ASHA DEGREE - 9 yo (2000) - Cleveland County NC

The home of Harold and Iquilla Degree has just as many pictures of
their daughter Asha as it did when she disappeared. That was 10 years
ago, when Asha was just 9 years old.


Mystery still surrounds her case.“Us
and the FBI and the police, [the] one thing we can agree on even after
10 years is that she willfully walked out,” Iquilla said.On the night she disappeared, witnesses reported seeing Asha around 4 a.m., walking down Highway 18.Initially, detectives questioned her parents.“You
suspect the parents regardless, so I accepted that, you know,” Harold
said. “And like I told them, I ain’t got nothing to hide and whatever
they need us to do, we'll do, no questions asked.”Investigators
have followed hundreds of tips about Asha in the years since her
disappearance, including 262 from the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.Charles Pickett has handled her case there since the start. It’s still open and active today.Pickett said mailers and age-progression photos have generated tips.Artist Steve Loftin has created several such photos of Asha. He recently finished a new one.Loftin
said the process is more art than science, because no one knows exactly
what Asha would look like at age 19. But he is able to use photos of
Asha’s mother, father, and older brother as teenagers as guides.“I think I'm in that ballpark of likeness that she would be recognized,” Loftin said.And
Harold and Iquilla Degree hope the same thing. They said they don't
know exactly how their daughter would look today, but still believe
that one day, they’ll have the opportunity to find out.“All we
have is hope, and we're not gonna let nobody take that from us,”
Iquilla said. “Because I just feel like as a mother, I would know. I
just feel like I would feel it if my child was dead, and I don't. Even
10 years later, I don't.”If
you have any information about Asha’s disappearance, investigators ask
that you call Cleveland County Crimestoppers at 704-481-TIPS or the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

http://www.wbtv.com/global/category.asp?c=151146&clipId=&topVideoCatNo=128873&topVideoCatNoB=168978&topVideoCatNoC=135991&topVideoCatNoD=139409&topVideoCatNoE=139408&clipId=4534282&autostart=true

WACO, N.C.-- Ten years ago Sunday, nine-year-old Asha Degree walked away from her Cleveland County home and never returned.
But a decade hasn’t dampened her family’s belief that she will be found.

“It's been 10 years.. uh huh..” said Iquilla Degree, Asha’s
mother, outside the annual memorial service for her daughter at the
family’s church. She shook her head. “It's been ten years -- whew!"

On Valentine’s Day 2000, Asha’s parents went to wake the little
girl for school and found her bed empty. Witnesses reported seeing a
girl matching her description on Hwy. 18 about a mile from her home
early that morning.

A construction worker found her bookbag in Burke County a year and a half later. No leads, though, led to Asha.

Still, family and friends hold out hope that she’s alive.

They filled Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Waco, north of Shelby, for the service Sunday night.

Many wore t-shirts or buttons with Asha’s picture.

Some pictures showed a smiling nine-year-old, others showed the
age-progression pictures from law enforcement that suggest what she may
look like as an older girl.

They all just want to show her face and say her name.

“The whole purpose is to keep her name out and keep her purpose up,” said Iquilla Degree.

She and her husband, Harold, sat in the second row of pews during
the service, next to Asha’s brother, who was just 10 when his sister
disappeared.

He and his girlfriend cradled their newborn daughter and sometimes wept.

The Sheriff’s Office still gets one or two tips about the case every week.

"We're still following up leads, hoping the next lead that comes
in is the one that leads us to her," said Capt. Bobby Steen, who has
been on the case for the last three years. "Somebody knows -- somebody
out there has that little information and may not know it."

A number of false leads have also come in – some by jail inmates
just trying to buy time off from their sentences. Investigators say
they’ll still check out each one to see if it’s legitimate.

And every year Asha’s parents, brother, friends, and family come
together to pray, raise money for a reward, and raise hopes she’ll be
found alive.

“We still have hope, we don't think she's dead,” whispered her mother.

"Just keep praying for me and my family that she'll return home safe one day," her father added.

Anyone with information about the case should call the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office at 704-484-4822.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/vanished-case-missing-asha-degree-11591900

Federal investigators are working to bring new attention to the case of a missing girl, 12 years after she went missing.



On February 14, 2000, 9-year-old Asha Degree
left her home in Shelby, North Carolina, in the middle of the night and
disappeared.

Asha's family last saw her asleep in her
bedroom around 2:30 am. An hour and a half later, she was seen by
drivers walking along North Carolina Highway 18 in Shelby, North
Carolina.

Her parents reported her missing by 6:30 am.
More than a year later, Asha's book bag was discovered buried along
North Carolina 18 in Burke County.

The Charlotte Division of the Federal Bureau
of Investigations announced on Tuesday that is planning a multi-platform
media campaign, using media publicity, digital billboards, online
promotion, and the use of social media in the search for new tips to
find Asha.

A photo of Asha as a 9-year-old child and an
age-progressed photo of what she would look like at the age of 19 will
be featured on digital billboards across the Charlotte area. The picture
will also be sent out on various FBI social media platforms including
Facebook and Twitter.

The FBI is investigating Asha's disappearance
in partnership with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and the North
Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.

Additionally, the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit will be reviewing Asha's case in the near future.

Anyone with information regarding this case
should call FBI Charlotte at 704-672-6100 or the Cleveland County
Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4787.

http://www.wbtv.com/story/16931539/missing-young-girls-case-gets-new-light-12-years-after-disappearance