Lanes' Marriage Was Troubled, Friends Say

July 9 -- The family and friends of Indianapolis Colts running back Fred Lane, who was shot to death by his wife during a domestic dispute, said Lane and his wife were having money and other problems before the shooting.

Fred Lane’s father says his son returned from Tennessee to North Carolina the day he was shot and killed so he could raise some cash, not to reconcile with Deidra Lane.

Family, friends and former teammates of the former CarolinaPanthers running back also said Lane told them he was broke andthat Deidra Lane was concealing the location of their money.

“He was going to sell [a] motorcycle, so he would have somemoney,” Fred Lane Sr. said Saturday. “She wouldn’t tell him where [the couple’s money] was.”

Neither Deidra Lane, who has been in seclusion since the incident, nor her attorneys could be reached for comment.

Police in Charlotte, N.C. said Deidra Lane, 25, shot her husband in their home Thursday. The 24-year-old running back, the Carolina Panthers’ all-time leading rusher, was pronounced dead at their residence at 3:15 p.m.

Teammates: Wife Was Reckless

On Saturday, Fred Lane Sr. said his daughter-in-law had fired a shot through a wall at the Charlotte home two weeks before the fatal shooting. The elder Lane stressed, however, that Mrs. Lane didn’t shoot in the direction of her husband.

Former teammates of Fred Lane on the Carolina Panthers say theyhave scheduled a meeting with police investigators to relay whatthey claim was reckless behavior by Deidra Lane, The [Nashville]Tennessean reported today.

Running back William Floyd said he, Chris Terry and MuhsinMuhammad, set up the meeting.

Floyd and two of Lane’s other friends said Lane had told themthat Deidra Lane had drained the couple’s bank account.

Bryant Pelpes, a friend of Lane’s in Charlotte, said he had toloan Lane a total of $155 on two separate occasions to get homeafter Lane told him he was broke. According to Pelpes, Lane saidDeidra Lane had told him she’d been sending money to a financialplanner, but when Lane called the financial planner recently he hadno knowledge of the money’s whereabouts.