The Mysterious Disappearance of Asha DeGree
I want to set the tone for this story. Where were you in February of 2000? I will tell you I was like 5 or 6 my sisters were a month away from being born I was living in South Orange New Jersey at the time.
Today I’m going to cover the case of Asha DeGree. Asha was a beautiful, happy, sweet, shy, athletic 9-year-old girl who disappeared sometime in the night from her long-time home in Shelby N.C on February 14th, 2000. There are a couple things that grind my gears about this case, including adults seeing a 9-year-old girl walking on the fucking freeway at night and not stopping truly or calling the police immediately... but we will get to that.
Our story starts on February 11th school was out and Asha and her older brother O’Bryant were spending the day with their Aunt Alisha who lives literally down the street from Asha’s own home. To set the stage and give a little background Asha’s family was pretty close, she was a younger sister to her brother O’Bryant, and her parents Iquilla and Harold DeGree were really kind people. Later that afternoon, both brother and sister attend scheduled peewee basketball practice at the Fallston Elementary School the school the siblings actually attend. Both kids played that day, however Asha’s team lost. Asha was a bit disappointed; she fouled that day; the team took the loss in general pretty hard. Tears and all, and Asha mentioned that her leg was hurting. Asha’s mom kind of reassured her that her leg wasn’t really in pain and they got ready to go. This kind of seems a bit off to me, 1 don’t like to ignore the pain of a child just because they are young, and two did this injury slow Asha down at all? By the time O’Bryant is finished his game the family went home, and Asha seemed fine, happy and in a better mood.
The next day Feb 12 the family attended church services at Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Waco. Afterwards, the family had lunch at Asha’s aunts house, then headed home. Asha was in good spirits having received her Valentine’s Day candy early from her grandmother, Joanne. The family was pretty close knit everyone lived within the vicinity, people got along. Asha seemed to spend a great deal with her grandmother and aunt especially. At about 9 at night a power outage occurs due to a car accident, I don’t really understand anything electric so unless the car like ran into a cable pole thing I don’t really know how the two are connected. The point is it leaves the Degree family in the dark. Which makes this case extra spooky.
That Monday was Valentine’s Day, which like feel the love, I hope I have a good valentine’s day this year, I was single for the first time in like a decade last year and it was the strangest thing, I can’t even remember in particular what I did. Asha was laying on the sofa wearing jeans and t-shirt before changing into her nightgown. Her mom actually got both she and O’Bryant to bed, and remember they’re still in the dark, so a 9-year-old staying up at lateish hours is probably something more so out of the ordinary and not really a norm for Asha. At around 12:30 a.m., power was restored to the area and Mr. Degree, Asha’s dad reports seeing both children being asleep in their shared bedroom, though they occupied separate beds. Harold goes to bed at about 2:30 am but he checks on both Asha and O’Bryant, who according to him were asleep in their beds. So cute. Shortly after which means sometimes after 2:30 and before 5:45am, O’Bryant hears restless noises form Asha’s room. Now remember he’s like a little kid no more than 10 so from his own account he thinks Asha is just restless and moving around in her bed, which like I get, anyone who sleeps next to me will tell you I can be a bit restless and like not to think much of it. But by 5:45 am Iquilla DeGree awakes. There are differing accounts in the media about Iquilla’s wake time. Many reports state she awoke at 6:00 and still others say 6:15. Jet Magazine’s interview states 5:45 and it was a first-person account by Iquilla herself. Plus, there’s no way she woke up at 6:15 and like hopped up and had the bath ready, it’s so early. She’s a mom let’s be realistic 5:45 sounds like a more accurate time. The kids normally wake for school at 6:30 but mom gets up early and draws bathwater so the kids can bathe. Iquilla goes a few feet from bathroom to the kids’ bedroom to wake both O’Bryant and Asha but only sees her son under his covers and Asha missing. Iquilla begins to panic a bit, at first, she’s like maybe Asha is hiding, or went down to the couch to sleep, but after Iquilla searches the entire house and cars, reality starts to set in: Asha is not there.
Both parents are in panic mode after having called Asha’s paternal grandmother and Asha’s aunt who live on the same street as the family. The family is close so maybe there is a chance Asha went to one of their houses. However, Asha is nowhere to be found. Iquilla's mother prompts Iquilla to hang up and call 911. Police are called and at 6:40 the first officer arrives. Within one hour, tracking dogs are dispatched.
I don’t have the call to the police on file. But I have heard it, it’s just really sad Harold is trying to be a calm and has spelling out Asha’s full name, just explaining that they’ve searched they do not know where she is. He mentions seeing her in bed the night before.
By 6:40 a.m., the first police officers had arrived on the scene. Police dogs called to the scene could not pick up Asha's scent. Iquilla went through the neighborhood calling Asha's name, which she said had awakened everyone by 7 a.m. Friends, family and neighbors canceled their plans for the day to assist police in searching the vicinity while the pastor of their church, along with other area clergymen, came to the Degrees' home to support them. By day's end all that had been found was a mitten, which Iquilla Degree said did not belong to her daughter as she had found that no winter clothing had been taken from the house.
