Lorenzen Wright killing: Shelby County man arrested, charged with murder in death of former NBA player

A Shelby County man has been arrested and charged with murder in the killing of Lorenzen Wright, the basketball standout whose body was found in 2010 and whose slaying has remained a mystery for years, officials announced Tuesday.

Billy R. Turner, 46, was charged with first-degree murder. According to a document, he was indicted Tuesday. The Multi Agency Gang Unit saw him leave a house in the 4700 block of Waterfront Oak Drive, get into a vehicle and travel to the Collierville Express Mart on U.S. 72. He was then arrested and was being held on $1 million bond.

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"The Lorenzen Wright case has stayed in the public eye for many years," Memphis police Director Michael Rallings said. "We said many times that we had never stopped investigating."

Turner is to be arraigned Thursday in Shelby County Criminal Court Division 7 in Judge Lee Coffee's court.

Deborah Marion, Wright's mother, expressed relief over Tuesday's developments, saying authorities confirmed Turner's arrest shortly before a mid-afternoon news conference.

"I'm ecstatic. I'm full of flame," Marion said, later adding: “We got the main player.”

According to Shelby County court records, Turner has an arrest record dating to 1992.

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In August 1992, Turner pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon. He was sentenced to two years in the Shelby County Correction Center, according to court records.

Aimen Alaina says his family has owned the Collierville Express Mart for 15 years and Turner has been a regular customer for as long as he can remember.

“I’d say at least five times a week, with no bad habits. No cigarettes, no beer, no lottery tickets,” Alaina said. “We’re always laughing together. He’s a nice guy."

Alaina wasn’t at the store Tuesday morning when Turner was apprehended but knew immediately who Turner was after seeing the surveillance video of the arrest.

Turner owns a landscape business and usually had a trailer loaded with equipment, he said.

“I’m in disbelief," Alaina said.

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No one answered a phone associated with Turner on Tuesday afternoon.

Marion said she considered a lot of possible suspects in the years since her son's death, but she “never, never, never” heard of Turner.

Authorities confirmed last month they had found a gun believed to have been used in Wright's killing in a lake in the Walnut, Mississippi, area. That discovery prompted officials to publicize a $21,000 reward for information established in the case years earlier.

Wright stood 6-foot-11 and was a star player for the University of Memphis. He went on to play for several NBA teams including the Los Angeles Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies.

He went through personal and financial setbacks, including a divorce and the foreclosure of two homes. He finished his NBA career in 2009 and was killed at age 34.

Wright had been living in Atlanta and was visiting the Memphis area when he disappeared in July 2010.

Wright's ex-wife, Sherra Robinson Wright, had told authorities in 2010 that he left her Collierville home at about 10:30 p.m. July 18 with drugs and an unspecified amount of money, according to a Memphis police affidavit. She told authorities that Wright made a phone call to an unknown person and said he was going to flip something for $110,000. He then left in a vehicle driven by an unidentified person shortly after the call, she said.

Wright appears to have called 911 from his cellphone from a field near the TPC Southwind golf course minutes after midnight on July 19, 2010. His body was found in the area several days later, and authorities have said it was so badly decomposed that it was unclear how many times he was shot.

Shell casings from different caliber weapons were found at the crime scene.

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Thousands of people attended Wright's funeral at FedExForum. Speakers included then-Memphis Mayor A C Wharton.

"He was a young man who never forgot who he was, where he came from, the values that shaped him and the people who encouraged him along the way," Wharton said at the time. "Lorenzen's story was one of those special Memphis stories where a man is able to transcend his roots even while he represents those roots proudly."

By December 2010, hope of a quick resolution to the case had faded. Authorities said that only 22 tips had come in, and Crime Stoppers Executive Director Buddy Chapman said at the time that they weren't substantive.

It became one of the highest-profile unsolved killings in the city's recent history.

On West South Street in Collierville, neighbors said Turner stayed there with a relative. They couldn’t believe that the man they’ve known for years has been arrested for murder.

“I couldn’t believe it when I heard it. He seems to be a nice person,” said Terrance Jones as he walked on his way to work past the small blue frame house where Turner stays.

It was the same for a group of men who were across the street working on a car.

“I don’t believe he did it,” said Walter Jordan, who has known Turner all his life. “l never would believe he did no stuff like that. ... Because he’s a really nice person. He’s helped me whenever I needed it.”

Turner helped him when Jordan’s truck stopped running, he said, and Turner helped others in the neighborhood with their cars and with work around their homes, as well.

“I don’t think he did it. Somebody framed him probably,” Jordan said.

Mose Stokes has known Turner for decades as well and agrees.

“He ain’t that kind of person. He’s a good man," Stokes said.

At a press conference, Rallings gave a reminder about other Memphis cases that are unsolved.

“We just want to remind everyone that we need citizens to come forward,” Rallings said.

Rallings declined to give information about the relationship between Turner and Wright, or any information about motive. He would also not say if there are other suspects in the Wright case.

“We’ll continue and we’ll just go wherever the investigation leads us,” he said.

"We’re just going to sit around for the next couple of weeks and see what happens,” Marion said.

Reporter Marc Perrusquia contributed to this story.