Asha Degree (9) missing from Shelby, SC since 2/14/00

[raisedbywolves]

Her Charley Project page:http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/degree_asha.html

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/new...171512457.html

FBI renews long-running missing girl investigation: ?Tell us what you know.?

[likeavirgin]

This is a case that I will always remember. Something about the markers or whatever in the shed stuck with me.

I wonder if they have any reason to believe she is alive? It would be crazy if she was! Though, I would imagine if she was alive, she was being held against her will, which sucks. I just feel like she knew she was loved by her family and would have reached out if she could.

The buried back pack always made me feel like she was dead.. but a podcast I was listening to said that it was almost like whoever put it there wanted it to be found? And they bagged it to keep it from breaking down? So maybe there is something to that.

[raisedbywolves]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/ne...292563214.html

Authorities believe Asha Degree was murdered, allege DNA may point to local people

Court records made public in Cleveland County on Monday morning detail why the sheriff’s office, FBI, and State Bureau of Investigation were searching a property in Shelby last week. Investigators believe 9-year-old Asha Degree, who went missing on Feb. 14, 2000, from her home in Shelby, was murdered and her body concealed, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Over a year later, on Aug. 2, 2001, a construction crew in Burke County found evidence — including Asha’s bookbag and clothing — double bagged in black trash bags, approximately 21 miles north of where she was last seen. The bags contained some of Asha’s possessions and others that were not hers, the affidavit said. “Various items of evidence were sent for analysis,” the affidavit said. “Two of those items returned evidentiary results. Genealogical data narrowed the samples down to two (2) individuals.” The affidavit identified suspects. The affidavit said investigators tested a hair sample from Asha’s undershirt and had examined results of a DNA comparison. Last Friday, the sheriff said no human remains were found during the property searches. Police seized evidence, including a green 1960s-model car from 621 Cherryville Road.

[Nic B]

Wow, sounds like they are close to finding someone!

[Bewitchingstorm]

OMG - I want this one to be solved. Her poor parents have been through so much.

[KimTisha]

Her Charley Project page isn't there anymore. Hoping that's a sign she has been found?

[AtlantaAndy]

https://charleyproject.org/case/asha-jaquilla-degree

the page is still there, hasnt been updated since 2021 as of now

[Bewitchingstorm]

It has been 25 years since 9-year-old Asha Degree went missing near Charlotte, but her family is not giving up hope she will be found.

Loved ones and supporters gathered on Saturday afternoon to walk the same path the little girl went missing.

Degree disappeared on Valentine's Day 2000 and was last seen walking along Highway 18, away from her home in Fallston.

Investigators recently said they believe she was killed and her body moved by a family from Shelby, but the investigation continues.

Her family members said they still hold on to hope that Asha Degree will come home.

"I believe she is still alive and until somebody can prove me wrong, I'm still going to believe that, because I have hope," Asha's mother, said.

https://abc11.com/post/asha-green-nc...2000/15885590/

[Bewitchingstorm]

Things are finally heating up in the investigation. Be sure to read the entire story, as there are incriminating text messages that were found between the family members.

Law enforcement believe a Cleveland County man and two of his daughters may have interfered with the investigation into the February 2000 disappearance of Asha Degree.

In September 2024, the sheriff’s office and FBI carried out several search warrants due to a believed connection between Degree’s disappearance and a Cleveland County family.

The initial search warrants named members of the Dedmon family, including: Roy Dedmon, his wife Connie Dedmon, and their three daughters AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, Lizzie Dedmon Foster, and Sarah Dedmon Caple.

Lizzie Foster, then known as Lizzie Dedmon, was 16 years old when Degree went missing in 2000. Sarah Dedmon Caple, known then as Sarah Dedmon, was 15 years old in 2000.

The week after law enforcement searched the Dedmon’s properties in September 2024, a man went to the sheriff’s office for an interview with investigators. He said that he occasionally went to bars and house parties with the three Dedmon girls in the mid-2000s.

The man told officers that one time, he was at a house party with Foster and Dedmon Caple. The man said he saw Foster was visibly upset and intoxicated.

He said that at one point, Foster said, “I killed Asha Degree.”

The man reported that Dedmon Caple then became stern and told Foster to “shut the [f***] up.”

The man was later given a polygraph test based on the information provided. Although polygraph results are not admissible in the state of North Carolina, the man was said to have passed.

https://www.wbtv.com/2025/02/18/new-...on-fault-more/

[raisedbywolves]

This kind of took a turn I wasn't expecting.