So, I am going to fast forward, and then go backwards with this timeline. The media hits and Local news coverage resulted in the two drivers who had seen Asha walking along the road early that morning, including the one whose attempt to approach her apparently prompted Asha to flee into the woods, reporting the sightings to police.
Let’s talk about this for a moment. Asha is seen walking on a highway in the middle of the night! What the absolute hell. There should have been calls about this sighting long before news media brought it up. The sightings prove a couple things, one Asha had not been abducted right away, second her parents did not have anything to do with her disappearance, there wasn’t a hint of neglect or an accident that caused the family to cover up her disappearance, and 3 it seems like Asha left on her own accord. In fact, police did not see any signs of a break in. So, Asha willingly left the house in the middle of the night. Which at the end of the day she’s still 9, so it is a child running away? Not a teenager, a 9-year-old.
At around 3:45, the first of two motorists spotted a person fitting Asha’s size, dress and backpack walking alone on Highway 18 (1.3 miles south of the Degree’s house), the same route as her school bus. The second driver spotted someone who is believed to be Asha near the intersection of Highway 180, at around 4:15 a.m. It is believed Asha was dressed in head-to-toe white: jeans, shirt and sneakers carrying a black backpack and lime green purse with Tweety Bird on its front.
one was so disturbed at the sight of a small child walking alone that he turned around three times, only to see who is believed to be Asha, running to an even darker, creepier wooded area. Now this could have been her being scared by the circulating car, but to any nine-year-old, such dark places at night and in a raging storm, because I forgot to mention, its freaking raining, however minimal, are chock full of the ‘lions, tigers and bears’ fear factor. Which is strange because it was reported that Asha was afraid of dogs, the dark, and thunderstorms. So, what would make her panic and run into a wooded area where there are most likely live animals around at night in the rain.?
On February 15, the owner of Turner Upholstery, Debbie Turner discovers three items near her tractor’s wheel, just inside of a shed’s door. Turner saw these items the evening before (on Tuesday, the day after Asha’s disappearance) but didn’t relate them to Asha’s disappearance at first.
candy wrappers were found in and the shed happened to be near where Asha had been seen running into the woods. Along with them were a pencil, marker and Mickey Mouse-shaped hair bow that were identified as belonging to her. Could she have found the shed and wanted a place to rest and keep safe before continuing her journey? Some theories are that these items were purposely left.
On February 16, Iquilla realized that Asha's bedroom was missing her favorite clothing, including a pair of blue jeans with a red stripe.
It was the only trace of her found during the initial search. Among the items reported as missing from Asha’s home were her black and beige bookbag. It’s believed that Asha packed the items I’ve listed below.
• Favorite Jeans with Red Side Stripe
• Long-Sleeved White Nylon Shirt
• Red Vest with Black Trim
• Black Overalls with Tweety Bird
• Black & White Long-Sleeved Shirt
• Basketball Uniform
Other Items Included:
• Lime Green Tweety Bird Purse
• Black Shoes
• Asha’s Wallet
• 3 Family Photos
• House Key
These items are all signs of a person who plans to at some point come back. It was a preparation for if anything a 2 – 3-day trip. What was interesting was the family photos and house key. Was Asha planning to return? Were the photos a way for her to remember her family by?
Let’s return to the shed for a second. If Asha was there, staying for shelter, there would be more of a sign of this. all this movement would have created a disturbance to the dirt where Asha had been. The heavy rain would have produced–and preserved–Asha’s scent, sealing it in mud where she stood, sat or squatted, and we would see shoe prints from her sneakers quite readily; at the very least, the search and rescue tracking dogs would have picked her scent out. Also, that shed, and its contents are dusty, and there is no disturbance of the dust–anywhere. It feels like Asha was not in that shed and the items were planted. However, there isn’t really sign of anyone. Like no footprints, so the question is how did the items get into the shed?
Another consideration supporting the idea Asha did not seek shelter in the shed is its proximity to the road. The shed is located down a long driveway that would certainly be so dark an area Asha would have really struggled to get to, rest, and then travel further down the highway to where she was last seen or vice versa. All without being seen by anyone.
The shed itself was filled to capacity; a large tractor being its biggest contributor and it’s likely Asha would have created a disturbance in one small space. Too, there’s quite a bit of gravel-like rocks that when stepped on would leave a ‘record’ of anyone smoothing out a spot to rest or stand. The sneakers, recovered later, would have evidence of the shed’s gravel material, but we’re left wondering what was found in the sneaker’s tread.
It’s important to note that at no time did any dog from either K-9 team pick out Asha’s scent.
No scent from Asha’s home. No scent down her street. No scent down the 1.3 miles of highway. No scent at the storage shed.
No scent periods.
If Asha had found shelter in that shed, trained search dogs would have alerted, particularly near the tractor, where most certainly, Asha would have touched or brushed up against it.
A week later, after 9,000 man hours had been invested in a search of the 2–3-mile-radius (3.2–4.8 km) of where she had last been seen, flyers posted all over the area and 300 leads ranging from possible sightings to tips about abandoned houses and wells where Asha might have ended up, the search was called off. "We have never really had that first good, substantial lead," said county sheriff Dan Crawford at a news conference. He urged the media to keep the story alive.
