that jimmie martin claimed held the key evidence in lorenzen wright's murder. detective: and how big is that pond? jimmie martin: about the size of a high school football field. andrea canning: so in may of 2012, detectives headed there on a fishing expedition for a gun. jimmie martin insisted that billy turner had dumped it there two days after shooting ren. now, two years later, was it still there? detective: it's a murky lake. they couldn't find it. and so the whole thing kind of goes into limbo again. andrea canning: as damning and detailed as jimmie martin's story seemed, detectives didn't have enough evidence to make an arrest. but still, the investigation plodded on for years. was it still being investigated actively or just kind of when new leads would come in? there were periods of time on this case that if we felt that one investigator had taken the case as far as he could take it, we'd give it to another investigator

to get another perspective or to put a fresh set of eyes on it. andrea canning: by 2016, some of those detectives who'd been digging through the case file and jimmie martin's police interview urged the command at the memphis pd to take a second look at the case. they dubbed it operation rebound. very hush hush. and one of the things they did was go back to that murky lake in mississippi. detective: they'd gotten some more information that made them more certain about this. and they sent a dive team down. i think it was an fbi dive team. andrea canning: and guess what? five years after jimmie martin came forward-- they find the gun. andrea canning: a 9-millimeter handgun sitting in the muddy sediment. but was it really the weapon that killed lorenzen wright? the gun was sent to the tennessee bureau of investigation for ballistics tests to see if it matched the casings collected at the crime scene. then, a few weeks later--

they ballistics link it to the murder, one of two guns that was used at the scene. andrea canning: operation rebound was rolling. but investigators kept a tight lid on all their new evidence for months. reporter: lorenzen wright, former-- andrea canning: so deborah marion was still in the dark when she commemorated lorenzen's 42nd birthday. reporter: november 4, a day that should be spent celebrating, is a painful reminder for debbie marion. andrea canning: once again, she held a somber vigil to keep her son's name in the news and the heat on the police. it's heavy on my heart all the time, especially birthdays, christmas, and july, that day. always on my mind. andrea canning: lorenzen's mother, of course, knew nothing about the gun or jimmie martin or billy turner. i really need your help, people. come on. tell us something. andrea canning: then, a few days later, police did tell deborah something, something amazing. reporter: the fbi helped search a remote lake in walnut, mississippi and found

an alleged murder weapon. andrea canning: some seven long years after the murder, deborah marion suddenly felt a step closer to getting justice for her son. thank you, jesus. thank you they found something. because we hadn't heard anything. andrea canning: and ren's close friends were now hopeful for the first time in years. oh, my god. we got-- we're on to something. are you thinking that this is just the beginning? it's just the beginning. it's going to fall like dominoes? we got it. we got him. fbi dive team found it. and so i said, ok, well, if they're involved-- and i know that they're on to somebody. woman: there were so many questions. how did they find this gun all of a sudden? why now? who told them? whose gun is it? what does it have to do with sherra wright? andrea canning: when sherra's ex-boyfriend kelvin cowans saw the news, he called sherra in california. and she sounded very somber about it. and she was like, yeah, i saw it. yeah. i don't believe they found a gun. she said, i think they're just making it up

to stir up some conversation. i said, you think the police are making up that they found a gun, the murder weapon that killed lorenzen? she was like, what does it matter? you know, he's not coming back anyway. and all my antennas went up then. because you have to remember, i've been there for the speeches about can't wait till they find the person that killed lorenzen. all that was gone. andrea canning: sherra seemed low-key on the phone with kelvin, but detectives were betting she wouldn't stay that way for long. in fact, just days after the news broke about the gun being found, sherra suddenly flew to memphis and met with billy. detectives were on their tail and snapped these surveillance shots. that's sherra in the black sweat suit. police watched and waited and let sherra and billy stew. detective: the police were playing everybody.

it was brilliant strategy that they wanted to get that information out to get more incriminating evidence from sherra and billy ray turner. they threw them into a panic and got them talking about it. [phone ringing] andrea canning: talking, which police started taping by tapping sherra and billy's phones. sherra wright (on phone): hello? billy turner (on phone): hey, what's up? sherra wright (on phone): nothing. what about you? andrea canning: at first, the conversation didn't seem to make sense. sherra wright (on phone): when y'all getting married? billy turner (on phone): i don't know. i don't know. when you get that ring. been getting that ring? andrea canning: police eventually came to believe that all the small talk was actually related to the case. sherra wright (on phone): i wanted to show you something. billy turner (on phone): oh. ok. i hope you got that ring then. andrea canning: by late 2017, memphis police had heard enough and made their move. reporter: december 5, billy turner was arrested inside a convenience store in collierville.

