?

He’s in prison for murdering his girlfriend.

Oh, don’t take him out of prison.

To be clear, Jimmy’s confession doesn’t give him immunity for the time he’s serving for killing his girlfriend. But it does give him immunity for his involvement in Lorenzen Wright’s murder. The police essentially say, we’re not going to charge you for this case, but you’re not getting out of prison for the murder you’re already serving time for.

Sherra and Billy, however, were completely out of luck.

On December 15, 2017, police arrested 46-year-old Sherra Wright at her new home in Riverside, California. She was extradited to Tennessee, where she was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and attempted first-degree murder.

Billy Turner was also arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Wow.

Here’s the thing: Sherra meticulously planned her ex-husband’s murder, involved two other people in the plot, and then just… went on living her life.

She bought a Cadillac. She bought a house. She moved to California. She started dating a cop.

Did she really think, okay, it’s over. I didn’t get caught initially, so I’ll never get caught?

Exactly. The bigger question is why she did this at all. What she ultimately gained—buying cars, homes, and living comfortably—could have been achieved simply through their divorce. It doesn’t make sense.

So they're thinking, "Okay, is Jimmy just leading us on for some sort of immunity? Did he play us pretty good?"

Keep in mind, this is all in 2012, two years after Lorenzen's murder. But because they can't validate Jimmy's story, police just sit on this information for years. They don't tell anybody—they just keep it in the case notes.

Well, Jimmy's still sitting in jail, and he's like, "I gave you all this information, and I still don't have immunity." The police are like, "There's not enough for us to arrest Sherra or Billy."

As time passes, new leads come in—tips that continue to lead to dead ends. Eventually, new investigators are put on the case to give it a fresh set of eyes. Still, nothing comes of it. This goes round and round for five more years.

No one in Memphis can get the mystery of Lorenzen Wright's death out of their heads. I mean, you have to think—he's a hometown hero, and he was just murdered in a field. No one knows what happened.

In 2017, some of those detectives look back at Jimmy's claims and think, "Okay, Jimmy, the cousin, not only says he knew what happened, he also knew about the sexy text messages Sherra had been sending Lorenzen." That was part of their plan, right? He's Sherra's cousin, so he has a direct line to her. They're like, "This feels like it could be real. Maybe there's something to this story."

So they decide, "Let's sweep the lake one more time." All these years later, they find the guns. They send a dive team down to the lake, and this time they find a gun. When it's sent back to the crime lab, police confirm it matches the ballistics at the crime scene, which means Jimmy Martin was telling the truth.

Wait, Jimmy? He killed someone? Is that why he's there?

Yes.

Okay, I was going to say take him out of prison, but he killed—

No, no, he murdered his girlfriend.

Oh, don't take him out of prison.

So to be clear, this confession doesn't give Jimmy immunity for the time he's serving for killing his girlfriend, but it gives him immunity for the crimes against Lorenzen. They're like, "We're not going to let you get out for murdering your girlfriend, but we're not going to charge you for your involvement in this case."

Sherra and Billy, though, would be completely out of luck. On December 15, 2017, police arrested the 46-year-old Sherra at her new home in Riverside, California. She was extradited back to Tennessee, where she was charged with first-degree murder, premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and attempted first-degree murder.

Billy Turner was also arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Now, I've thought about this while doing this case. Sherra takes out this plan to murder her ex-husband. More than that, she involves two other guys, apparently. And then she just goes on living her life—buying a Cadillac, buying a house, moving, dating a cop. Like, with this huge weight, did she think, "Okay, it's over. I didn't get caught initially. I’ll never get caught"?

Well, I'm just more confused about why. Because what she's doing—she could have done if they just got divorced.

Maybe she needed the life insurance payout because he wasn’t paying child support. They were out of money.

I guess that’s true. And also, I don’t know much about the logistics, but all the pensions and money he was getting from the NBA teams—

Yeah, did those just kick in because he died?

Yes, they went to her.

Interesting.

Okay, I see. So, we assume it’s a money-related motive. But I’m just sitting here wondering, when the cops showed up, did she think in her head, I knew this day would always come? At that point, was she like, I’m free? It’s insane to have this in the back of your head, knowing any day the cops could show up and arrest you.

She probably thought, They’re never going to find the guns.

Yeah, that’s my guess.

Initially, she pleaded not guilty to all the charges. But in July 2019, she changed that plea to guilty for the facilitation of first-degree murder. She probably figured the best way to get less time was to say, Yeah, I came up with the idea, but I didn’t actually murder him.

As a result, she was given 30 years in prison instead of the life sentence she was facing.

As for Billy Ray Turner, he was found guilty on all three charges and sentenced to life in prison.

So Billy gets life, and she gets 30.

She’s going to be, what, 76 when she gets out, right?

At Sherra’s change-of-plea hearing, Lorenzen’s mother, Deborah, actually thanked Sherra for giving her grandchildren. She said, To me, they are a little piece of Lorenzen.

I didn’t even think about the kids. Six kids, and their mom murdered their dad. Oh my gosh.

Horrible. Horrible. Horrible.

And then she took his pension from all the years he gave to the NBA. And the mom just lied to the kids the whole time, saying, Someone murdered your dad. I can’t believe it. She put six kids through the unknown murder of their own father.

That’s ridiculous. Horrible.

But Deborah, their grandmother, is like, Listen, it’s a piece of Lorenzen that we all get to have in this world. Because Lorenzen wasn’t just a celebrity or an NBA athlete. He was a son. He was a sibling. He was a friend. A loving father. Someone who was worshipped on the court.

But honestly, even more so off the court. Remember, the night he was murdered, he was giving to his friends. He was supporting his friend's son at a local basketball game. Honestly, it was a life that was only just beginning for him. He had just barely retired, and it was taken way too soon.

And that is the murder of Lorenzen Wright.

It's crazy. It's crazy how, the majority of the time, when we do these cases, it’s the person closest to you—husband, wife, something along those lines.

It’s wild. I just... it’s so heartless.

And I understand that by the time a marriage reaches divorce, you might hate each other, okay, but hurting someone—or just killing someone—because of that is next-level.

You know what happened? She had been spending his money their entire marriage.

For sure. She had been living lavishly.

Yep. And then, when they lost all the money, and the divorce came, and he couldn’t pay, all she cared about was the money. She was like, How do I go from living this life to living this life?

Horrible. She should have just found another sugar daddy.

Horrible person, man.

Yeah, that's actually completely awful. Six kids. Murdered a man who had just retired. Completely awful.

And it just never ceases to amaze me, the cases we come across.

That is our episode for this week. We’ll see you next time with another one.

I love it.

I hate it.

Goodbye.

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