Ex-wife of NBA player charged with murder
The ex-wife of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright has been charged in his slaying, more than seven years after his body was found in a field in his hometown of Memphis.
Memphis Police Director Michael Rallings said Saturday that Sherra Wright has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Wright, who played for five teams over 13 seasons as a forward and centre in the NBA.
Police and federal marshals in Riverside County, California, arrested 46-year-old Sherra Wright on Friday night on a fugitive from justice warrant, online records show.
Wright’s decomposing body was found in suburban Memphis on July 28, 2010 — 10 days after the 34-year-old was reported missing. He was shot multiple times. The seven-year investigation into his death has been one of the Memphis Police Department’s most high-profile unsolved cases.
The case had a break earlier this month, when Billy R. Turner was indicted on a first-degree murder charge Dec. 5 in Wright’s death. Turner has pleaded not guilty. Media reports have said Turner, a landscaper, and Sherra Wright attended the same church. Rallings would not discuss the connection between Turner and Wright, but he said police were confident they knew each other.
A release from the Shelby County District Attorney’s office says Turner and Sherra Wright conspired to kill Lorenzen Wright. Sherra Wright has a court hearing Monday in California. Police said last month that they had found a gun used in the killing in a lake near Walnut, Mississippi, about 120 kilometres east of Memphis.
“The weapon was key,” Rallings said.