Kidnapping Convict, Sexual Assault Suspect Wanted By New Hampshire Corrections Department

CONCORD, NH — This week’s fugitive of the week from the New Hampshire Department of Corrections is wanted for a probation violation as well as a warrant out of Hillsborough County Superior Court.

Cory Michael Watts is 54, about 5 feet, 11 inches tall, and weighs around 215 pounds. He has brown eyes and black hair. An alert from the corrections department noted he also had a neck tattoo but no known aliases.

Watts is a convicted kidnapper who was sentenced to four years of probation. But after being released from the Hillsborough County Jail, he never reported to the Manchester parole and probation district office — and has been a fugitive for more than a year.

Investigators believe Watts could be in the Newmarket area or Pembroke. He has previously lived in Dover and Manchester.

“Watts should be considered armed and dangerous based on information received that he may possibly have a handgun due to ammunition being found in a backpack belonging to him,” a corrections alert on Wednesday stated. “It should also be noted that he is a suspect in a pending sexual assault police investigation.”

If anyone knows where Watts is or sees someone who looks like him, do not try to apprehend him. Contact local police, the NH DOC at 603-271-1804, or the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department at 603-627-0168.

According to superior court records, Watts criminal history dates back more than two decades.

Watts was accused of two burglaries, charges that were nolle prossed later, and simple assault in Dover in May 2002.

Seven acts prohibited; controlled drug charges followed in August and October 2010 in Dover. After pleading guilty to four of the charges, he was found guilty of violating probation in July 2013 — after being charged again with acts prohibited in Dover after an incident in March 2013 that he pleaded guilty to.

The next year, it was a cocaine possession charge in Dover and a guilty plea in November 2014.

Also in November 2014, he was charged with second-degree assault-strangulation and witness tampering, both felonies, in Dover. Watts pleaded guilty to the charges in August 2015.

In Manchester, in September 2020, he was arrested on six counts of kidnapping and single counts of criminal threatening with a firearm, handguns; armed career criminal, and felon in possession of a dangerous weapon charges, all felonies. A year and a half later, he pleaded guilty to a single kidnapping count.

In March 2022, he was accused of witness tampering in Manchester, but the charge was nolle prossed.

In July 2022, he was accused of violating probation. That case is still open, according to records.

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