Teen Football Player Accused of Murdering Preston Lord Played Game After Being Named Person of Interest: Report
Seven suspects have been charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in connection with the deadly attack on the 16-year-old
Queen Creek Police Department
Preston LordA teenage football player now charged in connection with the October 2023 fatal beating death of 16-year-old Preston Lord was reportedly still allowed to play in a football game at his school after being named a person of interest in the case.
Talan Renner, 17, is one of seven suspects who were arrested and charged in March with first-degree murder and kidnapping after a months-long homicide investigation in Queen Creek, Ariz., local police announced. He has pleaded not guilty.
Lord died in the hospital two days after being attacked by a group on Oct. 28, 2023, according to a statement from Queen Creek Police.
A spokesperson for American Leadership Academy Gilbert North in Gilbert, Ariz., told 12 News in early April that Renner played a football game on Nov. 17, 2023 and won.
At the time, Renner was considered a person of interest by police and the school’s head coach received an email — which was obtained by 12 News — from someone saying in part, “it's not fair for any teenager to have to be on a field with cold blooded murderers.”
“As new evidence came to light, measures were taken to remove the student from our school and we terminated the football coach,” the spokesperson told the outlet.
The school’s dean told local police on Nov. 2, 2023, that Renner — who was absent that day — had been accused of murder on social media, 12 News reports.
According to a nearly 1,200-page police report obtained by AZFamily, Queen Creek Police began getting tips about Renner’s alleged involvement on Nov. 4, 2023, and on Nov. 6, 2023, they searched his home in Gilbert. By December 2023, police had identified Renner as one of multiple people suspected of killing Lord, but he wasn’t charged until March, per the outlet.
In the police report, also obtained by 12 News, authorities detailed text messages between the suspects including Renner, who allegedly wrote in a message dated Oct. 28: “Got in a fight...killed a kid..guess I don't know my own strength.”
According to Fox 10 Phoenix, someone also told police on Nov. 4 that Renner allegedly told a friend that he threw the initial punch that started the beating of Lord.
According to the police report cited by AZFamily, Renner was allegedly taken to his family's cabin three hours away from where he lived after the deadly fight occurred in October 2023. The report further states that the ex-girlfriend of Renner's father alleged to authorities that the teen was taken to the cabin to allow time for his hands to heal.
Police said in the report that the attack on Lord allegedly took place after the theft of a necklace from one of Lord’s friends, Fox 10 reports. Police believe none of the suspects knew Lord before his death, per 12 News.
In an exclusive statement shared with PEOPLE on April 2, Lord’s parents, Nick Lord and Autumn Curiel, said through their lawyer, Bryn K. DeFusco, that their son “was doing the right thing but was in the wrong place at the wrong time, in a neighborhood where he had always felt safe.”
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The additional six suspects charged in connection with Lord's death are Talyn Vigil, 17, William Owen Hines, 18, Dominic Turner, 20, Taylor Sherman, 19, Treston Billey, 18, and Jacob Meisner, 17, police said. Turner, Meisner and Billey are additionally charged with aggravated robbery. Each suspect has pleaded not guilty.
"While we can’t begin to fathom why something like this would happen to Preston, we know and see each day how much he is loved and the impact he has had on so many," Lord's aunt wrote in a GoFundMe campaign that has garnered more than $150,000 in donations as of April 4.
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