First off, I want to apologize to any of you who actually read my posts and look forward to new ones weekly. I recently started a new job and have been incredibly busy. That being said, I started this blog because I have a passion for telling stories and I intend to continue to post on a weekly basis. My posts will most likely be published on Saturday nights now instead of Fridays, but just know that I will keep posting. Thank you to everyone who reads!
Now, let's dive into this story.
Some of you may have already heard of this case, but I decided to write about it anyway because I think it's very interesting and though I have a very (very) small number of readers, I want to put her story out there in case anyone may know something.
Asha Degree was born on August 5th in 1990. She lived with her parents Harold and Iquilla Degree and her younger brother O'Bryant. Their home was, by all accounts, a happy and loving place. They had settled into a suburb of Shelby, North Carolina and although their city was large, their area in particular was relatively rural. Both of Asha's parents had full time jobs and were out most of the day, but the Degree's trusted their children and raised them well enough to know they could take care of themselves before they returned from work. Asha and her brother would let themselves into the home and it was expected that by the time their parents returned from work, they would have their homework done.
The family was described as being fairly conservative keeping a routine of only seeing family and acquaintances from their local church. Asha and her brother were sheltered from interacting with anyone outside of their usual groups. They focused most of their attention and time on school, family, and church. It is important to note that the Degree's did not have a computer in their home as Iquilla believed that the internet was a dangerous place. She was afraid of her children falling victim to all of the craziness the world has to offer. In an interview with Jet in 2013, she was quoted saying "Every time you turned on the TV, there was some pedophile who had lured someone's child away via the internet." Though strict, Iquilla said that Asha did not seem to have much of an issue with all of the house rules as she was usually shy and quiet. She could only recall very few times that her daughter had disagreed with her on something. She was also terrified of dogs, so she did her very best to steer clear from any place she could run into them. "She was scared to death of dogs, I never thought she would go out of the house" her mother said years later.
On the year she disappeared, Asha was 9 years old and was attending 4th grade in Fallston Elementary. The school district was heading into a 3 day weekend on that 2nd week in February in 2000. Although their school was off on February 11, her parents still had to attend work so Asha and her brother spent the day with their aunt who lived in the same neighborhood. Their aunt took both Asha and her brother to their youth basketball practice at their school. Asha was really into basketball and she enjoyed playing as the point guard of her team. The following day, Asha and her team lost the very first game of the season. She had fouled out. Her parents recall the she was visibly upset by this and that she had cried about the loss along with her team but that she eventually got over it enough to watch her brother's game and cheer him on.
On Sunday, February 13th, 2000 the children went to church from a relatives home and then returned to their house. Harold, Asha's father, went to work his second shift job at the nearby PPG Industries plant in the afternoon. Around 8pm that night, both children went to bed in the room they shared upstairs. Roughly an hour later, the power went out in the neighborhood due to a bad car accident nearby. By the time that Asha's father had returned home at about 12:30am, the power in the neighborhood had been restored.
At the time that Harold checked on the children, he saw them both in bed. Then, at around 2:30 am, he decided to check on them once more before heading to bed and everything seemed normal; both children were still in bed. Not too long after, O'Bryant recalls hearing Asha's bed creaking and squeaking but he didn't think anything of it and figured she was just shifting positions as she slept. In reality, Asha had actually gotten up and packed a backpack with several changes of clothes and some other personal items and she left the Degree residence.
At around 3:45am - 4:15am, a truck driver and a motorist saw Asha walking South along highway 18 wearing only a long sleeved white t-shirt and white pajama pants. At the time this occurred, they didn't report the sighting to police, it was only after they saw Asha's story on the news that they came forward with their information. The man driving the car said that he even turned his car around to search for her and ask if she needed help as he thought it odd that such a small child would be out by herself at that time of night. The man circled 3 times to find her but saw Asha running into the woods by the roadside and disappear.
When the witness was later interviewed by police, he recounted the night that he saw Asha there was a "storm raging" and that even though it was hard to see, he was almost certain that is was Asha who he saw. The county Sheriff stated that based on the witness descriptions and what she was seen wearing, they were almost certain that both witnesses had in fact seen Asha that night in the exact same spot and heading towards the same direction.