and then friday night-- woman: and then we find out that he was her lawn man when lorenzen was living with sherra. so this is a person who knew both of them. and then we find out that he's a deacon at a church in collierville. andrea canning: the very same church where sherra had been a minister when she lived in memphis. he was under everybody's noses the whole time. yeah. how's that for a kicker? that is a kicker. that's an evil kicker. it is. if this plans out being that she was the one who put everything in motion and then to be the one to actually take his life. yeah. yeah. just ultimate evil. man: after years of nothing, it hits us all at one time. and we started thinking, did she? did she, actually? andrea canning: kelvin cowans also had plenty of questions about his former lover. so he and sherra spoke again.

this time, police were listening too. kelvin cowans (on phone): how well you know billy? sherra wright (on phone): that ain't got nothing to do with nobody or nothing. she was like, that's my church mate. he's a church deacon. that's my friend. he didn't have anything to do with this. sherra wright (on phone): well, i don't know what to tell the whole world, because i'm not going to get in it. i'm going to let god step in. andrea canning: but it wasn't god who stepped in. it was the district attorney. the shelby county grand jury indicted billy r. turner for the premeditated, first-degree murder of lorenzen wright. andrea canning: but out in california, sherra remained free. no arrest warrant. no indictment. just anger for the investigators. and they heard it. sherra wright (on phone): this is a lie from the pits of hell. they've been trying to pull billy into it so that they can pull me into it. andrea canning: a dramatic moment years in the making was about to play out on a dark highway.

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dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better. even this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection.

don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. without talking to your doctor. andrea canning: december 2017, more than seven years after lorenzen's murder, billy turner was in court asking for bail. good morning, sir. andrea canning: lorenzen's mother, deborah, was right there to give billy turner a piece of her mind. how could you have murdered my son? bailiff: ma'am, don't step [inaudible],, please. that's what i need to know, just how. andrea canning: the judge set bail at $15 million. back in california, sherra seemed worried. sherra wright (on phone): this is a lie from the pits of hell. they've been trying to pull billy into it so that they

can pull me into it. andrea canning: they, of course, were the police, who were secretly listening in as sherra called friends and family to seek guidance or just vent, especially about billy's arrest. and she kept denying any role in ren's murder. sherra wright (on phone): don't nobody believe that we were still in love or that we cared for each other. don't nobody believe that. andrea canning: over and over, sherra insisted she was innocent. the investigation was a sham. sherra wright (on phone): it's just unbelievable. it's like a bad dream. andrea canning: then, just 10 days before christmas, sherra was on the freeway and got a call from her oldest son. sherra wright (on phone): hi, baby. sherra's son (on phone): mommy. sherra wright (on phone): huh? sherra's son (on phone): what you doing? andrea canning: suddenly, sherra noticed something flashing in her rear view mirror. sherra wright (on phone): [inaudible].. sherra's son (on phone): put the phone on the-- don't you-- ain't you in the truck? sherra wright (on phone): oh, i gotta call you back. i gotta call you back. andrea canning: this was no routine traffic stop.

it was the us marshals, warrant in hand, arresting sherra for murder. she was rushed to the riverside county jail. and the next day, memphis police told the world. police officer: sherra wright robinson was taken into custody last night in riverside, california, by the members of the us marshals service. was her arrest a big moment in this? oh, honey, i didn't even sleep when they got billy. but honey, when they got sherra, i slept-- i probably slept till, like 12 o'clock, and i never sleep that late, never. but that's the first time i got some real sleep, when they got her. oh, everybody was talking about it. it was all over the place. it was huge news in memphis. andrea canning: so huge that the next day, deborah organized a celebration in the cemetery. [fireworks popping] lorenzen loved fireworks, so i had to have fireworks at the cemetery. never heard of anything like that before. lorenzen had to hear that pow, pow, pow. we had to celebrate, a big celebration.

we had a ball. sure did. andrea canning: after years of trying to get sherra arrested, deborah had just one question for her. and what i would like to say to sherra, why? why, why, why, why, why? andrea canning: lorenzen's friends, who knew that sherra had long been under suspicion, still had trouble accepting the news of her arrest. i'm like, what do you mean? she got arrested for killing lorenzen. and i froze. i got really angry. for her to be able to evade police questioning and some of the questionable interviews that she had done, for me to know that i defended her in public because of the kids. last thing you want to do is they've already lost their father. i didn't want to think, you know, hey, their mother could have had something to do with it. but now to find out she not only had something to do with it but could have been there.

