No was ever convicted in the killings.

Ray Lewis' path to redemption had begun.

'Reverend Ray'

A year later, Lewis was back at the Super Bowl, this time as a player. He earned Most Valuable Player honors in a 34-7 rout of the New York Giants.

In the ensuing years, Lewis stuck close to a growing faith, one nurtured during rollicking prayer services at Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore.

"God has done something in my life -- and not just for me to see it," Sports Illustrated quoted Lewis as saying during a service there in 2006. "God has done something in my life for every hater, every enemy."

Strong faith comes naturally to Lewis, said his pastor, the Rev. Jamal Bryant.

"He's a jack-leg preacher without a license, no Bible college, but it's just in him," Bryant said. "He can't help it. He's spoken here a couple of times. I've put him up to do our Bible study and he's like Billy Graham and Bishop (T.D.) Jakes wrapped into one."

So while most of the football world still knew him as Ray Lewis, his fans in Baltimore were learning a different name for him.

Reverend Ray, they would come to call him.

Retirement tour

Lewis announced last year that he would make this season his last, and analysts say both he and his Ravens team have played inspired football in reaching the Super Bowl.

Along the way, he's spoken frequently of his faith, putting it on display for everyone to see.

"You can go build buildings. You can have a nice whatever you want to have," Lewis told reporters this week. "But, impact is totally different, and when you talk about the walk of Jesus, his whole walk was impact."

"My life is based off impact," Lewis said, "grabbing somebody and letting them know that life is to be lived together to figure out the wrongs and rights and teach somebody else those morals and ethics so they don't go back down those same roads."

Off the field, he heads a foundation to provide help to disadvantaged kids through food drives, auctions and other events.

"We got to change the way our children think. We got to change the way these gangs are dictating and running our streets," Lewis said during a sermon at Empowerment Temple last year. "We have the ability to do that! But it's called tough love."

Still controversial

Not everyone is buying Lewis' tale of redemption.

"You got all this attention glorifying him, and then he was involved in what happened down in Atlanta, but yet still people don't seem to care," Wilson --stabbing victim Jacinth Baker's uncle -- told CNN. "They are more interested in football."

It's true that many of the homages in the media to Lewis have made scant or no mention of what happened in Atlanta.

But it still comes up frequently.

People mentioned "Lewis" and "murder" in nearly one of every 10 messages posted about him to social media websites in late January, according to analytics firm Fizziology. About 18% of the 63,319 posts about him were negative. But 40% were positive, the company said.

Some in sports media have been critical, as well. NBC Radio host Amani Toomer, the former New York Giants wide receiver, told USA Today last week that he thinks Lewis is a hypocrite.

"If you want to say you're Mr. Religious and all of that, have a clean record. Don't say all of that stuff if you know there's stuff that might come back," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "Those are the things that, when I look at him, I just think hypocrisy."