It probably was the hottest cold case in Memphis history.
In July, 2010 local basketball star Lorenzen Wright’s body was found in a field not far from TPC Southwind golf course. He was a stand-out player for the University of Memphis and the Memphis Grizzlies. He had been shot 11 times, leaving behind the sounds of a 9-1-1 call.
For seven years people in Memphis and across the country wondered who had committed the murder. Authorities had suspicions and theories but few leads.
Then a December, 2017 tip came to detectives: they should look for a
handgun in a small lake in Walnut, Mississippi, just south of the state line.
Divers were called in. The gun was found. Tests showed it had been used in the murder.
Suddenly the case was moving again. Wright’s ex-wife Sherra Wright and an alleged accomplice soon were arrested. She pleaded guilty two years later. Billy Ray Turner awaits his postponed trial.
The Wright matter shows that no matter how much times goes by after a felony is committed, any new piece of information can refresh a case.
