Performing on a tip, Memphis Police decided to go to a lake in Walnut, Mississippi. There, within the murky red clay water, they discovered a weapon considered to be found in the killing.
James Brown: just exactly How uncommon will it be to get a piece that is key of some seven years later on?
Toney Armstrong: this is the needle when you look at the haystack. They discovered the needle into the haystack. …and for them in order to recoup that weapon is — is a fairly remarkable feat.
Although, Kelvin Cowans had split up with Sherra Wright, he thought she could be pleased as soon as the weapon had been discovered. But he did not have the response he expected whenever she was called by him to commemorate.
Kelvin Cowans: I state, “Hey, law enforcement have inked this best part. The gun was found by them that killed Lorenzen.”
Kelvin Cowans: We got regarding the phone and she was not delighted about any of it at all, and —
James Brown: Really?
Kelvin Cowans: –and that bothered me. That — which was whenever I first started initially to genuinely believe that, guess what happens, perhaps we have actuallyn’t been considering grief, you realize, all this time. Perhaps i have been taking a look at guilt.
After choosing the weapon, the outcome took an urgent change. On December 5, police arrested Billy Ray Turner in a convenience shop in Collierville, Tenn.
Marc Perrusquia: it absolutely was just like a moment that is surreal really. After all, because, you realize, we kept hearin’ these aspects of Sherra. …And chances are they arrest this person Billy Turner, whom no body ever even been aware of.
James Brown: Who is Billy Ray Turner and exactly how does he squeeze into the truth?
Toney Armstrong: If he could be whom this research states that he’s — he is a murderer. …he’s a murderer that is cold-hearted.
Billy Ray Turner Memphis Police Department
Billy Ray Turner had been then a 47-year-old landscaper. He took care of Sherra Wright’s yard and had been additionally a deacon at her church.
Marc Parrusquia: A lotta individuals, once they discuss Billy Ray Turner, his friends and … congregants online, they do say, “Hey, no. They got not the right man.”
Nonetheless they might not have understood that Turner can also be an ex-convict whom served time for kidnapping and assault over 2 full decades ago.
Dr. Bill Adkins | Lorenzen’s mentor: As far as Mr. Billy Ray, We have never met him, have no idea him. But i recognize that Sherra is fairly with the capacity of manipulating a person.
Kelvin Cowans: Sherra may be the kind of individual where she can allow you to be get leap down a bridge, get straight right back up, go backup here and leap once again, OK.
After Turner’s arrest, Sherra and Cowans talked by phone once again.
Kelvin Cowans: …she had been telling me personally that the news had been hounding her for a unique concerning the choosing associated with the weapon as well as the arrest of Billy Ray Turner, and I also had been like, “Why do not it is done by you, you understand. It is abnormal maybe maybe maybe not to perform it,” you understand, and she actually is like, “Well, they are just going … to twist my words.” …I said, “The public desires to hear you know … and she just wasn’t — she wasn’t with it from you Sherra.
Eventually, it absolutely wasn’t as much as Sherra Wright.
KCAL NEWS REPORT: Memphis police simply announced Lorenzen Wright’s ex-wife has become faced with murder.
Ten times after Turner’s arrest, Sherra ended up being taken into custody in Riverside, Calif.
Sherra Wright Memphis Police Department
Back Memphis, despite most of the rumors, the news evoked feelings that are mixed.
Kelvin Cowans: Tough, really tough. …I simply sat here.
James Brown: Thinking?
Kelvin Cowans: simply …”how will you? How will you?”
Phil Dotson | Lorenzen’s buddy: She had been arrested and our globes had been simply inflated.
Gayle Rose: …there’s some right section of me, to be truthful with you, that does not desire to think that, and merely can not, can not simply just take that in.
Memphis police would not state why they arrested Sherra Wright, but seven long years after the murder of Lorenzen Wright, they finally got their suspects.
Deborah Marion yells in court: how will you murder my son? That is what we found just know exactly just how!
Toney Armstrong: The journey has led you straight back towards the individual that ended up being said to be since near to him as anyone, and that had been their spouse. Therefore it is simple for someone to state, “Well, the– well-known suspect had been there prior to you the complete time.” …But glance at it in a light that is positive. …you can fundamentally state which they never ever quit. …the investigators that took part in this research — must be celebrated, you understand, at this time. …there’s nevertheless an instance become tried in court.
THE ALLEGED PLOT TO KILL LORENZEN
WREG INFORMATION REPORT: the wife that is former of celebrity Lorenzen Wright showed up at an extradition hearing … today. Sherra Wright faces a charge of first-degree murder for their death.
Following the arrest of Sherra Wright in 2017, the Memphis court of public opinion seemed to come to its own conclusion december.
James Brown: do you consider Sherra Wright killed Lorenzen Wright?
Phil Dotson: we hate to say this, nonetheless it appears like she did.
Dr. Bill Adkins: I Really Do. … i do believe Lorenzen ended up being killed for the money.
Kelvin Cowans: in my opinion she did, and that is difficult to state.
Sherra Wright in a Memphis courtroom on Jan. 25, 2018 WREG
On Jan. 25, 2018, the court that is real of County weighed in. Sherra Wright ended up being extradited from Ca to Tennessee, where she starred in court in a orange jumpsuit, arraigned for the murder of her ex-husband.
Deborah Marion: to reporters on Feb. 26 this really is difficult, but I’m glad. We’ve been waitin’ for seven years with this.
Sherra Wright and Billy Ray Turner had been faced with first-degree murder , tried conspiracy and murder. Assistant District Attorney Paul Hagerman is certainly one of Shelby County’s most useful prosecutors, but he is attempting to handle expectations.
Prosecutor Paul Hagerman to reporters on Feb. 26: Two defendants, a long time, cool instance for many years and years. It’s challenging.
Billy Ray Turner has employed John Keith Perry Jr., a skilled protection lawyer by having a good record.
John Keith Perry Jr. to reporters on March 19: their family members’ a Christian family members. These are ukrainian bride generally steeped in faith. In addition they know during the — at the conclusion of the time — they will have the belief that is strongest also we that Mr. Turner should be exonerated by the end.
Sherra now has two court appointed solicitors: Juni Ganguli and Laurie Hall.
Wright and Turner pleaded not liable to all the costs, nevertheless the indictments unveiled two startling claims. One, a past murder effort by Wright and Turner.
Marc Perrusquia: …supposedly, a couple weeks him, they tried to kill him down in Atlanta before they actually killed. …they really state that Billy Ray Turner was at Lorenzen’s house…
Therefore the claim that is second? A 3rd individual had been included — somebody who claims to own experienced on it – a co-conspirator that is unindicted.
James Brown: do you believe that some body understands, has understood, whom the killer or killers were but has simply held on the information?
Marc Perrusquia: Yes, I Actually Do. …How did they find this weapon within the pond? I am talking about, i have heard tales about this. …who knows just exactly what and exactly how it all fits together.
Kelvin Cowans: no body really wants to arrive at a realization that the mom without any background that is criminal mother of seven of their young ones, could be involved with their murder. No body would like to genuinely believe that.
At a relationship hearing in might 2018 arrived a wonderful revelation: the prosecution identified the so-called co-conspirator. Their title is Jimmie Martin, a convicted murderer presently serving amount of time in jail. He is additionally Sherra Wright’s relative.
Martin claims he who plotted with Billy Ray Turner and Sherra to kill Lorenzen Wright — first in an aborted attempt in Atlanta that it was —
Prosecutor Paul Hagerman: … they had been likely to Lorenzen Wright’s home in Atlanta, Georgia, to murder.
— then in Memphis.