The Murder of NBA Player, Lorenzen Wright
I watched the newest episode of ABC 20/20 for this case. It’s titled ‘Mystery of Memphis.’ This is a crazy case, it has so many twists and turns. I believe this case has been on other episodes 0f 20/20, but it’s not talked about that often.
Lorenzen Wright was an amazing basketball player. In college, he played at the University of Memphis and in 1996, he was drafted into the NBA by the LA Clippers. He was drafted 7th in the first round. He instantly became a millionaire. He later went back to his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee and played for the Memphis Grizzlies. He attracted many fans, and is known for having a huge smile and he would roar after he dunked at games.
Lorenzen Wright
Lorenzen met a woman who would eventually became his wife. He was just a Junior in college, and she was 5 years older. Her name was Sherra. Sherra’s father was Lorenzen’s AAU basketball coach. They got married on June 6th, 1998 and would later have 6 kids.
Sherra and Lorenzen
Lorenzen’s family and friends were wary of Sherra from the start. She was known to be a “gold digger.” His mom, Deborah didn't like her at all but tolerated her for the sake of her grandchildren and Lorenzen. Lorenzen was madly in love with her, but after awhile their marriage began to suffer. Lorenzen was always traveling for basketball, and apparently “was a ladies man.” There was infidelity, but Sherra also cheated. Lorenzen even caught her with another man. They divorced in 2010.
Lorenzen’s career ended after 13 years in the NBA, and he earned about $55 million. He was broke after his career ended, he was spending as much as he was making.
After his career, he moved to Atlanta in July of 2010 and lived with his friend Michael Gipson. He also was in constant contact with Sherra, and they began sleeping together again. Lorenzen even proposed to her again, and wanted to re-marry her.
A few days later, on July 18th, 2010 he went back to Memphis. Nobody would know that this was Lorenzen’s last day alive. He hung out with his friend from college during the day and they wanted to spend the night out drinking. However, around 8pm Lorenzen got a call from Sherra and they got into a huge argument. He told his friend to drop him off, and they would meet up later. That was the last time Lorenzen was seen alive, he even took a selfie on his friend’s phone before being dropped off.
Around 12:13am, a 911 call came into the Germantown, Tennessee police. The 911 call is very short, and very chilling:
“911 Operator: “Germantown 911, where is your emergency?”
Unknown caller: [gunshots]
911 Operator: “Hello?””
The 911 operator also says in the call that all she heard was gunshots. You can also hear in the call that Lorenzen says “god damn.” Lorenzen’s 911 call went unreported, in the 20/20 episode it says that the police denied to be interviewed but that they “did follow protocol.”
Lorenzen would go on to be missing for 9 days before his body was found. After 4 days, his mother filed a missing person’s report. Many of his friends and family would try to get in contact with him, he even was supposed to be the best man at his friend’s wedding. Everybody said that he might not answer right away, but when he didn't return his daughter’s phone call, that’s when they knew something was wrong.
Lorenzen is found:
On July 28th, 2010, they found Lorenzen’s body on Callis Cutoff. Callis Cutoff was a road Lorenzen used to take to get to his mother’s house, she only lived a few minutes away. It was a dark and narrow road, surrounded by a field. Lorenzen’s body was very decomposed and he only weight about 35 pounds when they found him.
There were many rumors about Lorenzen and about who killed him, and why. Sherra said she saw him get in a car with a man she didn't know, and that they had a box of drugs on the night he died. There were rumors that he was selling his cars to a known drug dealer, but his friends denied he did drugs.
Five years later, Sherra wrote a book called “Mr. Tell Me Anything,” about a abusive relationship between a woman and an NBA player. She said it was about her and Lorenzen. Sherra met with a reporter named Marc Perrusiqua to discuss her book, and in the interview she talks about how Lorenzen abused her. In the episode and on Crime Watch Daily, this is part of their interview:
“Perrusquia: “Do you have any idea who did this?”
Sherra: “I don’t know.”
Perrusquia: “I gotta ask you this, but, I mean, did you have anything to do with his murder or his disappearance?”
Sherra: “I’m a mother. I’m a wife. I’m a author. And the police should find his killer. I’m a minister of the lord, and I’ve never been in any type of trouble or anything. I just, I’m a mother, a author and a wife.””
In the 20/20 episode, Lorenzen’s mother said that she didn't believe anything Sherra said, and that Lorenzen wouldn’t abuse anyone.
Sherra had also collected Lorenzen’s life insurance policy and according to Marc Perrisqua, she was writing a sequel. Sherra had apparently spent all the money of the policy right away, and Lorenzen’s father, Herb took her to court because he was worried about his grandchildren. He also accused Sherra of spending all the money on herself. (Well, she’s a gold digger, so she probably did).
In March of 2017, Sherra and her kids moved to Riverside, California. The police also open up Lorenzen’s case again. They called it “Operation Rebound”. Not too long after that, a witness came forward and said he knew what happened to Lorenzen.
The witness’ name was Jimmy Martin, he’s also the cousin of Sherra. Jimmy told the police that he knew where the murder weapon was, and who killed him. He even said he helped clean up the crime scene.
They found the gun in Walnut, Mississippi in a lake. Jimmy Martin also said it was Sherra and a man named Billy Ray Turner who killed Lorenzen. Billy Ray Turner was Sherra’s gardener and a deacon at the church where Sherra was a pastor. They didn't go too much into it in the 20/20 episode, but the police apparently monitored Sherra and Billy’s cell phones and had gotten enough evidence to arrest them.
Arrests and Trials:
On December 7th, 2017 Billy Ray Turner was arrested. Sherra was also arrested in Riverside, California.
Sherra and Billy, when they were first arrested
Sherra pleaded not guilty, but was given a $20 million bond, the judge said she was a danger to other people. Apparently, she was very dangerous and either had some mental illness or was trying to get the insanity defense. She would berate the workers of the jail and strip naked.
Sherra was indicted on first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder and criminal attempt first degree murder. According to the witness Jimmy, Sherra had tried to kill Lorenzen before. The first time, she visited him in Atlanta, and left the window open at his apartment for Billy and Jimmy to get in because they were also there. Lorenzen was not there that night.
In 2019, Sherra took a plea deal so that Billy Turner couldn't testify against her. She pleaded guilty to plotting and facilitating the murder, but not actually being the one to commit it. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison, but she could get as little as 9 years. She only had to complete 30% of her sentence before she can be eligible for parole.
Other:
The kids are in support of their mother, but Deborah, Lorenzen’s mother pleaded to Sherra in court to let her see her grandkids.
Billy Turner’s trial was sentenced for 2020, but is now being rescheduled due to the COVID pandemic.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It’s a lot of information, but there’s a lot of this case that’s very twisted. Sherra was clearly a selfish and manipulative person. She could easily talk any man into doing things for her because she was pretty and used that to benefit herself. I really hope she doesn't get out of prison because she could just as easily hurt the next person she ends up with or whoever gets in her way.
In the 20/20 episode, I was loving Lorenzen’s mom and how she never gave up. She was at the police station everyday asking the police if there was any new information or why they weren’t working on Lorenzen’s case. She also spoke her mind in court, she spoke to Billy and asked why he did it and said “he was a stranger to us, I don't know why he did it or what his connection was to Lorenzen,” and she begged to see her grandkids.
