Family of Allisha Watts turns to national database for help finding her
A month after Allisha Watts’ disappearance, she is now in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database.
A private citizen – not the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department – entered Watts’ name into the database.
The family hopes the tool will help locate Watts.
“The hours and days keep passing by without any indication of your whereabouts,” wrote Tammy Utley, Watts’ sister.
Watts went missing on July 16 from Charlotte.
“I am trying so hard to stay positive and to remain hopeful, but it’s taking a toll, because we can’t find you,” Utley wrote.
On Thursday, WRAL News spoke with Utley on the phone.
“We are lost,” Utley said. “We are lost, worrying constantly.”
Watts’ cousin, Gwen Utley, was the last person who saw Watts and her boyfriend James Dunmore.
“Her family and her friends, we deserve some closure,” Gwen Utley said.
Watts, from Moore County, had planned a weekend in Charlotte with Dunmore. After that weekend, Watts was missing and Dunmore turned up in her car, in an Anson County DMV parking lot -- unresponsive after a suicide attempt.
“She would never walk off and leave her life,” Gwen Utley said.
WRAL News uncovered that Dunmore has a violent past -- with past convictions for kidnapping -- just three months ago.
Dunmore had a domestic violence protection order taken out on him in Durham by a woman who said she was in a relationship with him. The woman claims she was kidnapped, and Dunmore threatened to kill her.
“We were not aware of none of that,” Gwen Utley said. “If we were aware of his background and the rap-sheet he has, there is no way it would have sat comfortable with us or Allisha.”
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have not commented on Dunmore's violent history. Earlier this month, police said they hadn't questioned him.
According to a search warrant, Dunmore is a person of interest in the case.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said Dunmore has not been taken into custody by their officers.
Gwen Utley said she has seen Dunmore recently as he lives nearby.
“He is not lost,” she said.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have not said where Dunmore is, and due to medical issues, they have not been able to speak with him.
