THE boyfriend of missing woman Allisha Watts has an extensive criminal history, including convictions for abduction and domestic violence, The U.S. Sun has learned.
Watts, 39, has been missing since July 16. She was last seen with her boyfriend, James Wendell Dunmore, as they left his home in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Dunmore and Watts have been dating for around a year and were introduced to one another by her cousin, Gwendolyn Utley, who lives across the street from Dunmore.
Watts drove from her home in Jackson Springs to Charlotte to visit her boyfriend on July 14 - as she does every other weekend - but was reported missing on July 16 after she failed to show up for a planned outing with her sister.
Two days later, on July 18, Watts's black Mercedes SUV was located by police in the parking lot of a DMV office 50 miles east of Charlotte in Polkton.
Inside, officers found an unresponsive Dunmore. There was no sign of Watts but her purse was located inside the car.
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Information about Dunmore's whereabouts and condition remain unclear. Police have declined to specify if he's considered a suspect in Allisha's disappearance, however, he has been designated a person of interest.
Dunmore's home was then searched by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) police on Wednesday night.
CMPD hasn't said why they were searching the property or if they found anything related to the case, however, the address was the last place Watts' cellphone pinged before she was reported missing.
As an investigation continues, The U.S. Sun can reveal that Dunmore has an extensive criminal history, including prior convictions for domestic violence and abduction in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Additional information about those cases was not immediately available, but Dunmore was arrested for both offenses in March 2002 and was later sentenced to five years in prison and 15 years unsupervised probation upon his release.
Dunmore's criminal history also includes numerous other offenses, including arrests for stalking, malicious wounding, and assault and battery.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to authorities in Virginia seeking more information but has not yet heard back.
'PRAYING FOR HER RETURN'
In the meantime, friends and family of Watts say they're growing increasingly anxious and concerned as the days continue to pass without any sign of her.
Valora Connerly, an old high school classmate of Watts', said she's still hoping and praying that her loving, caring friend will soon return home.
But after 11 days, that hope is starting to wain, she reluctantly confessed.
"This is all so disturbing and upsetting because this is just not like Allisha to disappear and not be in touch with her family," said Connerly.
"I’m praying she’s alive and that she just needs to be located.
"I’m just hoping and praying that with so much media attention, and us not letting up, that [someone] will confess and tell us exactly where she is."
Connerly says she has been unable to sleep for the last week and a half and regularly finds herself waking up in the middle of the night, checking for updates on her phone in the hope Allisha has been found.
She is also an active member of the "Find Allisha Dene Watts" Facebook page and has been in frequent contact with the Watts family since the news broke last Monday.
"I don't want to start thinking the worst but her family has taken every possible measure to get answers," continued Connerly, adding that the family has enlisted the help of mediums in a desperate effort to locate Watts.
"More than one [medium] said in the first days of her being missing that they had a vision that she hasn’t crossed over yet and that she’s still alive, she just needs to be found.
"And later on, I’ve also gotten word from a medium that we may be looking for a body," she said.
"My hope is that she's well and just maybe being held against her will and then we can bring her home but I mean, I don't want to think the worst and my faith is very strong, but I mean that's where I am with it.
"It upsets me to say it but I think she's already gone and it's just a matter of time before we get a confession or we recover a body.
"I just really hope I'm wrong."
POLICE FRUSTRATIONS
Other friends and family members of Watts have voiced frustrations with the police departments investigating her disappearance, accusing them of failing to communicate effectively with one another and her relatives.
CMPD didn't file a missing persons report for Watts until July 19, three days after she was first reported missing by her family and one day after her SUV was found with an unresponsive Dunmore inside.
The Anson County Sheriff's Office linked the SUV to Watts the following day.
However, CMPD didn't announce that Watts's car had been found until July 24 - and failed to report that Dunmore had been located inside it until July 25.
Watts' family says they haven't received any information from either agency as to the condition of Dunmore.
Cops also haven't confirmed whether or not he's been questioned in connection with her disappearance, they say.
“We’re here for answers today because we want to know how we can help find our friend, our sister, our daughter,” said Watts’ friend Learen Blue during a news conference on Wednesday.
"We need them to come forth and tell us something so that we can help because they’re being silent and not saying anything.
"It’s been too many days now for them not to give us information, or for them not to be actively doing something that we as her family and friends know that they’re doing.”
She's a very good person [...] she deserves to be back home with her family and I just don't understand how anyone could want to hurt her.
Valora ConnerlyCMPD has not responded to a request for comment from The U.S. Sun.
In a tweeted statement yesterday, the department assured its detectives are "following all leads and using all available resources to locate Ms. Watts."
"Detectives have been in communication with immediate family members of Ms. Watts and their designee to provide updates and request relevant information," the department added.
Connerly said she shares the Watts family's frustrations and feels the department could be doing more to investigate the case.
"I’m in shock and upset with [local] police because it feels like a lot of things were overlooked too, where maybe they could’ve linked different parts of the story they had quicker to at least give us an idea where to start looking for her," she said.
"We’re ready and willing to start organizing our own search parties but police haven’t even told us where to look."
A PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY
Watts works in mental health support and is the CEO of Inspired Visions Support Services, Inc., which provides disability services to persons of all ages in several North Carolina counties.
Connerly and others have described Watts as a pillar of her local community, who has a "heart of gold" and will stop at nothing to help others around her.
Through tears, Connerly said: "If someone has hurt her I hope they understand this has affected a lot of people in a way they can never comprehend.
"She's a very good person [...] she deserves to be back home with her family and I just don't understand how anyone could want to hurt her.
"It's just it's very heartbreaking and I'm lost for words.
"I mean, it's very heartbreaking and it's very disturbing. Because whatever happened, or whatever the story is, or whatever the facts are, she's not deserving of any of this.
"Not at all."
CMPD is asking anyone with information about Watts's disappearance to call the department on 704-336-4978 or Charlotte Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
James Johnson, CEO of the Racial Justice Network, also criticized the CMPD at Wednesday's news conference, accusing the department of not putting enough work into the case and not sharing their information with Watts' family.
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He urged anyone with information to also contact the Racial Justice Network at 800-694-1981.
"Somebody knows something, and we want them to come forward," he said.
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