Frustrations grow as search for Allisha Watts pushes into third week
MOORE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- It's been 23 days since anyone has seen 39-year-old Allisha Watts alive. With each day, frustration grows.
"We want to feel her presence in any way that we can," one of Watts' mentors Dorothy Brower said.
Watts' loved ones hit the road Aug. 8, driving from Southern Pines to the Anson County DMV, where Watts's car was found with her unresponsive boyfriend, James Dunmore, inside.
"Being here is sort of maybe following in a track or a path that she has been and if not, she, then he," Brower said.
SEE ALSO | 'Surprising and scary': Documents shed new light on James Dunmore in Watts' disappearance
Those loved ones continue to lead their own searches, hang up fliers and dig for evidence -- all in an effort to bring Watts home. Their frustration at a lack of answers continues to grow.
"When's the sheriff going to speak up? When is the lieutenant going to speak up? They're not letting us know anything," Watts' cousin Tea Hines said.
"It's scary because my friend Allisha never had any suspicion about this guy. I feel like he really, like, preyed on my friend," Watts' friend Brittany Harris said.
Family members are growing more concerned as more information is revealed about Dunmore.
Court documents obtained by ABC 11 detail accounts of an alleged assault and abduction back in March by a woman listed as Dunmore's spouse.
"His name is Dunmore. He's done a lot more, as we can see from his criminal background. We've been interested; he's been a person of interest," continued Hines.
SEE ALSO | Family of missing Moore County woman speaks about disappearance
On the ground and in the dark Tuesday, the search continues as Watts' loved ones hold onto hope.
"We need to search for the living and not for the dead. And our searches will reveal where she is. We get discouraged but we don't give up," said Brower, who also delivered a message from Watts's mother, who thanked everyone who is working to bring her daughter home.
At the prayer vigil, Tuesday was an Anson County Sheriff's Office Captain. He said his department conducted another search of the wooded area around the DMV Office to make sure they didn't miss anything, but nothing turned up.
