The man charged with killing a Moore County woman is set to serve multiple years in prison as part of a plea deal reached Wednesday.
James Dunmore took what's called an Alford plea deal on one count of voluntary manslaughter and one count of failure to report death by means other than natural causes in the 2023 killing of Allisha Watts.
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As part of the Alford plea, Dunmore is not admitting guilt, but acknowledges that there is a solid case against him.
The state agreed to lessen Dunmore's charges from the initial murder charge.
On Wednesday, Dunmore was sentenced to a minimum of nearly 10 years. He may only spend seven years in prison because of credit for time served.
Dunmore faced the possibility of life in prison without parole for the initial murder charge.
Assistant District Attorney Arthur Donadio said the outcome was, "extremely tough."
WRAL News asked Donadio if he had anything he wanted to say to Watts' family.
"I've said everything I needed to, to the family on several occasions, and we had all the discussions that we needed to have," Donadio said.
Watts, 39, lived in Moore County, but friends said she traveled to Charlotte on July 14, 2023, to visit her boyfriend, Dunmore.
Allisha Watts timeline: Body found more than 1 month after she was reported missing
Watts was reported missing a few days later. Her body was found more than a month later, about 20 minutes away from her home in Foxfire. Her remains were found in the woods behind a cemetery along a back road leading to her house.
Arrest warrants from Montgomery County indicate Watts was killed on July 16, 2023, which is the last day she was seen alive.
'This has been injustice': Watts' family, friends react to plea agreement
Brittany Harris, Watts' sister, said her family was left without closure after the terms of the plea deal were announced.
"We lost someone that was very close to us, and we still do not know how or why she was taken from us the way she was," Harris said.
Harris said she thinks of her sister daily, and that Watts told her she was excited to meet Dunmore years earlier.
"Alicia talked highly about him. She bragged about him. She was excited that she found love with this gentleman," Harris said.
While Dunmore issued an apology during his court appearance on Wednesday, Harris said she would never accept it.
"You are apologizing, but what are you apologizing for? You, as a man, should be man enough to say what you did," Harris said. "You took her away from us, and we don’t know why. And you still cannot face us and tell us why."
Tawanna Hines, Watts' cousin, spoke with WRAL News on Wednesday after the court hearing.
"The sentence was diabolical," Hines said of Dunmore's sentence. "It was wrong, in every sense of the word wrong. It was not long enough."
Hines added, "I think the ride home will be the hardest, knowing justice was not served in any way, shape or form. I don't like it at all."
Dot Brewer, a friend of the Watts family, also spoke with WRAL News.
"None of this has made sense," Brewer said. "this has been injustice for Allisha Watts."
Case nearly tossed years earlier
Dunmore's last hearing was in September 2024 when a judge denied a request from Dunmore's attorney to dismiss the case. The judge found the state violated Dunmore's constitutional rights by wrongly obtaining confidential medical records, but not enough to dismiss the case.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office was ordered to destroy every document they got from the jail that includes medical records and phone transcripts.
In January, Dunmore's attorneys were given copies of personnel records for Montgomery County Sheriff's Office detectives Christopher McManus and Robert Penny.
WRAL reporter Willie Daniely contributed to this story.