Why Did Sherra Wright Plan Lorenzen Wright’s Murder?

Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.

The forthcoming episode of Dateline: Unforgettable, titled “The Murder of Lorenzen Wright” will air on Oxygen on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET. It will revolve around the murder of NBA player Lorenzen Wright, which was found to have been planned by his ex-wife, Sherra Wright.

Lorenzen Wright was reported missing on July 20, 2010. This was after he was last seen during his visit to his ex-wife, Sherra Robinson Wright’s home to see his children on July 18. His mother reported him missing later, and the police found Wright’s decomposing body in the woods near Memphis. Although the case went cold for seven years, Sherra and Billy Turner Ray were arrested for the murder in December 2017, CNN reported.

Sherra and Lorenzen Wright married in 1998. By 2002, the couple reportedly had 7 children, and in 2003, their infant daughter Sierra died of SIDS. The death of their daughter, according to Oxygen, made the marriage volatile. In 2009, Lorenzen Wright retired from basketball, and in 2010, his marriage with Sherra was officially confirmed. However, both Sherra and Lorenzen were known to be in financial trouble at the time of his death.

Sherra Wright reportedly received more than $1 million in life insurance after Lorenzen Wright’s death. She then spent more than $970,000 in the 10 months that followed. The Oxygen report further suggests that Sherra killed Lorenzen Wright to procure the insurance money as she was in financial trouble at the time. Lorenzen’s father told Action News 5 in 2013 that Sherra was misusing the funds meant for his grandchildren.

Was Sherra Wright convicted of Lorenzen Wright’s murder?

Following her arrest in 2017, Sherra Wright pleaded guilty to facilitating the murder of Lorenzen Wright in July 2019. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Billy Turner Ray, the man she hired, was also convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy in the death of Lorenzen Wright. He was sentenced to life in prison, the Guardian reported.

The case got further complicated with the presence of Jimmie Martin, Sherra Wright’s cousin. He has been serving a sentence for the murder of his girlfriend back in 2007. When Lorenzen Wright was killed, Martin was charged with the killing, and Sherra was covering his legal fees. Later, he testified in court that Sherra recruited him and Billy Turner Ray, whom she had met in court, to murder her ex-husband, Lorenzen Wright.

Their first attempt to kill him in his condo in Atlanta failed. However, the actual shooting that killed Lorenzen Wright occurred on July 19, 2010, and Martin was not involved in it. However, Sherra Wright then allegedly confessed to killing Lorenzen only days later when she met Martin. Eventually, he was excused from being convicted of the homicide.

According to Lorenzen Wright’s autopsy, he was shot five times. Two bullets hit his head, two more were found near his heart, and one hit his forearm. A large cavity was reported to be missing from the center of his face, alongside some nasal and frontal bones. Wright had also sustained fractures in his ribs, right arm, and skull, Action News 5 reported.

The Dateline: Unforgettable episode, “The Murder of Lorenzen Wright” will be aired on Oxygen on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET.