[MI] The 1993 staged suicide / stolen life of Trooper's wife Kimberly Thompson Wright

Former Michigan State Police Trooper Douglas Wright was arrested and charged in 2002 for the May 1, 1993 alleged-SUICIDE of his estranged wife, Kimberly Thompson Wright - a Flint Michigan Police dispatcher. "Because of his history as a law enforcement officer, investigators initially believed him." The investigation was reopened shortly after Genesee County got a new sheriff and undersheriff. Wright had also worked as an officer in the Holly and Gaines Michigan police departments. He was arrested in Florida where he had moved, was convicted in 2003, and is currently serving a 25 to 50 year sentence in prison. 

Please also see post "TROOPER DOUGLAS WRIGHT" on the Michigan Officer Involved Domestic Violence Project [MIOIDV Project]:
Trooper Douglas Wright - Murdered ex-wife Kim Thompson
http://michiganoidv.blogspot.com/1993/05/trooper-douglas-wright.html

On the night of May 1, 1993, police in Fenton, Michigan are called to the home of Kimberly Wright. The cause? A reported suicide. But, what officials find when they arrive on the scene is confounding. Kimberly’s estranged husband, a former state trooper, has completely contaminated the scene. The victim’s body has been moved, the weapon cleaned and other evidence packed away....

EX-OFFICER CHARGED WITH MURDER ; SUICIDE FINDING ON WIFE REVERSED:
South Florida Sun - Sentinel
August 06, 2002
[Excerpts] A former Michigan state trooper was arrested at his Boynton Beach home on Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of his estranged wife more than nine years ago in Michigan. Douglas J. Wright, 50, was arrested without incident on charges of murder and using a firearm. He was taken to Palm Beach County Jail and is to appear in court today. Police received a 911 call from Wright on May 1, 1993, saying that Kimberly Thompson Wright had shot herself in the chest at her home in Fenton, Mich... Investigators dismissed the case as a suicide although investigators remained suspicious because "many things about the case didn't seem right," said Capt. Mike Compeau said. The case was reopened in 1999 after a new sheriff took over in Genesee County... Investigators found Thompson Wright's body in the basement of her house, the gun away from her body. The 9mm SIG belonged to Wright... Wright told officials that he moved the weapon after the shooting because he was afraid it would incriminate him... Wright and Thompson Wright, who worked as a dispatcher for the Flint, Mich., Police Department, were in the process of a contested divorce. Wright was a trooper for the Michigan State Police for 14 years before losing that job in 1989... He remained in law enforcement with the Holly and Gaines police departments in Michigan, then moved to Boynton Beach with his son in 1994. Because of his history as a law enforcement officer, investigators initially believed him...

FORMER TROOPER ARRESTED IN WIFE'S DEATH
Palm Beach Post
6 Aug 2002
[Excerpts] When police found Kimberly Thompson Wright dead in her Michigan home from a bullet through her chest, it looked like suicide. Her husband Douglas, a former Michigan State Police trooper, told detectives that she shot herself. The two had been in the midst of ending their nine-year marriage before Kimberly Wright's death May 1, 1993... Douglas James Wright was arrested at his Boynton Beach home early Monday on a Michigan warrant for homicide and felony possession of a firearm. Detective Sgt. David Dwyre of the Genesee County Sheriff's Office in Michigan said Monday at a police headquarters news conference that Douglas Wright had staged the suicide and "altered the crime scene" in the finished basement of Kimberly Wright's home. "He told me he cleaned up the room because he was afraid of being dragged through the coals," the detective said... Kimberly Wright's brother, Jeffrey Thompson of Rochester, N.H., said that he was too taken aback by the arrest to talk about it. He said he was unsure whether his sister's death was a homicide or suicide...

FORMER MICHIGAN TROOPER LIVING IN PALM BEACH CHARGED WITH WIFE'S 1993 DEATH
The Associated Press
Friday, August 9, 2002
[Excerpts] A former Michigan state police trooper who had been living in Palm Beach County, Fla., was jailed without bond Friday after being charged in the 1993 shooting death of his estranged wife. Douglas J. Wright, 50, was arrested Monday on murder and weapons charges at his home in Boynton Beach, Fla. Two Genesee County sheriff's detectives brought him to Flint late Wednesday. Wright was arraigned Thursday in the shooting death of Kimberly Thompson Wright, 34... Police said Wright, who had separated from his wife, called 911 to report that she had shot herself. Investigators called the circumstances unusual and searched the house with specialized equipment, but no charges were brought. The investigation was reopened in 1999, shortly after Sheriff Robert J. Pickell and Undersheriff James Gage took office. Gage had been Wright's supervisor at the Flint state police post. Detective Sgt. David Dwyer re-interviewed witnesses and spoke with Wright in Florida before bringing the case to prosecutors in April...

MAN GUILTY OF KILLING HIS WIFE
Palm Beach Post
30 May 2003: 3.
The probe into a deadly shooting 10 years ago in a Michigan basement, which took a dramatic turn in Boynton Beach last year, has ended in a conviction. Douglas Wright, 51, a former Boynton Beach resident who served as a Michigan state trooper for 15 years, was convicted Wednesday of killing his 34-year-old wife in May 1993... When a new sheriff took office in Genesee County, Mich., detectives began to reinvestigate. They uncovered mistakes in the original investigation, including the failure to conduct a test to determine whether Wright had fired a gun that night and allowing him to change clothes... About a year ago, detectives flew to Boynton Beach, where Wright had moved with his son. Investigators obtained incriminating statements from him during questioning, according to reports in The Flint Journal. In August, they returned with a Michigan warrant for homicide, arrested Wright and got him extradited to Michigan, where he was tried and convicted. The jury deliberated 14 hours. Wright faces a life sentence.

GENESEE COUNTY UNDERSHERIFF JIM GAGE RETIRES AFTER MORE THAN 40 YEARS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, 12 WITH SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
Flint Journal
By David Harris
July 02, 2011, 3:00 PM
[Excerpts] ...After five years with the Detroit Police Department, [Jim] Gage joined the state police in 1967 where he served in various positions until 1996... In 2001, Gage’s prodding helped reopen a mystery surrounding Douglas Wright, a former state trooper whom Gage had supervised during his time with the state police. Wright’s wife was found dead in 1993 in their Fenton Township apartment and the death was originally ruled as a suicide. The sheriff’s department reopened the case in 2001 and Wright was eventually tried and convicted two years later of second-degree murder. He is currently serving a 25-50 year sentence in prison. “It was so satisfying to me,” said Gage...
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