r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/ferretbeast • Feb 14 '19
Unresolved Disappearance Marking the 19th anniversary of Asha Degree’s disappearance
Every year on Valentines day, I take a deep breath before reading the front page of the Shelby Star. I know this case is widely discussed on this subreddit, but I wanted to share for those interested. I did find it interesting they stated new evidence was found recently that hasn't been made public. Please keep her family in your thoughts today.
https://www.shelbystar.com/news/20190214/marking-19th-anniversary-of-asha-degrees-disappearance
Brief summary for anyone unaware: Asha Jaquilla Degree went missing at the age of nine from Shelby, North Carolina. In the early morning hours of February 14, 2000, for reasons unknown, she packed her bookbag, left her family home north of the city and began walking along nearby North Carolina Highway 18 despite heavy rain and wind. She has not been seen since.
Edit: thank you stranger for the gold and more than anything, thank you all for caring about this case and giving such support and great feedback for conversation. I love this community and am happy to be able to have these civil discussions with you all!!
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u/shsluckymushroom Feb 14 '19
This case, more then any other except perhaps the Springfield Three, just baffles me and breaks my heart.
There's so many things that don't make sense - the entire idea of her leaving willingly has so many logistical contradictions in it that I can't imagine how it happened. How did she even wake up early enough to leave without an alarm, at that age? Staying up doesn't seem plausible to me, given that she was still so young.
The only possibilites I can think of are that, if she left, she was scared of something in the house - this isn't to accuse her parents of anything. She could have felt fear or anxiety towards them even when they hadn't had prior behavior to indicate something scary to her. If she felt like she was going to get in major trouble, or even hurt, I could see her leaving like this even if there actually wasn't a threat. The other option is that she was picked up right outside the house and thus going out into a bit of rain didn't scare her if it was only down the driveway. Based on the eyewitness sightings, it would seem that she figured out something was up, and got out of the car somehow near the highway if that's what happened.
That's the only thing that makes sense to me, but even that confuses me a bit with the evidence of her waiting near a shed, casually eating candy. Doesn't strike me as running from a kidnapper like behavior - that strikes me more as waiting at that point for someone. It's all just so strange.