US Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Davilyn Walston confirmed that individual to be Wright.
Wright went missing on Nov. 7, 2013. On that day, he pulled into the CL&M grocery store along State Highway 87 in Hemphill. When his truck broke down, he made a call to his wife at 6:05 p.m.
Family members and friends found Wright’s body in a wooded area of Sabine County on Nov. 25. Despite the fact that authorities mounted ground and air searches for Wright, his body was found about approximately 25 yards from where he disappeared.
According to the indictment, an investigation into the cause of Wright’s disappearance and death revealed his involvement with Hadnot. Phone records, witness statements and drug evidence located during the search of Hadnot’s car, indicated Hadnot was selling cocaine to Wright.
During the two-day period before Wright’s death, Hadnot and Wright exchanged 20 text messages, according to the indictment. It alleges that on Nov. 7, 2013, Wright sent a text to Hadnot at 12:36 p.m. requesting to buy cocaine and other drugs from Hadnot. Wright went missing about five hours later. An autopsy showed Wright’s blood contained cocaine, meth and Xanax.
The indictment details the final days of his life, starting on Nov. 7, when the indictment states Wright was scheduled to visit 10 patients in the Hemphill area, but only visited two. At 12:36 p.m., before beginning his visits, Wright used his phone to text Hadnot. It said “1 gino and a 20 and 3 handles.” The indictment states that means one gram of cocaine, $20 worth of meth and three Xanax tablets. At 12:37 p.m., Hadnot replied “ok” to the text, according to the indictment.
Wright visited his first patient around 1:30 p.m. in Burkeville. That patient and his wife reported Wright was “normal” and noted nothing unusual about his demeanor or actions. They said Wright left their home around 2 p.m. Wright did not visit any patients between 2 and 4 p.m., according to the indictment.
Wright visited his next patient around 4 p.m. in the Fairmont community. That patient and his wife reported Wright was unusually late, agitated and disoriented. Wright told them he felt sick and needed to call his wife and excused himself to the restroom for a lengthy period. They said they found this odd and told Wright he should go home, but he said he had one more patient to see and left their home around 4:30 p.m.
The indictment states he should have traveled west to continue his route, but instead drove east until he reached Toledo Bend Reservoir. He pulled into a residential driveway, where a witness spoke to Wright and found him to be extremely disoriented and unable to communicate clearly. The witness directed him to leave the property, according to the indictment.
Around 5:20 p.m., Wright arrived at the CL&M store located on State Highway 87, approximately four miles south of Hemphill. He called his wife and told her his truck overheated and she told him that his parents were on the way to help him. According to a witness, Wright stopped talking on the phone, put it in his sock and jogged north on Highway 87.
Wright’s father reported Wright missing around 6:30 p.m.
A deputy called Wright’s wife and she told him she had not observed anything unusual about Wright’s behavior. A few minutes later, she called him back and recanted her statement and said Wright had in fact “been acting very strange lately.” She also told him she suspected Wright was “on something.”
Around 7 p.m., property owners off Coussons Drive, which is about 1.1 miles northeast of the store, were outside their home and said they thought they heard a person running across their yard. They also said they heard a loud cough. One of the property owners called out, but there was no response.
On Nov. 8, a deputy requested permission to search Wright’s truck, but his parents told him they did not consent. The deputy then served a court order on AT&T to obtain tracking information on Wright’s phone. When the family arrived, they removed Wright’s work computer and personal computer without calling a deputy, according to the indictment.
Later that morning, the property owners on Coussons Drive reported they had discovered torn clothing and a watch belonging to Wright. The small piece of clothing was attached to a barbed-wire fence. Deputies searched the area and found additional clothing belonging to Wright. It was scattered along a distance of about 1,700 yards on pastures adjacent to the residence.
On Nov. 11, Texas Rangers joined the investigation and interviewed Wright’s wife. She said that on the day Wright disappeared, she identified Hadnot’s phone number from Wright’s records and said Hadnot admitted selling drugs to Wright on the day he disappeared.
On Nov. 15, the Wright family provided Wright’s work computer to the Texas Rangers, but not his personal computer.
Wright’s body was found on Nov. 25, located between dense brush on a narrow game trail about 260 yards west of the residence where the clothing was found. He was partially clothed, wearing underwear and one sock and both shoes.
An autopsy was performed on Nov. 26. Dr. John Ralston, a forensic pathologist with the Southeast Texas Forensic Center, found six shallow puncture wounds on Wright’s body. They measured about .2 inches and were located on his left palm, lower abdomen and left leg. Ralston did not find any severe trauma on Wright’s body, but noted soft-tissue damage to his face and neck with was consistent with insect and animal scavenging activity. Ralston found a phone inside Wright’s right sock and a key ring inside his left shoe. It included keys to his truck.
Texas Ranger Danny Young confirmed the puncture wounds were consistent with the size of the barbs on the barbed-wire fence.
Rangers interviewed Hadnot on Dec. 11. The indictment states Hadnot told Young he had sold marijuana to Wright on Nov. 7 but denied selling anything else that day. He did admit to selling cocaine to him in the past.
On Jan. 7, a toxicology report concluded the drug findings in Wright’s blood. Ralston’s final report concluded Wright’s cause of death was combined drug intoxication and his manner of death was accident.
