COBB COUNTY, Ga. – The mother of the slain Georgia teen claimed to have seen weird texts between her and the traveling carnival worker, FOX News reported.

Cynthia Butterworth told her 17-year-old daughter, Joslyn Alsup, to steer clear of James Michael Wright.

Wright is the 23-year-old traveling carnival worker whom offered Alsup free horse rides at the North Georgia State Fair last year in Cobb County.
It was after that that the texting began. He would tell her things like, “I will marry you.”

That lead all the way up to Alsup’s disappearance in March.

The teen would run away often after October but would always call so when Butterworth didn’t hear from her in two weeks, she had to report her missing.

Then the unthinkable occurred.

Butterworth was listening to a press conference by the Washington County Virginia Sheriff’s Office on Monday and that’s when she found out that her daughter was murdered.

Wright will face three counts of capital murder after killing three women in the span of 18 days – all of these women whom he met working for James H. Drew Carnival.

His victims along with Joslyn Alsup were 25 year old, Athina Hopson, and 22-year-old, Elizabeth Marie Vanmeter.

Allegedly, Wright told police that Joslyn died on March 9 after he had sex with her and shot her. He claimed that he was trying to shoot an animal in the woods.

He covered her body with logs not far from his home.

A firearm was recovered which is believed to have been used for all three murders.

Wright is currently being held without bond in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail.

The grieving mother, Butterworth believes that torture would be, “too good for him,” and that the death penalty is needed.