i can just imagine all the emotions you're feeling, betrayal-- betrayal, shock. and also second-guessing yourself. second-guessing myself. yes. and you knew her better than most. yeah. but sometimes what people do in the dark will come to light. andrea canning: sherra waived extradition and days later, appeared in a memphis court. judge: bond in this case shall be set to cover this indictment at $20 million for the reason-- andrea canning: so you see sherra in court, and she says something to you. yes. she turns around, looks me dead in my face, just like i'm looking at you, and said, i didn't do it. i said, you witch. you called her a witch in court. without the w. oh. you can't kill my son but keep teasing me. i didn't do it. no. reporter: attorneys for both co-defendants charged with first degree murder in the death of lorenzen wright filed motions thursday. andrea canning: both billy turner and sherra pleaded not guilty. the plan was to try them together. but sherra's attorneys, laurie hall and juni ganguli, had a problem. we strongly believed that billy was going

to testify against sherra. if the defense was that i had nothing to do with it, it is particularly problematic when there's a co-defendant who's going to testify. andrea canning: so a strategy. her attorney said, yes, she did conspire to have her ex-husband murdered, but that in no way made her guilty. juni ganguli: sherra did it. sherra recruited billy. but she did it to get away from this abusive relationship. andrea canning: that was the defense's version. sherra was an abused woman, desperately looking for a way out. laurie hall: absolutely two sides to lorenzen wright. there's the public persona, very positive, community-oriented. privately, he had a very tumultuous marriage, many affairs, and get angry and beat sherra wright. andrea canning: in fact, sherra mentioned abuse during a call to her son, which police secretly recorded. sherra wright (on phone): you've

been there a lot of times when your daddy beat the living hell out of me. andrea canning: and there was that incident when ren allegedly got violent with sherra after finding her with another man, a story he denied. ren was never charged then or at any time for abusing sherra. juni ganguli: it's fairly common that victims of domestic violence don't report their abusers to the police. andrea canning: by the time of the murder, ren and sherra had been divorced for five months and living nearly 400 miles apart. her attorney said, despite all that, she was still scared. he was telling the children, in the summer of 2010, words to the effect of your mother and i are going to get back together. and sherra did not want to go back to that life. andrea canning: according to her attorneys, sherra believed her only escape was to lure ren back to memphis to have him killed. lorenzen's mother, deborah, insists the stories of abuse are all lies.

she murdered him and assassinated his character. she killed him twice. i want her to suffer every day. every day she wake up, i want her to miss her kids like i miss mine. bailiff: court, remain seated. andrea canning: a battered wife or a killer? it looked like a memphis jury would have to decide. or would they? deborah marion: i got here thinking it was going to have a trial, but then they say, wait a minute. it just blew me away. i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. thanks to skyrizi, i'm on my way with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms had a vaccine, or plan to. nothing on my skin means everything! ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save.

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judge: miss wright, good morning. good morning. judge: for the record-- andrea canning: lorenzen's mother, who worked so hard to push the case forward, couldn't wait to see her former daughter-in-law go on trial. how do you feel? are you confident? yes, i am. i feel elated. and it's going to turn out just like it's supposed to. all the aces going to be in their places. that means everybody's going to be where they need to be. andrea canning: july 25, 2019, almost nine years to the day of ren's murder, his mother was in court when the justice system dealt her a hand she hadn't anticipated. deborah marion: i got here thinking it was going to have a trial, but then they called us in that room back there and say, wait a minute. we made a deal. it just blew me away. man: [inaudible] pleaded guilty to indictment [inaudible]. andrea canning: sherra pleaded guilty, not to first-degree murder, but to two lesser charges, facilitation to commit murder and attempted

murder for the first try at lorenzen's condo in atlanta. lorenzen's mom was angry. deborah marion: how is this possible? i'm thinking i'm fitting to come and hear everything that happened, step by step. but no. andrea canning: for that, ren's mother would have to wait until sherra's alleged co-conspirator had his trial. between covid and court delays, it took nearly three years. finally, in march of 2022, billy turner's trial began. what does it take to kill a man? andrea canning: though sherra wasn't the defendant, shelby county prosecutor paul hagerman put her front and center. sherra wright's not a professional killer. this is not something she does. she doesn't have a phone directory of hitmen. no. she had to reach out to people that she trusted.