[Angiebla]

Why did it take him so long to come foreward with what she said?

[Nic B]

Wow, so a 16 year old girl killed her? I am guessing the parents helped cover it up?

Was this random or did they know each other? Very curious to see what other info is released.

[Bewitchingstorm]

It definitely took a turn to something I wasn't expecting. I wonder if she hit Asha late at night and was scared because she had been drinking/high. She might have gone home, told her parents, and the parents helped her cover it up. It just makes no sense.

[Angiebla]

It definitely took a turn to something I wasn't expecting. I wonder if she hit Asha late at night and was scared because she had been drinking/high. She might have gone home, told her parents, and the parents helped her cover it up. It just makes no sense.

That actually makes a lot of sense, wasnt Asha last seen walking?

Girl your brain goes where my dumb brain doesnt that never even crossed my mind.

Welp that family is dumber than me. Police purposely bring shit up to get suspects to talk to one another about the crime. duh.

[Bewitchingstorm]

That actually makes a lot of sense, wasnt Asha last seen walking?

Girl your brain goes where my dumb brain doesnt that never even crossed my mind.

Yes, Asha was sighted walking down a highway early in the morning in the rain. The witness turned around because he was worried about a little girl being out so early in the morning, but Asha ran into the woods. It is possible she came back out and started down the highway after the witness left, then was hit due to the conditions and/or driver impairment.

I am on caffeine right now, so my mind is racing thinking about various things that could have happened after it was revealed the teenagers might be involved.

[raisedbywolves]

It definitely took a turn to something I wasn't expecting. I wonder if she hit Asha late at night and was scared because she had been drinking/high. She might have gone home, told her parents, and the parents helped her cover it up. It just makes no sense.

My only question about that was didn't witnesses see her getting into the car? Of course, she could have hit her where she could still walk and then stopped and offered help and then killed her because she didn't want her to tell.

I also wondered if it might be some dumb teenager dare thing and they picked her up and then killed her just to do it.

[marshmallow]

I'm leaning towards driving impaired and hit her then went home, told family and family helped cover it up. It fits.

[Bewitchingstorm]

My only question about that was didn't witnesses see her getting into the car? Of course, she could have hit her where she could still walk and then stopped and offered help and then killed her because she didn't want her to tell.

I also wondered if it might be some dumb teenager dare thing and they picked her up and then killed her just to do it.

I forgot about the "long green car" that witnesses saw. I hope we have answers to what transpired. I had hoped it wasn't that she was lured into the car and then murdered in some thrill kill type of scenario, as I think police think she was placed into the car.

Is it confirmed that witnesses saw her physically entering the car on her own?

[raisedbywolves]

I forgot about the "long green car" that witnesses saw. I hope we have answers to what transpired. I had hoped it wasn't that she was lured into the car and then murdered in some thrill kill type of scenario, as I think police think she was placed into the car.

Is it confirmed that witnesses saw her physically entering the car on her own?

I thought she was seen getting into it on her own, but I found this.

https://www.wmbfnews.com/2024/09/17/...-warrants-say/

In a series of warrants, investigators suggested that Asha, who was nine years old when she went missing, is dead. The warrants said authorities believe she “is a victim of homicide, with her body concealed.” She was last seen Feb. 14, 2000, walking along Highway 18 in Shelby.

In addition to insinuating a crime may have been committed, the new documents said the missing girl was seen “being pulled into” a green vehicle, perhaps suggesting she may not have willingly gotten into the car.

Also, I found this:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ppearance.html

Court documents noting that hairs found in her bookbag belonged to to AnnaLee Dedmon, who was 13 at the time, and a man named Russell Underhill, who has since died.

[Bewitchingstorm]

It it is such a tangled mess of a story. Clearly, AnnaLee was involved in some way...either by outright harming her or accidentally hitting her that early morning.

About Underhill:

According to the documents included with the search warrants, Underhill had been under the care of Roy and Connie Dedmon off and on from the time Asha went missing and for several years after and often stayed in two of the nursing care facilities they operated.

The documents state that Underhill was living at their nursing care facility at the time Asha went missing, called Cleveland Health Care, and that in 1999, documentation revealed that Connie Dedmon oversaw his medication.

So the fact that his hair and AnnaLee's hair were found in the book bag makes sense, as her parents were caring for him and she could have been around him. Or, if the parents helped do something with Asha after whatever happened, one of them could have had Underhill's hair on them, which was transferred to the book bag.

https://www.shelbystar.com/story/new...l/75262690007/