Two months after the cold-blooded murder of 16-year-old Trey Wright in remote South Carolina, his family and friends accuse his teenage girlfriend  of instigating the tragedy

Nine teens from the Myrtle Beach area have been arrested and charged with murder of Wright on June 24 shooting of Wright at a rural, swampy outpost about 50 miles from Myrtle Beach

Wright’s mother, Ashley Lindsey, and his best friend, Ethan Kirby, believe Gianna Kistenmacher instigated the shooting by another youth whom she was also seeing

Kistenmacher’s other love interest, Devan Scott Raper, 19, is suspected of pulling the trigger, after Trey’s girlfriend, set up their encounter

Kistenmacher, who had been dating Wright for only a few weeks, had been introduced to him by Raper, who had met Wright at the beach during spring break

Kistenmacher, the daughter of a Horry County police officer, has been charged with murder, but remains under house arrest

Trey Wright, 16, was shot dead on June 24 during a late-night confrontation in Johnsonville, South Carolina, with a group of teens. Nine teenagers from the Myrtle Beach area have been charged in connection with his death

Two months after the cold-blooded murder of 16-year-old Trey Wright in remote South Carolina, his family and friends have accused his girlfriend of instigating the tragedy, although the motive remains unclear.
Trey Wright, a football player at Johnsonville High School, ahead of his sophomore year of high school, he had been staying with close family friend Alicia Lauderback, 31, and her four kids in her mobile home in Johnsonville, when he was gunned down on June 24, during a late-night confrontation with a group of teenagers, that was captured on video.
The 16-year-old was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at an area hospital.

Gianna Kistenmacher, [photo], 17, began dating Wright weeks to his murder. However, the deceased teen’s mother and best friend both believe she instigated the murder even though she is not the shooter

Wright’s mother, Ashley Lindsey, and his best friend, Ethan Kirby, 18, while having slightly differing accounts of what led up to the June 24 shooting, both believe it was instigated by 17-year-old Gianna Kistenmacher, one of nine teens from the Myrtle Beach area arrested and charged in the killing.
Kistenmacher, who had been dating Wright for only a few weeks, had been introduced to him by Devan Raper, 19, of Conway, South Carolina, who met Wright at the beach during spring break.
It is significant that Raper has been fingered as the trigger man.
Kistenmacher and Raper both live in the Myrtle Beach area, whereas Wright had only known Raper since the spring when they met him at the beach. Raper, from Conway, had introduced Wright to his now girlfriend Gianna Kistenmacher a few weeks before the murder. As it happens Kistenmacher was also involved with Raper.
‘I believe she just wanted them to fight, not for it to end this way,’ Kirby said.
‘It was all a childish act that turned real,’ Lindsey said. 

Devan Scott Raper, [left], is suspected of shooting Trey Wright after the victim’s girlfriend, Gianna Helene Kistenmacher, [right], allegedly set up their encounter. Raper is charged with murder while Kistenmacher is charged her with accessory before the fact to a felony

Raper, who was arrested last year on charges of driving another man to a location where he allegedly opened fire on a group of teenagers, has been charged with murder. He is currently being held at the Florence County Detention Center without bond. 
Kistenmacher the daughter of a Horry County police officer is charged her with accessory before the fact to a felony. She was released on bond to the custody of her parents – house arrest with an ankle monitor.
Hunter Kendall, 18, also is being held in jail. The other six suspects, like Kistenmacher, have been released on bond.
Police, as well as Wright’s friends, say Raper was in one of two carloads of teens from the beach who drove over an hour inland to rural Johnsonville where Raper fatally shot Wright and left him to bleed out on the road.
According to some sources familiar with the case, Kistenmacher was behind the wheel when Raper pulled a gun and opened fire at a rural, swampy outpost about 50 miles from Myrtle Beach.
Family, friends and police say he was lured to his death by his girlfriend of only a few weeks.

Wright’s mother Ashley Lindsey, believes the plot to kill her son [photo], was hatched by his new girlfriend Gianna Kistenmacher

The belief that Gianna Kistenmacher, was the mastermind of Wright’s murder is also shared by the victim’s best friend Ethan Kirby who shared events that led up to the June 24 shooting – ‘I believe she, [Gianna], just wanted them to fight, not for it to end this way,’ he said.

‘This is killing me. I can’t sleep; I can’t eat,’ said Wright’s grand mother Catherine Lee said. ‘I can’t keep anything in my stomach’

However, Francis Humphries, Kistenmacher’s attorney, has challenged implication of his client, arguing that she was neither the driver nor a passenger in the Raper’s car.
Ashley Lindsey has said that she met Kistenmacher with her son several times but dismisses suggestions by local authorities that a ‘love triangle’ was at the center of the conflict. 
Like several other people, she believes that the truth is more complicated, a tangle of egos, teenage drama, and escalating bravado ended with her son’s life cut short. 
‘My son wasn’t about dumb stuff like a love triangle,’ Lindsey said.
‘He told me just two days before he was killed that being with Gianna felt like a dream come true. 
‘He really liked her, but he might have been clueless to whatever else was going on.’

