Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
She Killed Her Famous Husband - The Lorenzen Wright Story
12 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What led to Lorenzen Wright's murder?
Do you remember when this famous NBA player got murdered by his own wife? Now the wife's name is Shara and Shara is about 39 when the story starts and she's living in Memphis. And Shara seems to really want money. Well, no problem because Shara is married to this recently retired NBA player.
So she should have access to lots of money. However, things are not going great in this marriage because both she and her former NBA husband believe that the other person is cheating on them. So they're like fighting all the time. And so one day in 2010, after 13 years together, they decide that it's too much and it's time for Shara to get a divorce from her husband.
Here's the thing about her famous former NBA player husband though. His name is Lorenzen, and he's retired now, but he made a lot of money over the course of his basketball career. But despite that, he and Shara are somehow having financial problems. And while they're trying to get along and co-parent through this whole divorce, it's not really working for Shara.
I guess she just doesn't trust him and she feels like he isn't telling her the whole truth about all their finances. And so at some point, she decides the best way to get some more money out of him is to just murder him and get paid through his life insurance plan. Now, Shara, she's a high-class woman. She's not going to commit this murder herself. She's going to get someone else to do it.
And that is when this guy comes in, Billy. And Billy, he's a landscaper. I guess he does Shara's landscaping for her. And I guess she thinks he is fine because pretty soon they start smashing. So she ends up recruiting him to help her with this murder plot. Shara also recruits her cousin to help her, this guy, who we'll just call Cousin.
So, Shara brings Billy and Cousin together, and she's like, we've gotta murder Lorenzen! And these two guys are like, alright. So then, the two of them, Billy and Cousin, they drive from Memphis all the way over to Atlanta, where Lorenzen's condo is. Then, they break into the place all quietly, and there, on the couch, they see someone sleeping.
And one of them walks up to this person and he realizes that it's not Lorenzen. And they're like, well, damn. And they leave and they drive back to Memphis. So that plan failed. But Shara is not about to give up. She really wants that life insurance money. So instead of trying to murder Lorenzen in his house in Atlanta, Shara now decides to lure him over to Memphis and assassinate him there.
And she's going to lure him there by offering him sex. So she gets to work and she starts sending Lorenzen spicy text messages and whatnot, suggesting that he should come to Memphis soon so that they can smash. And I don't know if this works or what, but Lorenzen does end up coming to Memphis one weekend. And while he's there, he's scheduled to do a lot of stuff.
Like he's got to attend his son's basketball game. He's got to attend his daughter's dance recital. And he's got to attend his sister's baby shower. So he's there in Memphis at his son's basketball game with some of his friends.
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Chapter 2: How did Shara Wright-Robinson plan the murder?
And right after the 911 operator answers, Lorenzen barely gets any words out, and blam, blam, blam! Billy shoots him, and unfortunately, Lorenzen doesn't survive. Now, before he passed, he wasn't able to give the 911 operator his name or any information, but also the 911 operator doesn't follow up on the call. I guess he's just like, well, that was weird, and moves along with their day.
So no police are dispatched. Anyway, then, Shara calls up Cousin, and she's like, We did it! We killed him! But, I need you to get rid of the weapon. So, Cousin goes and gets the gun from her, and he drives one state over to Mississippi, and there, he throws that gun in a lake. Now, I said before that Lorenzen had some things scheduled to do while he was in Memphis.
His son's basketball game, his daughter's dance recital, and his sister's baby shower. Once Lorenzen doesn't show up for his sister's baby shower, his family starts to get worried, and they start to try and get in touch with him, but obviously they can't. So of course, they contact Shara. His mom calls her up and she's like, Lorenza didn't show up. Do you know where he is?
And Shara's like, oh, I'm sure he's off with some other women. So the family keeps looking for him, but they don't find anything. And after four days of looking, his mom decides that it's time to call the police and file a missing persons report. So now the police are involved, and they question Shara, and of course, she lies to them.
She tells them some crazy story about how she last saw Lorenzen a few days ago when he left with some armed men and a box of drugs, saying he was gonna try and sell those drugs. And it's around this time that police finally learn about the 911 call from the night Lorenzen disappeared, and they're able to trace it to that swampy field area, and there they find Lorenzen's body.
Meanwhile, Shara is able to cash in Lorenzen's life insurance policy, and she gets one million dollars. And she starts spending it immediately. She buys a new house, new furniture, a new Cadillac Escalade, a Lexus. She buys a new swimming pool. In fact, in only 10 months after receiving the $1 million in life insurance money, she spends $970,000 of it.
So she spent nearly all of it in under a year. But whatever, I guess. She's out here living her dream. Plus, it looks like she just got away with murder. Until... So about three years go by, and it's now 2013, and Cousin actually gets convicted of murder. Not Lorenzen's murder, a completely different murder. I guess he had killed his girlfriend a few years before.
So he starts asking for immunity if he gives prosecutors info about Lorenzen's murder. And of course, they agree. So he tells them everything about Shara wanting Lorenzen dead and about Billy killing him and that he was the one who helped get rid of the murder weapon by throwing it in a lake.
And so eventually the FBI gets involved and they wiretap Billy and Shara and that gives them all the info they need. And so in 2017, bam, Billy gets arrested. Here's his mugshot. And a week later, bam, Shara is arrested too. Here's her mugshot. And so ultimately, Shara takes a plea deal and she gets 30 years in prison while Billy did not take a plea deal and he gets sentenced to life in prison.
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