Search for Allisha Watts: National organization asks police to do more

CHARLOTTE — Tuesday marked 23 days since Allisha Watts went missing, and we haven’t heard from anyone working the case.

Now, national organizations who are helping her family are asking police to do more.

Derrica Wilson, a former police officer, founded the organization Black and Missing to bring attention and resources to cases just like Allisha Watts.

“This is such a heartbreaking case, the fact that the family felt initially that law enforcement wasn’t taking the case seriously,” Wilson said.

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Black and Missing -- not law enforcement -- first alerted Channel 9 to Watts’ disappearance two weeks ago.

Watts was last seen at the University City home of her boyfriend, James Dunmore, on Sunday, July 16. She didn’t show up for work on Monday and Dunmore was found in her car in Anson County two days later.

23 days into her disappearance, Wilson said there seems to be a lack of urgency to find Watts.

“It really doesn’t seem there’s any urgency in finding -- I think that, whether it’s a search effort or a flyer distribution, bring in the cadets, bring in the police cadets,” she said. “That’s police training 101 -- have them distributing flyers in the community, have them knocking on doors.”

Channel 9 first reported last week the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons said it was ready to assist in any way, but had not been asked by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

We know federal authorities have not been asked to assist, and we also found Watts has not been added to a national database for missing people called NAMUS. CMPD hasn’t explained why, despite repeated requests from Channel 9′s Genevieve Curtis.

Wilson said at a time when resources are tight, plenty of organizations are ready to help.

“It is disheartening that there are resources that are available and law enforcement hasn’t tapped into it,” she said. “To me, it seems as though as law enforcement becomes very territorial in these cases.”

“She could be absolutely anywhere. Just because she’s missing out of Charlotte doesn’t mean that she’s in Charlotte,” Wilson added.

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Black and Missing created a flyer for Watts and they also have a tip line.

No one from CMPD has publicly addressed the case. Wilson said she’d like to see them make an effort to keep Watts’ case in the public eye and engage the community.

“If we stop sharing, it gives the perception that she is no longer missing -- and that’s far from the truth,” Wilson said. “She is in danger. She is a woman who deserves the resources to be found from law enforcement.”

We do know CMPD searched the home where she was last seen looking for evidence of murder. We also learned an officer found a bullet shell casing outside the home one day after Watts was reported missing.

CMPD will not say whether Dunmore is a person of interest in her disappearance.

The Black & Missing Foundation tip line is 1-877-97-BAMFI (1-877-972-2634).

(WATCH PREVIOUS: Channel 9 digs into timeline leading up to Allisha Watts’ disappearance)