MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As Sherra Wright fights extradition in California, there is another court fight taking shape in Memphis over who will have custody of Sherra and Lorenzen’s children.
Lorenzen’s mom says she is ready to go before a judge to get her grandkids.
“It’s all about the grandkids now,” Deborah Marion said. “We already did everything else. Just need to get them situated.”
Marion has a new focus now. After years of fighting to get her son’s killers behind bars, now she wants to make sure she gets to care for his minor children, her grandkids.
“I just want to get there and love on them, especially my baby granddaughter. I know as soon as this child sees me, she is running. She is gonna be gone. She called up until week before last every week, three or four times.”
► Related: Lorenzen Wright’s mother faces eviction
In a sit-down interview with WREG, Sherra told us how hard it had been on the kids. All of them were then under the age of 15 when they learned their father wasn’t coming home.
“We found out, my oldest son found out on the news. … Nobody came to my door. Nobody knocked on the door. I think that was one of the hardest parts in the beginning. The fact, the way they found out,” she said.
When Sherra talked us to back then, she had two of their children with her. We asked how much they knew about what happened.
“Well my kids are very intelligent,” Wright said. “They use the internet and it’s all over the internet. But my children they know me and they know their dad. They know what kind of relationship we had. They know there is no way possible and that`s all that matters. That`s all that matters.”
► Related: Records show signs of trouble in Wrights’ finances
With Sherra Wright in jail, Deborah Marion plans to file for custody of the four minor kids — Lamar, Shamar, Lawson and Sofi.
The other two children, Lauren and Lorenzen Junior, are in college. Lorenzen Junior is playing basketball like his father.
The older kids are eligible to claim their part of their father’s estate.
WREG was there when in 2013 when Lorenzen Junior, the 18, was in court with Sherra and Lorenzen’s parents getting money from a $85,000 court settlement with City of Germantown.
But WREG has learned the fund left for Lorenzen’s children is dwindling with a balance of $215,000 as of last month.
The kids receive Social Security benefits and monthly stipends from the trust but court documents say the trust will likely be depleted before the youngest child, age 9, is an adult.