ANSON COUNTY, N.C. — A car belonging to a woman reported missing from Charlotte was being driven by her boyfriend when troopers found it, according to her family and the Anson County Sheriff’s Office.
Troopers said they found an unresponsive man on July 18 -- exactly one week ago -- in the parking lot of the Anson County DMV office along Highway 74. He was taken to a local hospital and the car he was driving was left at the DMV, deputies said.
The next day, Allisha Watts was reported missing to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Family members told police she was last seen on July 16 in Charlotte.
Her family said that Watts, 39, of Moore County, was last seen leaving her boyfriend’s home in University City. Detectives said he was the man they found in her car.
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CMPD will not say whether he’s a person of interest or a suspect, so Channel 9 isn’t sharing his name.
Then on July 20, two days after finding the car, the Anson County Sheriff’s Office learned about Watts’ missing person report. They also learned that the car at the DMV office was registered to her.
Deputies searched the car and the surrounding area for Watts but were unable to find her.
The car was towed to CMPD for processing.
Family and friends growing more desperate to learn what happened to Watts searched along a rural road near Wadesboro on Tuesday. Stephanie Johnson, a close friend to Watts, wouldn’t say what led them there, but they are looking for any sign of her.
“Her family misses her,” Johnson said. “Her father and her mother are looking for her desperately. Her sisters, her friends -- we just want Allisha home.”
The family told Channel 9′s Dan Matics they learned about the updates in the case through our reporting.
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“I was amazed because the police is not keeping the family up to speed, or what was going on, or where they were at in their investigation,” Johnson said.
The family said with each day that passes, they worry even more.
“She is not the type of person that would just leave and disappear and not have contact with her family and her friends,” Johnson said. “She’s loved and we want her home.”
The Anson County Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information about Watts to call them, the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, or CMPD.
Matics asked CMPD if they questioned the boyfriend, and they said they aren’t confirming anything more at this point.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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