According to the indictment, Texas Rangers contacted the Wright family’s attorney and requested a meeting with the family. They also asked for permission to search his computer and truck, which was not granted.
That same day, the Rangers submitted Ralston’s report to forensic pathologist Dr. Sparks Veasey, for his review. He reported he concurred with Ralston’s report.
On June 25, the US Attorney’s Office submitted all reports to forensic toxicologist Dwain C. Fuller for his examination and analysis.
On July 28, Fuller said Wright’s cause of death was consistent with combined drug intoxication and excited delirium, which is often induced by stimulants and manifests as a combination of delirium, agitation, anxiety and hallucinations. In many cases the elevated body temperatures result in the victim undressing, according to the indictment.
If convicted, Hadnot faces from 20 years to life in federal prison.
23 Comments so far
Jump into a conversationFinally, an update on this story.
Something just seems out of place about this
I know right. Something doesn’t add up.
I’m in the middle on this because maybe he killed him and there’s a possibility that the police look for anybody who was doing illegal activities with him, then believe that he killed him.
THIS LOOK HELLA FISHY
Thank you for the up-date. Now it’s more pieces to a mystery in the death of a black man
If this is true meth has been responsible for several violent deaths. It seems that with some people it brings out a level of violence that is amazing. I have seen stories in which someone that had never been violent became a meth addict and tortured people to death.
was this person white that did that…im not trying to be funny, but most blacks don’t do meth. and just like the young lady said above, meth heads do have a particular unhealthy look.
Yes, in the stories I saw they were white and a few were female. In one case a female decided to torture a house mate. She got busted and the house mate took some of her stuff and sold it while she was in jail. She and another women and man tortured that girl. She had not done anything the other two. They shocked her with a cut off electrical cord, injected her with acid from a car battery, and did several other things to her before she was killed. That was an episode of Deadly Women. Some episodes are on Youtube, but if you have Netflix it is on there. I have seen more than just that case but, that one always sticks out in my mind. Some of the stories sound like the older stories about people on pcp. There is an old episode of COPS in which this guy was on pcp naked and the police had to struggle hard to subdue that guy. It looked like trying to wrestle with a bull. He was strong as hell.The guy on COPS was black.
That is if that story is the whole truth. I am sure another autopsy will be performed and test done on the blood they already have. A person that is a junkie has proof of the drugs in there hair. So you could tamper with blood to make someone appear to be on drugs but, his hair would give him away.
how many of the meth head went crazy and killed himself?
we know why it happens. you need to live somewhere away from this mess.
This reaks of a coverup.
What’s with the people lined up behind the man speaking. Is that supposed to be some kind of show of solidarity. “We’re all in on it!” And the dudes wearing the damn Bozo hats. I’m guessing they are Texas Rangers. I suppose they are there to say “See? It’s not about race. We even hired a few colored fellers!.”
Not buying this one bit.
wait meth heads have messed up teeth and drug addicts in general look a certain way, maybe I’m ignorant of what really goes on but this guy didn’t seem like the drug buying kind
that picture with that white woman looking like she just struck gold and won the lottery all in the same day makes me believe something is being surpressed
How we going to believe anything these goon’s say. I can almost bet that they gave that black dude some break if he said he killed him…..its going to be really hard to get any justice in texas. It doesn’t matter that there are different races in that room, look who’s doing the talking…a white man! sorry i truly feel im not wrong about this one. if i am i will admit it. but just like everyone else said…somtin somtin just aint right….. (singi’n in my keith sweat voice)
I’m not buying it & not because he’s Black..I followed this story & I know this has to be a stinkin cover-up!
Sorry… Not buying this B/S… I wonder if Mr. Hadnot also planned on Mr Wright’s truck breaking down right before he killed him. Mr. Wright had called his wife and she called to his parents to come pick him up after the truck had broke down, if I’m meeting up with my connect and I plan on getting high off of 3 different drugs the last thing I’m going to do is call my wife to come pick me up. With that said growing up in Newark, NJ I know people personally who speed ball off cocaine, marijuana, and pills, I never seen a person doing cocaine and meth at the same time, not even in the same year as a matter of fact. This reeks of cover up… They couldn’t find a man when his body was less than 150 yards away from their manhunt campsite, but all of a sudden they can do all this police work and give “all the media coverage” a 29 page indictment, how convenient…
How convenient, the timing of this story after the conviction of Wafer. Something sticks and it’s smells bad in Texas.
F what the Cops say you cant trust them anyway, I want to hear what the wife hast to say! If the wife say yes I knew he did drugs then so be it. this just doesn’t smell right,, Every black man isn’t on drugs.
I don’t dring smoke or put anything in my body that is toxic, if I mysteriously end up dead somewhere and the cop try to say I Went Crazy on drugs, I hope people will realize it Bull Shit, and that every black man a white mans say is on drugs isn’t true
Yeah, that shit looks real convenient that they get a black suspect. It’s Jasper, Texas, would you expect anything less?
I’m still not satisfied, I need an independent investigation to be performed by an office of law enforcement not connected with the state of Texas or anyone in that area of the country. Having the Texas Rangers conduct an investigation is like having a casino do an internal review of cheating allegations when they know the place is crooked.
Sorry , not buying this “story” , too neat , too convenient , too easy to swallow , you know kinda like a laxative . Calling BS .
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