Folks, grab your sweet tea and settle in, because this story out of South Carolina is one of those jaw-dropping, heartbreaking tales that punches you right in the gut—and then keeps going. It’s about a 16-year-old boy, Trey Wright.
A country kid, truck-loving, hard-working, always-moving young man who had no clue the people he thought were his friends would end up dragging him into something deadly. Now, two months later, Trey’s family and his tight-knit crew are still reeling, and the details? They’re nothing short of infuriating.
Let’s rewind to June 24—Trey was shot and left to bleed out on a lonely road in rural Johnsonville. And not by some random stranger. No. This all unraveled because of what started as teen drama and ended in tragedy. At the center of it all is Gianna Kistenmacher, 17 years old, Trey’s girlfriend of just a few weeks. His mom, Ashley Lindsey, and best friend, Ethan Kirby, both say she wasn’t just along for the ride—she stirred the pot that led to Trey’s murder.
And here’s where it gets messy. Gianna, they say, played queen bee. Picked a fight. Accused Trey of cheating, even though he was reportedly just chilling with his cousins at the time. And then, somehow, 19-year-old Devan Raper—another name to remember here—gets pulled into the drama. Raper, who had already been arrested once before for allegedly driving someone to a shooting, ends up driving over an hour inland from the beach with two carloads of teens to confront Trey. Police say he’s the one who pulled the trigger.
Let that sink in: two full cars of teenagers, making a one-hour-plus drive to “fight” one boy. That’s not heat-of-the-moment. That’s planned. That’s calculated. And it ended with a kid lying in the street, dying.
Now nine teens have been charged, including Gianna and another teen girl, Corinne Belviso, who told a reporter “Trey was her friend”—yeah, she’s been charged too. Under South Carolina’s “hand of one is hand of all” law, if you’re part of the plan, you’re on the hook. So even if you didn’t pull the trigger, you’re charged with murder. And if the allegations are true—that Gianna set up this whole showdown knowing Raper had a gun—well, you start to understand why Trey’s mom and his best friend are pointing their fingers.
And what’s their motive? That’s still unclear. Was it jealousy? Ego? Was Gianna trying to prove something to someone else? Nobody knows. All we do know is Trey expected a fistfight—not a gun—and lost his life instead.
His mom’s trying to hold it together, especially for Trey’s younger brother, Blaze, who’s just 13 and struggling hard. Lindsey already lost her brother in 2022 to murder. Now she’s burying her son. It’s hard to even wrap your head around that.
And through all this, what stands out is who Trey was. A hard-working kid who processed deer at Vox with his best friend. A joker. A loyal brother. A kid who lit up a room, who loved his squatted truck and the freedom of open country roads.
His death? It wasn’t just senseless—it was cold, calculated, and tragic. The kind of story that leaves a small town shaking, asking “why?” and still waiting for justice to answer.