Eighteen months after Asha Degree’s disappearance, a 44-year-old Burke County contractor, Terry Fleming found her bookbag on August 3, 2001 while clearing a lot for the construction of a house and its roadway some 26+ miles away. The bookbag was literally dug up by the grader’s machine. In it, he found a paper with Asha’s name along with a phone number from inside the bag. Unaware of Asha Degree’s case, Fleming had an odd felling about the bookbag, and copied the information that he shared with his wife the next morning. His wife covered her mouth with a gasp saying, “Oh my God, Terry!” The bookbag was found inside of a double trash bag. Now I really don’t like giving my opinion like it is fact, which I notice a lot of people have done with this case. One theory is that this bag is also planted on purpose, and the point is for it to have been found. The trash bag and its contents were sent for forensics to the FBI where the results of testing will certainly be kept from public eyes.
After this discovery the case has kind of gone cold. There were a few leads that seemed to have left to dead ends:
In 2004, acting on a tip reportedly received from an inmate at the county jail, the sheriff's office began digging at an intersection in Lawndale. The bones that were found turned out to be from an animal.
And for years there was nothing else, until May 2016, the FBI announced it was looking for an early 1970s Lincoln Mark IV or Thunderbird, based on a tip that someone who looked like Asha may have gotten into a car like that on N.C. 18, around the time she disappeared. Now by this time it has been over 15 years since Asha’s disappearance. And this car has had no leads. It is a really distinct looking car, a classic really. However, the information behind the tip isn’t available with it being so many years later it isn’t clear if the car could have been taken apart and sold for parts or is literally hiding in someone’s garage or storage unit. It also isn’t clear where Asha was picked up in this car, or a description of who was driving the car.
In 2018 two random clues were put out again, with no real basis to their relevance. However, the FBI ensured they are critical to the case. The first clue is a library book from Fallston Elementary School in Cleveland County, Cleveland County Det. Jordan Bowen said in a video posted by the sheriff’s office. Library records at the Fallston Elementary School Media Center don’t go back to the year of Asha’s disappearance, Bowen said. The book, “Melilot’s Pool” by Dr. Seuss, shows a fish chasing a worm on a hook on its cover. Bowen described the second clue as a concert T-shirt from New Kids on the Block, which formed in the 1980s and is currently on tour. The sheriff’s office had a broad request for people who recognize the shirt, or the book or anyone who was had it in their possession during the time of Asha’s disappearance. The department is asking for calls from anyone who had the shirt or book knew someone who did at any time. A $45,000 reward is available for information on the case, according to the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office video. Anyone with information on the library book, the shirt or other details can call 704-484-4822.
Since Asha’s disappearance the media has kind of died down. Iquilla DeGree stated in a 2013 Jet Magazine interview, that people were not really into the case in general because Asha is a young black girl. Which I understand Jon Bonet Ramsey was murdered and we still are getting documentaries about it to this day, Asha’s case kind of came and went. I do understand this; the news cycle is faster than ever with social media and tv news comes and goes faster and it is harder to keep people’s attention on one thing. Asha’s case is still unsolved, and her family deserves to know what happened to her that faithful night.
I don’t have any formal training but from what I research, I do not believe Asha was sleep walking. She packed a bag, got dressed, and left on her own accord. I do not think a subconscious realm is the reason behind this. I believe Asha was going somewhere, that someone had been communicating with her and coaching her to leave that day. I also believe that whoever took her, murdered her that night if not the next day. I think this was a sick abduction by someone who took the time to really learn about her and convince her to leave. I also believe this person has no remorse. I read somewhere that maybe time has added guilt, I believe that this was a premediated, calculated act and this person could have likely struck again or done this before.
There are pictures of what Asha could look like now as an adult, however these are only hypotheticals, we have no idea whether Asha could have gained weight or lost it, had different hairstyles. However, this is something to go by.
Since 2015 the FBI and Cleveland County Sherriff’s have started with a $20,000 reward which has grown to 45K like I mentioned before. September 2017, the FBI announced that its Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team was in Cleveland County to assist in the investigation and "provide on-the-ground investigative, technical, behavioral analysis, and analytical support to find out more about what happened to Asha". The team worked alongside FBI Charlotte employees, Cleveland County Sheriff's Office investigators, and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agents for ten days. They have conducted and re conducted interviews and are hoping to get closer to finding answers.
The DeGree family took steps to keep Asha's memory, and the case, alive in the public's mind. In 2008, they established a scholarship in her name. They host an annual walk to raise awareness and money to fund their search. The walk starts at their home and ends at a missing person's billboard for Asha along Highway 18, near where she was last seen.
I am hoping that eventually someone will step forward with answers. And in the meantime, let this be a lesson. If you see something, say something. Especially if it is a child or person who looks helpless and out of place.
Read more here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article219720915.html#storylink=cpy
https://www.jetmag.com/news/iquilla-degree-where-is-my-daughter/
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/crime/article219720915.html
https://findingashadegree.wordpress.com/february-14-2018-update/
