Asha Degree

Newspaper

By: Santiago, David, Juan David.

Summary

#0120

Disappearance

The case of Asha Degree

One of the most disconcerting and sad in history.

Asha Jaquilla Degree (Shelby, North Carolina; August 5, 1990) was a young American who disappeared on February 14, 2000, when she was nine years old.

Her disappearance, which continues to this day, led to an intensive search that led to the discovery of some of her personal effects near where she was last seen.

Disappearance

February 14, 2000 (9 years)

Evidence

The car where asha was seen for last time. (Lincoln Continental Mark IV or a Ford Thunderbird)

"The Asha Degree case is one of the most disconcerting and saddening in recent American history."

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Summary

Disappearance

- *Date and place*: Asha Degree disappeared on February 14, 2000 in Shelby, North Carolina. - *Circumstances*: Asha, 9 years old, left her house around 2:30 a.m. during a storm. She was last seen walking alone on North Carolina Highway 18 by several drivers. - *Initial search*: His parents discovered his absence around 6:30 a.m. and notified the police. An immediate search was launched, but no significant leads were found at that time.

Details

At 6:40 in the morning, the first police officers had arrived at the house. The police department's dogs were unable to pick up Asha's scent due to dispersion by the rain and wet ground. Iquilla went around the neighborhood calling Asha's name, waking up several neighbors with him. ​ Friends, family, and some neighbors canceled their plans for the day to help police search the entire neighborhood, while their church pastor visited and comforted the Degrees at their home. At the end of the day, all that had been found was ...

a mitten, which Iquilla Degree said did not belong to her daughter. to which she discovered that her winter clothing had not been removed from the house.11 Local news coverage led to the two drivers who had seen Asha walking down the road early that morning, including one whose attempt to approach her apparently led Asha to flee into the woods, they reported the sightings to police. The next day, February 15, candy wrappers were found in the shed of a nearby business along the road, near where Asha was seen running into the woods. Along with them were a pencil, a marker, and a Mickey Mouse-shaped hair bow that were identified as belonging to her. This was the only trace of Asha found during the initial search. On February 16, Iquilla realized that her favorite clothes were missing from Asha's room, including a pair of blue jeans with a red stripe. A week later and after an exhaustive search with hundreds of volunteers combing the area where she was last seen, while posting signs and billboards throughout the area and following 300 leads ranging from possible sightings to tips on abandoned houses and wells where Asha might have ended up, the search was called off. In May 2016, the FBI announced new evidence, revealing that Asha may have been seen getting into an early 1970s Lincoln Continental Mark IV, or possibly a Ford Thunderbird from the same era. along Route 18 near where she was last seen that night.