Tattooed Carnie Admits to Killing Three Women in Tennessee and Georgia

On Thursday May 9th, a 23-year-old traveling carnival worker was arrested on three counts of capital murder after admitting to shoot to death three young women over the course of an 18 day period. James Michael Wright had been employed by the James H. Drew Carnival and on February 28th, gunned down a 22-year-old Tennessee woman after an argument.

Just a few short weeks later, Wright shot and killed a 17-year-old woman from Marietta, Georgia on March 9th, after the two engaged in sexual intercourse in the woods. The 17-year-old was the daughter of one of Wright’s co-workers and had been reported missing the day before her passing.

Then, on March 17th, Wright shot and killed 25-year-old Athina Hopson, after allegedly falling while armed with his gun. During an interview with police, Wright recounted transporting Hopson’s body in the bed of his truck, where it later fell out and rolled down an embankment in Virginia.

Upon searching Wright’s home on May 10th, they recovered the bodies of two of his victims on his property and seized a 22.-caliber riffle that was believed to have been used in all three killings. Wright is currently being held in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail without bond on three counts of capital murder, three counts of using a firearm in committing a murder, and three counts of concealment of a dead body. And although the investigation is still in its early stages, Washington County Commonwealth Attorney Joshua Cumbow stated that “the death penalty is definitely on the table.”