Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Caught in a Trap’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘Murder Under the Friday Night Lights,’ the focus is on the shocking and sudden murder of a high school assistant football coach named Jaz Granderson in St. Louis in 2017, leaving the entire community devastated to its core. As the investigators dug deeper into the case, they learned that he was supposedly the victim of a mysterious woman and her co-conspirator, who lured and killed him. The documentary also consists of insightful interviews with Jaz’s loved ones and the officials directly and indirectly involved in the investigation.
Jaz Granderson Was Found With a Gunshot Wound in South St. Louis
On June 13, 1990, in St. Louis, Missouri, Tonya and Johnny Granderson welcomed a little bundle of joy into the world in the form of Jaz Loron Granderson. Along with his siblings — a brother named Thorne Jeigh and sister Jada Shenane — Jaz was raised in a supposedly loving and supportive household. Thanks to his friendly nature and calm personality, he was popular among his peers at Kirkwood High School. His impressive performance on the football field also made him stand out from the rest. After passing out from high school in 2008, he attended Harper College and played a crucial role in leading them to the Junior College National Championship.
For higher studies, Jaz went to the University of Northern Iowa, after which he attended Lindenwood University. Soon, his influential and successful collegiate football career was noticed by the National Football League. After his tryout for the Kansas City Chiefs, he became an assistant football coach at De Smet Jesuit High School in suburban St. Louis in 2016. Off the field, his generous quality was evident through his charitable organization, The Jaz Granderson Foundation, which has been collecting and distributing toys to hundreds of children during the Holidays. Jaz also started an initiative called Grand Camp to help out young athletes to improve their performances.
Busy making lasting impacts in the lives of his students, Jaz had a lot to look forward to. Unfortunately, fate had other plans for the 27-year-old assistant football coach. In the early hours of October 16, 2017, he was shot in the 300 block of Hill, in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of the southern part of St. Louis, where he was found with a gunshot wound around 1 am. When the witness heard the gunshot, they also heard his Jeep Grand Cherokee leaving at a high speed. The police arrived at the scene of the crime and rushed the wounded man to a local hospital. However, he was later pronounced dead. Thus, a homicide investigation was launched as the detectives inspected the crime scene and gathered the necessary pieces of evidence.
Jaz Granderson’s Killer Was Also Involved in a Couple of Carjackings in St. Louis
At the time, the authorities were already on the lookout for a suspect involved in a couple of carjackings in the St. Louis area. When they learned that the attack on Jaz Granderson was also connected to the other two carjackings — one in the 300 block of Walsh Street in St. Louis on Sept. 16, 2017, and the other in the 5800 block of Kennerly Avenue in St. Louis on October 15, 2017 — it made it relatively easier for the investigators to identify the suspect, Kurt Wallace. During the two carjackings, he reportedly fired shots and stole a Chevrolet Monte Carlo and a Cadillac CTS.
According to reports, all three carjackings Kurt was responsible for were allegedly set up via a dating app and his partner in crime, Jherrica Dixon. In November 2017, he was officially indicted and arrested for his crimes in St. Louis. While he was detained pending trial, he managed to escape on July 15, 2019. After his escape, Kurt managed to pull off yet another carjack with a fellow inmate named James Flannel before leading the police on a pursuit. The high-speed chase ended with him crashing the car and getting arrested.
Kurt Wallace Was Brought to Justice For His Violent Crimes
After nearly seven years after Jaz Granderson’s murder, Kurt Wallace stood trial in September 2023. On September 13, he admitted to shooting three people, including killing the beloved assistant football coach and leading police on a pursuit following his escape from jail. Ultimately, he pleaded guilty to four counts of carjacking, two counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and one count of jail escape.
Moreover, the other co-defendants, Jherrica Dixon and Floyd Barber, also took a guilty plea and admitted their involvement in Jaz’s death and other carjackings. With Kurt’s guilt plea, the years-long investigation of Jaz Granderson’s murder and a series of other violent crimes that occurred in 2017 came to a close. As the trial date of Kurt Wallace approached, Jaz Granderson’s father, Johnny, talked about his son in an interview with KSDK. Remembering him, he said, “I was so upset … time helped me move on and put me in the place that I’m in now.”
He also emphasized Jaz’s desire to stay committed to his community, something that Johnny tried to keep alive. “He always helped the youth in the community. That’s what I want his legacy to be,” he said. Ultimately, on February 14, 2024, Kurt was sentenced to a total of 60 years in prison for the fatal and nonfatal carjackings he was involved in and his jail escape. Although the details about the prison facility where he is incarcerated are unknown, it is certain that Jaz is serving his sentence behind bars.
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