Nine teenagers from the Myrtle Beach area have been arrested in the murder of Trey Wright. Suspects charged so far include Hunter Kendall, 18, and Corinne Belviso, 18, and Sydney Kearns, 17

Lindsey and Kirby accused Gianna Kistenmacher of being a type of ‘queen bee’ who had deliberately picked a fight with Trey earlier on the night when he was killed. She then involved Raper who was with her at the time just to stir the pot.
According to multiple sources, Kistenmacher accused Wright of cheating on her even though he was with his cousins on First Neck Road at the time. Raper joined in the argument and at one point pointed a gun at the phone where he, Gianna and Trey were video-calling.
Lindsey said Wright knew that Raper was headed to fight with him after their beef on the phone, adding thatt Wright would have expected a ‘bare knuckle fight, just hands no weapons’.
For Lindsey, nothing said adds up for a motive.

Corinne Belviso [left] is one of the suspects now charged with the murder of Wright. Under house arrest at her home since her release on bail, she claims that she considered the victim a friend.

‘How do you go from s**t talking to killing somebody? ‘she asks.
‘When I was growing up, if kids had a problem, they’d meet on a dirt road, fight with their hands, and go home. You didn’t pick up a gun. None of this makes sense. 
Those arrested include alleged trigger man Devan Scott Raper, 19, the victim’s girlfriend, Gianna Helene Kistenmacher, 17, Hunter Kendall, 18, Corinne Belviso, 18, Sydney Kearns, 17, Jaden Auclaire, 18, and Braylyn Thompson, 17.
Authorities also arrested two 16-year-olds in connection with the murder. Unnamed being minors, South Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice is handling their charges.
The arrest warrants say Kistenmacher, Belviso and the other teens knew Raper was armed and made threats to shoot Trey.
According to her lawyer, Belviso captured video from the night of the shooting.
Kistenmacher, who is understood to be the daughter of a Horry County police officer, has been charged with murder but has been under house arrest along with Corinne Belviso, another of the nine teens arrested and charged with murder under South Carolina’s ‘the hand of one is the hand of all’ law.
That law holds that if multiple people join in a criminal plan, each can be held responsible for any criminal act committed. No pleas have yet been entered in the case.
Belviso, reached at her home in Myrtle Beach where she is also under house arrest, came to the door and said: ‘Trey was my friend’ but declined to elaborate further. She said she hopes her lawyer can get her off.

In the words of grieving mom, Ashley Lindsey, Gianna Kistenmacher, [right], was a type of ‘queen bee’ who had deliberately picked a fight with Wright, [left], earlier on the night when he was killed

Kirby believes peer pressure and fear played a role in the deadly confrontation.
‘Devan was talking tough from the beach,’ Ethan said. ‘But when they drove an hour to fight, Devan realized Trey wasn’t backing down. 
‘Trey was a great kid but he was a little tough ass too. I once saw him get a fish hook stuck in his hand and he pulled it out without flinching. I think Devan got scared.’
According to his mom, Trey met some of the Myrtle Beach teens during spring break and truck shows, where local kids gather to show off customized ‘squatted’ pickup trucks.
‘Johnsonville is only about 45 minutes from the beach. Kids go there, hang out, and meet people,’ she said. ‘Trey had a truck, and that was something he loved.’

High school athlete Trey Wright [photo], was staying with a close family for the summer at Myrtle Beach, where he hung out with the local teens he met during spring break at the truck shows, where local kids gather to show off customized ‘squatted’ pickup trucks

Another friend of the slain teen mentions that the squatted truck culture was the backdrop of the friendship between the beach town kids and Trey.
‘Gianna hung around the beach people and the truck scene, she was kind of a truck s**t,’ the friend said. 
‘The popular country boys drive lifted trucks with crazy paint jobs all souped up. They put a lot of time and money into to them and hold truck meets and get awards, I’ve spent plenty of time at truck shows myself.’
She called Raper ‘trigger happy’ and is haunted by the long drive all nine teens made to the site of what would be Trey’s murder.
‘It had to be premeditated as f**k ,’ she said. ‘It’s more than an hour drive. It’s not like (Devan) got mad in the moment.’

Trey Wright worked at Vox Deer Processing with his best friend Ethan Kirby before he was shot and killed

Ethan Kirby and Trey Wright were best friends. Growing up together, they bonded over squatted trucks and spent long shifts working side by side at a local deer-skinning plant.
‘Trey never chilled out, never laid around, never had a lazy day. He was always outgoing,’ Kirby said.
Trey Wright’s murder comes on the heels of another loss for the family: His uncle, Britt McKenzie, was also murdered in 2022. Lindsey reminiscing on the deaths of her brother, then her son, says her family has clung together through the pain, leaning on one another and close friends.
Since the murder of his older brother Lindsey says 13-year-old Blaze, has been struggling with the loss.
her younger son she said is ‘trying as hard as he can, but he’s been having trouble at school and with his feelings,’ Lindsey said.
‘It’s been hard on all of us,’ she said recalling the moment she learned of son’s murder: ‘I was asleep when the phone rang. My mom came to the door screaming, saying Trey had been shot. I beat the ambulance to the hospital. To me, it’s a nightmare nobody would ever want to live.’
Through it all, she wants people to remember Trey for his kindness, his humor, and his love of family. ‘He was everybody’s friend. He loved hard. He loved fishing. He loved making people laugh. That’s who my baby was.’