Iquilla woke up about 5:45am to get children ready for school. Feb 14th was an important day in the household, not only because it was Valentine's Day but also because it happened to be Asha's parents' anniversary. Asha's mother walked into the bathroom to draw the children a bath and then headed into their bedrooms shortly thereafter. Upon entering their room, she noticed that O'Bryant was in his bed but Asha was not. Iquilla searched the entire home and even walked outside to search the family vehicle but she was nowhere to be found. When Iquilla informed her husband that Asha had gone missing, he tried to reassure her by suggesting that maybe Asha had gone across the street to visit her grandmother. Iquilla's sister-in-law answered the phone and informed them that Asha was not there, nor had she been there at any point the night before. Immediately, Iquilla went into panic mode and hurriedly put on some shoes and ran outside as she heard a vehicle running next door. She then called her mother to tell her what had happened and her mother advised her that she needed to call the police.
By 6:40am, only about 20 minutes after realizing Asha was missing, police arrived on scene. Police dogs searched the scene but strangely could not pick up Asha's scent. Iquilla, in a desperate state had resorted to running around the neighborhood yelling for her daughter. By 7:00am, all of the neighborhood had awakened and cancelled their daily plans to aid the Degree family in their search. The pastor from their local church and some of the local clergymen had also joined the family and offered their support. Sadly, by the end of the day, all they had found was a mitten which didn't even belong to Asha. None of her winter clothing was missing from her room.
The following day, police found some candy wrappers in a shed near the highway where Asha was last seen running into the woods. Along with that, they also found a pencil, a marker and a Mickey Mouse bow that her mother identified as belonging to her daughter.
It was the only items found during the initial search.
On February 16th, Iquilla was searching her daughter's room for any possible clues when she realized that some of Asha's favorite clothing items were missing, including a pair of jeans with a red stripe.
A week after her disappearance, over 9,000 man hours had been invested in a search expanding the 2-3 mile radius of where she was last seen. hundreds of flyers were posted and over 300 leads came in including some of possible sightings and tips about nearby abandoned homes and wells she may have accidentally fallen into. Unfortunately, due to a lack of substantial leads, the search was called off, but the county sheriff urged the public and the media to keep her story alive.
On February 22, a news conference was held where it was announced that Asha's search would now continue and would go "long range" since the FBI and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation were now involved. Asha was also added to the database for missing children in hopes that her picture would reach more people. The FBI stated that although Asha's case was atypical for a runaway, all evidence seemed to point to the fact that her disappearance had been premeditated. Another investigator mentioned that usually, runaways are at least 12 years old and have a reason to leave home. Asha had no known motive so investigators believed that she was either trafficked or that she had been abducted. To gather more information her case went national. The Degrees appeared on The Montel Willaims Show and America's Most Wanted and even on the Oprah Winfree Show where they had a dedicated segment on her case. Although her case went national, Iquilla believed that her daughter's case never gained the proper amount of attention because of the color of her skin. She mentioned in an interview that she believed that if Asha had been white, there would have been a lot more done for her case.
On August 3, 2001 Asha's backpack was found on a construction site off highway 18 just 26 miles from her hometown of Shelby. The backpack contained a few of her personal items and the worker who found it was able to identify it due to the fact that both Asha's name and her phone number were written on the inside. The FBI took the items for forensic testing but the results of those tests have never been revealed. To this day, that is the last known legitimate evidence regarding her case.
Through the years, there have been several leads but none of which have brought substantial evidence. Asha's parents have not lost hope and still to this day wait for her return. They continue to keep her name and legacy alive by doing several things for their community including a scholarship under her name benefiting a local deserving student.
This case is still under investigation and the FBI is offering a reward of up to $25,000 to anyone who can offer information that can lead to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for her disappearance.
Recently, someone using a throwaway account on Reddit came forward on an unsolved mysteries subreddit claiming that her husband knew who killed Asha. The mods quickly deleted the post but it is still available on Google.
If you or anyone you know has information regarding this case please contact your local authorities or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children:
800-THE-LOST (800-843-5678)
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