A year on and former NBA player Lorenzen Wright’s murder remains unsolved – Basketball Update
The tragic death of former NBA player Lorenzen Wright remains a mystery to this day, a year after his dead body was found by the authorities. The appalling situation has drawn stringent criticism towards the Memphis area police
from the family and fans of the former player.
Wright was an NBA player for 13 years. He declared for the draft after playing high school and college basketball in Memphis. The player featured for a total of 5 NBA teams over the course of his career, including his home town
side, the Memphis Grizzlies.
After retiring in 2009, he settled down in Memphis but went missing on the 18th of July 2010. Ten days later, Lorenzen Wright’s body was found in a decomposed condition in a swampy field. The player had been shot dead
and the body left to rot.
When the murder became public, it caused outrage among the Memphis and NBA communities. Hundreds visited the murder site. Even more, including NBA players and local politicians, attended the memorial service held at the FedEx Forum
arena. At the time, the police declared that they will expend all resources to hunt down whoever was responsible for the crime.
However a year on nothing has been solved.
"We are a long way from solving this crime," Memphis police director Toney Armstrong said last week.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise as the law enforcement authorities have been incompetent right from the start in this case. Wright’s disappearance wasn’t taken seriously at all by the authorities until after many days had
passed. When the body was finally recovered a lack of evidence hampered the investigation.
Most scandalous was the role of the 911 service. Wright was last seen at the house of his ex wife Sherra Wright. He left the house on 18th July with someone Sherra Wright says she did not recognize. Officials confirmed
that a call had been made from the deceased player’s cell phone on 19th July 2010 in which gunshots were heard. However, the authorities took no action, not even dispatching of a patrolling party and blamed confusion over jurisdiction as the reason
for the debacle.
Now, the new Chief of Police has changed the investigation which started with around 12 detectives working on the case. The reward for it also remains scant at $6000 and has expectedly drawn little or no response.
The player’s mother Deborah Marion has repeatedly called on the police and other authorities to do more in their efforts to solve the case. She recently filed a $ 2 million lawsuit against Germantown and Collierville for botching
up the initial 911 call and missing person report.
Deborah remains determined to find out who was responsible for her son’s death and bring them to justice,
"I will never lose hope until I'm dead and buried."
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s own personal views and has nothing to do with bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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