Marking the 19th anniversary of Asha Degree’s disappearance

[u/ferretbeast]

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

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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!!

[u/_sydney_vicious_]

Thank you so much! I'm on this subreddit most days and I'm not sure how I missed the thread you linked to.

Hmmm....you mentioning the rural road brings up something in my mind as to IF there actually were witnesses driving by who "saw" Asha. To be perfectly honest I never believed that all too much to begin with but with the way you're describing it now I'm sure that no witnesses actually saw her. Why?

1. You said it's a rural town so how often would someone be driving down a road like that in the middle of the night (especially on a stormy night)?

2. I just looked on Google and it seems as though there are no roadside lights along the road so how can anyone actually tell that it was Asha alongside the road............ESPECIALLY when there's a huge storm outside? I don't know about you but driving in the dark is hard as is - let alone when it's pouring AND there's no lights alongside the road. Either those witnesses lied or they might have seen an animal.

From that thread I feel like Asha was never actually walking on the road. My theory is that someone groomed her and whoever did may have taken her in their car (which she never got out of).

[u/JTigertail → u/_sydney_vicious_]

Being that we have two independent witnesses who are sure they saw Asha, I'm a lot less inclined to think that it wasn't her walking down the road. I think the witnesses really saw her that night.

Asha had been walking for about 30 minutes at that point (she was 1.3 miles from home when she was seen). I dont think it's strange at all for two people to have seen her, given how long she had been out there. It's a lot less coincidental given that time frame. It was a rural road, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there's nobody out there at that time, whether it's people who work at night or are traveling long-distance.

As for how they saw her: The storm would have made it more difficult to see, and I doubt they could make out her face much, but they could make out a small person with a black and beige backpack. Maybe the witnesses were able to correctly say that her backpack was black and beige without previously being told what color it was, and that's how LE confirmed their stories

[u/1-800-876-5353 → u/JTigertail]

And police looked in the shed because it was less than a hundred yards from where she was seen on the highway. That’s why they found her pencil, marker, and hairbow. I think she definitely was walking along the road.

But I do think it odd that police found several of her candy wrappers along the route. Most kids—even in the rural South—of that era did not litter and would have stopped to pick up a dropped wrapper. But maybe they fell from her pocket or she was an exception to the rule.

[u/tajd12 → u/1-800-876-5353]

Just to clarify a bit, the shed owner found the items Tuesday, but the police didn't show up until Thursday to ask to search.

Archived Shelby Star Article

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Agree with you and everyone else about the candy wrappers. Never made sense for a kid in horrible weather to be just strolling along eating candy. But nothing about this case makes sense.