A Jefferson Parish jury on Friday night (Feb. 2) found Raymond “Ray” Lee guilty of killing an entrepreneurial barber shop owner in a West Bank motel room during an armed robbery gone bad.
Lee, 38, of New Orleans, was convicted of the second-degree murder of Alonzo “Zo” Wiley. The 35-year-old owner of The Grooming Gallery in the Gretna area was shot five times at about 4:30 a.m., on Dec. 5, 2021.
Wiley first opened a barber shop on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans but moved it to the West Bank of Jefferson Parish. He hoped to open other Grooming Gallery outlets and was building his brand when he was killed, Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron told jurors. “He wanted to be somebody,” Aaron said in closing argument Friday. “And you can tell just by looking at him. He dressed well. He took pride in his appearance. He was somebody.”
At the time he died, in the months following Hurricane Ida, Wiley was staying at a motel in the 2200 block of the Westbank Expressway. Lee and his girlfriend were staying there, too.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a 911 call from the motel and found Wiley’s body on the floor of his room. Detectives examined Wiley’s cell phone and found that his last text message exchange was with someone named “Ray.”
That exchange indicated that he and Ray had communicated previously. Lee lied to Wiley, putting him at ease so Wiley would freely allow him into his motel room. Once inside, Lee began the armed robbery.
Evidence shows there was a struggle between the men. Wiley tried to get away from Lee but was trapped, an expert in crime scene reconstruction testified.
Lee shot Wiley three times. After Wiley fell to the floor, Lee covered his head with a pillow and shot Wiley twice more in the face.
Detectives found no subscriber information for the person with whom Wiley communicated in those last text messages. But the detectives found extensive text messages between Wiley and Lee’s girlfriend, who they learned drove a black Jeep Cherokee.
Four minutes after the 911 call was placed, Wiley’s newly purchased BMW was driven from the motel behind a black Jeep Cherokee, detectives discovered by reviewing the motel’s surveillance video recordings.
Twenty-three days after Wiley’s death, on Dec. 28, 2021, detectives tracked the Jeep Cherokee to another West Bank motel. Lee was in the vehicle, and his girlfriend was in their room at the motel.
In that room detectives found a bag of 9mm ammunition manufactured by two different companies, identical to two brands of spent bullet casings found at the Wiley murder scene. Detectives also found a necklace and sunglasses like those worn by Wiley.
Also recovered from the motel room was Lee’s iPhone, which had the text message exchange with Wiley.
They also discovered a video in Lee’s iPhone of a 9mm pistol whose serial number was discernable. Through the serial number, detectives linked the firearm to Wiley’s niece, who purchased it and allowed Wiley to carry. The pistol was reported stolen after Wiley was killed. Lee was trying to offload it, according to evidence recovered from his phone.
Further, the detectives were able to plot Lee’s whereabouts on the morning of Wiley’s murder through his cell phone and cell phone towers. Lee was in the immediate area of Wiley’s murder, refuting his alibi that he was at New Orleans’ lakefront at the time of the crime. Detectives used the cellular technology to show that minutes after Wiley was killed, Lee directly drove to his mother’s home in eastern New Orleans.
Lee’s girlfriend’s phone revealed identical travel data. She was not involved in the armed robbery and murder and was not charged. On the morning of Wiley’s murder, she used her mobile device to search for information about the crime on the internet, and she later read about it on a local news website, the Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensic Unit found.
Following his arrest, Lee ultimately admitted to texting and meeting with Wiley, but he denied killing the man. He further denied being at the scene, an assertion contradicted by the cell phone tower evidence. His attorney assailed the circumstantial case and accused the Sheriff’s Office of fabricating evidence.
Lee also was convicted of obstruction of justice, for intentionally removing the 9mm pistol he used to kill Wiley to hinder the investigation. He additionally was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was barred from possessing firearms because of a 2019 conviction of second-degree battery in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.
Jurors that were seated on Tuesday deliberated just over three hours before finding Lee guilty as charged Friday.
Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Lee on March 7.
Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.