Greg Wright - Murdered for Seventy Dollars

How do you measure success? Obviously, we each have different bench marks in our appraisals of others, as well as ourselves. If we count success in friendship, then James Gregory Wright was a successful man. If we count success in dollars and cents, Greg Wright was lacking, and this lack led to his murder.

Wright was a 42 year-old roofer who lived by himself in the Greenhill community of Lauderdale County, just a mile south of the Tennessee State line. Due to the economy, Wright had been out of work for some time, forcing him to live frugally in his manufactured home. At some point in 2006, Wright purchased a set of used tires from Greg Leon Nard (pictured) for $70.00. Those who knew Wright say that he would have paid Nard when he went back to work, but Nard became upset over the debt.

On the night of January 27, 2007, Gred Nard, 25, his father William David Nard, 47, and an acquaintance, Norman Ernest Widdowson, 42, were out joyriding. All three were residents of Iron City, Tennessee, but Widdownson had moved from Maryland only three months before. After a night of shooting pool and drinking at the Nard residence, the father and son suggested to Widdownson that he accompany them on a drive; they wound up at Greg Wright's residence on Lauderdale County Road 130. The three men were the last to see James Gregory Wright alive.


Tomorrow: Father and son turn against each other.

Shoalanda