Murder Under the Friday Night Lights Recap for Caught in a Trap

 

This week’s Murder Under the Friday Night Lights is titled Caught in a Trap and details the murder of prominent football coach Jaz Granderson.

On October 16th, 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri, a man calls 911 to say he was shot. Detective Amy Frank remembers the call, as does Detective Katie Rund. They both recall the panic in the victim’s voice and how they can tell he knew he was going to die. They also remember hearing gunshots and trying to keep the victim on the phone as another 911 call comes in to report the shooting.

Police arrive and find the victim’s body outside of an apartment complex. His ID identified him as Jaz Granderson, a prominent football coach who was well-known and well-loved in the community.

Jaz’s father Johnny recalls his son’s growing up years and love for football.

Assistant Principal Romona Miller also remembers Jaz and thought of him as a son. She loved his work ethic and being proud when he tried out for the Chiefs. While he didn’t make the cut, he pivoted and went into coaching at De Smet Lesuit High School. It was one of the best football teams in the area and people would come from all over to watch him play.

Jaz’s team also loved him and recall how supportive he was of their dreams.

Nobody could understand why anyone would want Jaz dead.

At the hospital, Jaz would go in and out of consciousness and tried to explain what happened. He mentioned an SUV, which fit into the other call the police they got, along with another call from someone claiming two black males abandoning an SUV and running away. One of them was wearing a football logo on his shirt, which led police to believe it could have been a rival team that was involved.

 

Johnny knew something was wrong when Jaz’s location showed him at police headquarters. He then got the news about Jaz’s death and falling into a deep shock. Everyone soon found out the news and also fell into shock, wondering who could have done this.

 

Johnny was asked about any enemies Jaz could have had, but he could not think of anyone, nor could anyone else.

 

The SVU didn’t show up much in terms of physical evidence, but they found the ID of Ronnie Wingo, Jr, who was Jaz’s best friend.

Ronnie was an NFL player and had plans to go bowling with Jaz that night. He is questioned and explained what happened that night and how Jaz borrowed the car, which happened to be a rental. He was shocked when Jaz never came back and how the car wasn’t returned.

He also talks about his relationship with Jaz and how they were like brothers. He claims that the night of the shooting, Jaz said he had to meet someone and would be right back, which is why he borrowed the car. Ronnie didn’t think anything of it, other than he was meeting a girl.

 

The following Friday, the team had a game, where Johnny showed up to offer support. The team ultimately lost, showing the impact that Jaz had on them and how they were too distraught to play.

 

An anonymous caller told police to talk to a girl named Destiny. It was inferred that she was the girl who Jaz was meeting, and she was living in the same complex where the shooting took place. She was an ear-witness to the murder but claims that she didn’t know Jaz personally. However, she thinks Jaz may have meeting her neighbor, who happened to be an exotic dancer. She could not give much more information.

 

Jaz’s phone was password protected, so the police went to get phone records to see who he was contacting. It was discovered he was in contact with the same number around the time of the shooting. The person he was talking to was identified as Jherrica Dixon and she was living in the same complex.

 

Johnny says that Jaz was not in a committed relationship and wondered who Jherrica was, why he was seeing her and if she was connected to his death.

 

Ronnie talks about not being able to do anything after Jaz’s death. He knew of Jeherrica, but never met her personally.

 

Police went to investigate Jherrica and discovered that she had a phone account used to contact Jaz for a short amount of time and closed it right after his death. She also worked as an exotic dancer.

 

A group of .45 caliber shell casings were found around the corner from her house and were connected with another incident where a man named Jeremy Williams was shot during a carjacking. He had survived the attack, which occurred right before Jaz’s murder. He told police what happened and claimed that he was also planning on meeting Jherrica that night. Police began to wonder how the incidents were connected and how she was involved. However, they didn’t want to spook her and risk her deleting social media or running away.

 

Another incident involving a man named Tommy Anderson took place two months before Jaz’s murder at the same complex and in a similar fashion. Jherrica was also involved in this case, where she would go sit in his car while a masked man would shoot him and steal his car.

 

Authorities looked deeper into this case and wondered why Jaz was shot to be killed, while the others had their cars stolen. They also wanted to know who was working with Jherrica. Tommy gave the information and number Jherrica used, giving them the name Kirk Kobang via a search and looking into her Facebook. Further digging gave them the name Kurt Wallace, alias Kirk Kobang. He had a long rap sheet and before long, he was connected to the shootings.

On November 15th, both Kurt and Jherrica were arrested for the murder. They were taken into custody, and she admitted that she lured Jaz to her place with the intent to have Kurt shoot him. A man named Floyd Barber was also said to be at the scene of the crime.

 

It is believed that Kurt killed Jaz due to jealousy. He plead guilty to four counts of carjacking and one count of carjacking resulting in death and got 60 years in prison. Jherrica got a 19-year sentence for her part in the crimes.

In 2019, Jaz’s team won the state championship and issued a ring to Johnny in his honor.