do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony-- andrea canning: lorenzen's mother was the first witness. she told the jury that when lorenzen went missing, sherra didn't seem concerned at all. paul hagerman: did you talk to sherra? oh, yeah. paul hagerman: did she tell you that he was missing? no. paul hagerman: and was your understanding that sherra wright never called him? no. she never did. no. paul hagerman: you had to. i had to. andrea canning: but the star witness for the prosecution was sherra's cousin jimmie martin, who told the jury what he had said to the police years earlier, that sherra wanted lorenzen dead, and she had turned to him and billy turner for help. when sherra's talking about this business that she shouldn't be in, killing lorenzen, is billy turner there? yes, sir. paul hagerman: obviously, you're there. and you described it as what, brainstorming? like brainstorming. they were coming up with ways of how to best,

you know, perform the act. paul hagerman: ok. and what act are we talking about? the murder of lorenzen. paul hagerman: all right. and you say they were coming up with ways. jimmie martin: we were. you were too, weren't you? yeah. andrea canning: though he took part in the planning, even helped find the location, jimmie said he wasn't there when the murder occurred. he said sherra told him about it afterwards. ok, so she met-- her and lorenzen met up with billy on this road. that's when, i guess, they ambushed him. paul hagerman: you say you guess. why do you say you guess? because i wasn't there. andrea canning: then jimmy told the jury about lorenzen's final awful moments, details, he said, again, came from sherra. raised their hands back to him. they started chasing. they started firing at him, chasing. he jumped through the fence. he was jumping like a deer. they caught him. he fell. andrea canning: defense attorney john perry told the jury the state's star witness, a convicted

killer who was given immunity in this case, shouldn't be trusted. it takes that type of a punk to sit up and come up with a story, and as you're talking to the detectives, to say they told me this. andrea canning: as far as the defense was concerned, it was more likely that jimmie martin shot lorenzen wright. john perry: on the night in question, nobody can validate your whereabouts, right? nobody. nobody verified your whereabouts, correct? in all this time, nobody has verified. nobody ever. john perry: right. andrea canning: the defense attorney pointed out that jimmie martin didn't have an alibi, but his client, billy turner, did. he went to a party and went home. that was it. the evidence is going to show, clear as can be, billy had a well-established life. billy was a man. he dated women. he took care of his responsibilities, and he had fun.

but he went to church. i really, in my heart of hearts, don't believe that he knew what all they might have been contemplating doing. andrea canning: but prosecutors say billy turner's cell phone put him at the scene of the crime. 911 operator (on phone): germantown 911, where is your emergency? andrea canning: there was that terrifying 911 call lorenzen made as he was being shot. a memphis police phone expert testified both billy turner's and lorenzen's phones pinged on cell towers near the scene around the same time. his tower location is overlaying with that exact tower that mr. lorenzen had. andrea canning: the woman in the middle of it all, sherra wright, was never called to testify. five and a half days after the trial began, the jury got the case. deputy smith, can you bring the jury, please sir? deputy: yes, sir. andrea canning: less than three hours later, they had a verdict. jury foreman: we, the jury, find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder as charged in count one of the indictment. andrea canning: billy turner got life plus 41 years.

as for sherra-- judge: this court says your punishment at 30 years confinement in the tennessee department of corrections. andrea canning: 30 years on paper. juni ganguli: in the end, we wanted the earliest possible release for sherra. andrea canning: her defense said, because sherra had no criminal record, she most likely would serve only half that time, maybe even less. laurie hall: sherra will only be, at worst, in her early 60s. and so she can still be a grandmother to her grandchildren and still live an active life. deborah marion: that's not fair. that is not fair. [inaudible] i don't understand. you know, i want her to do a plea deal. when lorenzen comes back, then she can get out. she's eligible for parole pretty quickly. pretty quickly. did sherra get what she deserved? i don't think that she did. if she's the ringleader who's responsible for this,

at some point sherra's going to get out of prison. and she's going to get a chance to go on with her life. lorenzen's never going to have that opportunity. andrea canning: in fact, with all the trial delays, sherra was up for a parole hearing just two months after billy turner was convicted. i'm sorry for what happened to him. i'm sorry because he's not here. and i didn't want to ever, ever in my life be without him because he was the love of my life. i'm asking today for your mercy. andrea canning: watching closely was lorenzen's mother, with no mercy to spare. this is why i'm really mad at her because she's still acting like she didn't have nothing to do with it. andrea canning: sherra didn't get paroled that day. she'll try again in 2027. deborah plans to be there. [somber music] february 4, 2023, lorenzen's old team at the university of memphis retired his number in his honor. deborah marion: y'all, let me tell

you what made me so happy. i still think about all that bad stuff sherra said about him. but when they retired his jersey, you saw memphis came out. this is a man who had helped his city. this is a man that took care of more families than you'd ever imagine. he kept them in homes, houses. he paid bills. he kept their lights on. deborah marion: this boy was just loving. he just loved by sight. he just saw personality. if you was good to him, he was great to you. that's for sure. [theme music] [music playing] hello, i'm andrea canning, for these last two years.re g initially, it was panic, and then it turned into torment.