A West Virginia woman who has been missing for more than three days, after last being seen in Pilot Mountain, has been found safe in a Virginia hotel, according to her daughter.
Sarah Minney Wright, of Roane County, West Virginia, was reported missing by her daughter, Lexi Wright, of Havelock, on Sunday. At the time, she said her mother was traveling from West Virginia to Havelock, which is in the eastern portion of North Carolina, near Morehead City, and had stayed overnight at a hotel in Pilot Mountain.
Lexi Wright, along with other family members and friends, had posted pleas for help on Facebook, saying her mother has been missing since Saturday. At the time, authorities in Spencer, West Virginia, her hometown, had entered the elder Wright in the national missing person’s database, although North Carolina authorities would not investigate the case as a missing person because it did not yet qualify for such a designation.
According to Lexi Wright’s Facebook posting, her mother left her home in Roane County around 9 a.m. on Friday, planning to drive to Lexi Wright’s house in North Carolina for a visit.
“She stopped at a hotel called the Econo Lodge Inn and Suites on Friday night in Pilot Mountain,” she related on her Facebook post.
Lexi Wright said she was in contact with her mom via phone and text until the next morning, when her mother told her daughter she was leaving and would be at her house later in the day. At the time, the younger Wright said her mother sounded “frazzled,” saying things about her bank account and her phone being hacked, then said “I’ll be there when I’m there,” before disconnecting the call.
According to Lexi Wright, her mom never arrived in Havelock, and all attempts to reach her by phone, text, or social media had failed.
In her Facebook post, Lexi Wright said she filed a missing person report on her mother Sunday, and police soon afterward told her that her mother was not traveling alone — that she left the hotel with a man named Jesse Wolfe, which the younger Wright said caused her more concern.
“I thought my mom was traveling alone until the police told me otherwise. I know for a fact they checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning and that’s the last bit of information the police have given me.” She said North Carolina authorities would not list her mother as officially missing “because she willingly is coming and going as she pleases,” and it appears she is willingly with the man “…and doesn’t appear to be in danger.”
Lexi Write said Wolfe is a former boyfriend of her mother’s, and the father of her two younger half-brothers. She said Wolfe is on probation in West Virginia, so she was surprised he had left the state, and she couldn’t image why he was traveling with her mother.
Sgt. J.P. Drake with the Spencer Police Department confirmed on Tuesday, while the older Wright was still missing, that his department was looking into Sarah Wright’s disappearance.
“She has been entered into the national database at this time,” Drake said then. He also confirmed that Sarah Wright was traveling with Wolfe, who is from Spencer. “The only information (on Wolfe) I have is that he was in a relationship with the mother at one time, or is in one currently.”
The sergeant said at that time there was no reason to suspect foul play, but that Lexi Wright “suggested her mother did suffer from some sort of mental illness…we’re trying to be proactive in the investigation, we didn’t want to wait any longer than was necessary. We are still gathering as much information as we can.”
Later that evening, Lexi Wright said her mother, Sarah Wright, lives with her father, and has been known to be gone for long periods of time. “My grandfather says that sometimes she will disappear, go to a friend’s house and he won’t see her or hear from her for seven or eight days,” she said. “But, she was always at a friend’s house. She’s never done this with me...never disappeared with me.”
Tuesday evening Lexi Wright began to feel some relief. While her mother had not yet been found, she said authorities in North Carolina told her that her mom’s car had been spotted in Virginia, although they were not sure if her mother or someone else was driving. Later, she posted on Facebook that her mother had been found, safe, at a hotel in Dublin, Virginia.
“She called me from a police phone because the police did find her and went to the hotel she was at and let me know she is fine,” she posted on Facebook. Lexi Wright said her mother told her that her cell phone was malfunctioning, which is why she had not contacted her daughter. In that Facebook posting, she said her mother was expected to complete her trip to her daughter’s house on Wednesday.
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