How Paris Hilton helped solve a crime

When Will Wright talked to us (he’d adopted a new look by the way), he denied he ever said anything to Paris Hilton  about the crime and that she lied to the cops when she told them he was the source of the name Darnell Riley.

Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: Well, why would she lie about such a thing?

Will Wright: Why does she say a lot of things that she said?  I mean, I can’t, I don’t speak for her.

Unlike Paris Hilton, says Will Wright, he never forgets.

Wright: I remember what I’ve said.  I’m never in a state of mind where I’m not remembering on what I’m saying.

Wright appears to be quite open about his past. He was a high school student when they busted him importing marijuana.  But by the time he got to Los Angeles, he was telling people he’d been a key figure in a multi-multi million dollar international  drug ring. We’ve confirmed he spent six years in prison. So how does someone go from inmate to the in-crowd?

Wright: I came out of prison and my first girlfriend—that I started dating—had a few friends that were celebrities.  And I pretty much you know, met everybody through her that I know today.

Morrison: Fell in with that crowd.

Wright: I just kind of fell into the middle of it, you know? 

Kristen Williams: Yeah.  He is talking about me.

Williams: ...I brought him into the inner sanctums of Hollywood.

Trouble is, for Kristen, her friendship with Wright, she says, has cost her.  A lot.

Williams: A lot of my friends—long term friends, kind of shunned me and kind of—what, threw me off the island, so to speak? 

Heather Bernardcyck:  Voted off the island of Hollywood.

Williams: A couple years there.

Why?  Well, for one thing, say the girls, it was Will Wright who brought to the party scene a  robber and extortionist.

Williams: You know, Hollywood’s a place where you’re judged by who you hang out with. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong. 

Not only that but by now the Hollywood crowd was hearing Joe Francis’ claim that Will Wright was the voice on the other end of the walkie talkie that January 22.

Joe Francis: This was always constant communication with another guy. Who I believe is this guy Will Wright.

Joe also believes Will Wright planned the crime. He says that’s what Paris Hilton told him. But when the cops asked Paris that questions on tape, her memory became hazy again. 

Det. Koman (interview tape): Did he ever tell you when he was bragged about how he planned the robbery against Francis.

Paris Hilton: I don’t think he planned it.  I don’t think he said that.

Det. Koman: Okay.  Do you recall saying that to the detectives and to Joe on the phone?

Hilton: I don’t remember our conversation—no.

Det. Koman: Okay—

Hoon Chun, L.A. county prosecutors: You don’t remember whose conversation?  The conversation with the detective or the—

Hilton: Both.  I don’t remember exactly what I said.  I know I said something.  But I was in the middle of shooting Simple Life.

Det. Koman: In this statement it indicates sometime in November you attended a party in Las Vegas which was attended by numerous people.  Is that correct?

Hilton: Yes.

Det. Koman: One of these individuals attending was Will Wright.  Is that correct?

Hilton: Yes.

Det. Koman: According to Hilton—that would be you—Wright began to brag to her about how he planned a robbery against Francis at his home because he disliked him.  Is that correct?  Is that statement that you gave—

Hilton: It was, he hates Joe.  And I’m not sure he exactly planned it.  But he knew about it.

And there was something else he knew, says Paris. Remember the extortionist proof? The shots of Joe’s drivers’ license?

Det. Koman: He said something about somebody being tied up.

Hilton: And that they had put his driver’s license next to his face so you could tell who it was.  And-

Det. Koman: And this is stuff that Will’s telling you and you’re remember this stuff now.

Hilton: Some thing about his ID was there so  you could tell it was him.

So, was Will Wright involved in the robbery or not?

Morrison: Joe Francis is convinced that you’re the guy on the other end of that walkie-talkie.  Are you?

Wright: No.

Morrison: Did you help plan this attack on Joe Francis?

Wright: I didn’t hear anything about this whole thing until months after it had happened. 

Morrison: Well, so here’s that question I love to ask everybody.  Where were you on the night this happened?

Wright: I wasn’t there, I’ll put it that way.   

Morrison: Have you told the police where you were?

Wright:  Yeah.  They knew where I was at.

So we called detective Steve Koman, the lead investigator.  When we asked Koman if the LAPD had confirmed will Wright’s alibi. He told us “no” and  it was  quote: “First i’m hearing about this alibi.”

Is Will Wright under suspicion?  In certain Hollywood nightclubs, maybe.

But the LAPD is saying nothing. And Ron Richards, Riley’s attorney, who it turns out is also Will’s attorney, insists that Will was out of town and not involved.  Richards also says he knows who was at the other end of that walkie-talkie, because that person also came to him for legal advice. Richards says that to protect attorney-client privilege, he cannot reveal that name, but assures us it was not Will Wright and Will Wright has not been charged with any crime.

The end of our little tour of movieland nightlife?  Not quite. We’re about to change scenes. Turns out not far from here, not far from Hollywood Blvd was another break-in and another embarassing video and another attempt at extortion. Sound familiar? 

Paris tells the cops about a far more personal matter. Because this time, the victims, are the Hilton sisters themselves. Did someone try to strong arm Paris Hilton, too?