NC NC - Asha Degree, 9, Shelby, 14 Feb 2000

[Nadal]

I don't necessarily think he did something but think he is trying to add things into his statement.... to maybe sound like a better parent.

Why? What makes you think that?

I don't believe her mom was in any way involved!!!

Why? They seem to be pretty dang united 19 years later, thinking of them as seperate is not great when they are anything but publically. I think they may be the most admirable parents of a likely murder victim considering they've not had any national exposure yet they've been relentless in quietly keeping her name out there.

 

[Proud Country Gal]

Why? What makes you think that?



Why? They seem to be pretty dang united 19 years later, thinking of them as seperate is not great when they are anything but publically. I think they may be the most admirable parents of a likely murder victim considering they've not had any national exposure yet they've been relentless in quietly keeping her name out there.

Just a feeling! I always think of people as separate persons. Yes they are still together 20 years later. And that makes me happy for Obee!

One inconsistency that bothers me is Harold stated in the 911 call that "the next-door neighbor" said "she went down the road".... but NEVER in all the law enforcement stuff is that neighbor mentioned. Just 2 male drivers on Hwy 18 reports of seeing her that reported Monday Afternoon. Also the PD stated "There were hundreds of cars from dozens of states that passed through here," Crawford said. "What happened after those two drivers saw her, we just have no idea. We've got no other witnesses, nobody else who has seen her." Again where is the neighbor?. I'm not saying Harold did something but someone did.
Also where did Asha get the money she was showing at school. A neighbor, someone at church, did she take it from her parents or where? I used to steal change from my dad's container for ice cream at school, I found out when I was older it was his silver coins holder.
When my friend Sherry was missing, we searched for days with NO sign of her, even though we walked by her several times. Someone walking by the football field found her beaten and left for dead. I still remember being in church when someone walked in and gave us the news! Thank God she survived and is now a nurse in our hometown. She wasn't near where she went missing but near our high school about 10-15 miles away. The case was never "solved". IF it was one of our classmates or one of the college boys it NEVER came out. They tried to kill her and wonder if they ever did anything to anyone else?
Just like Asha's case SOMEONE knows something.
Maybe it will be solved like Brenda Sue's case as a death bed confession. (Which was almost never relayed to her family or PD because the person that was told just thought it was the meds making the guilty party think crazy things.) Yes, I know them personally!

 

[SAMS]

OK I just thought about this.... Asha went to school 4.8 miles north of her house, she was seen walking south toward Shelby. So are the eye witness wrong and it was someone else or why was Asha walking south!
The backpack was found 26 miles north of her house... I kept hearing about her bus route and such and never thought about school is north and she was going south. WTH and who had ties to the land where the backpack was found??
There was a search about 4 miles east of the school, it was a tip that came from the jailhouse. An ex inlaw family member that was in jail mentioned something to us that hit home when I heard about this search. I just thought he was just being, well him, but I'm now thinking he did hear something.
The items found in the shed, did they belong to Asha or someone else? When and how did they get there?
Who buried the bag with her name and phone number in it?
Where is Asha???
Somebody, PLEASE help us find Asha!!!!

@SAMS this case gets to me! I guess because it was so close to my home town and I lived and work in the area in 1988.

IMO if she was walking south, this chimes in with the theory that she was going into town to meet with someone. I dont think she wouldve been headed toward school. Weren't the items in the shed verified by her parents to be hers? Like 98% or something? And what exactly does that even mean really? Which ones were hers and which weren't? (Not asking, just realizing how simple this could be made by stating exactly what items were Ashas.)
Whoever harmed or took Asha buried the bag. IMO they did not want it found, they went to great lengths to hide it miles away and in the middle of nowhere. My theory changes almost daily with this case. I lean toward her being groomed and going to meet said groomer. The $, the packing essential items, the heading into Shelby, the picture of the unidentified girl....then I also believe she was simply running away. She was distraught over the game, that she felt responsible for losing by fouling out at the last minute. Iquilla mentioned how much it bothered her throughout the weekend. She cant sleep bc she napped the night before and was probably caught up on her sleep. The game is still on her mind and shes tossing and turning. Then she decides shes gonna run away, packs a bag, and leaves. She has no idea that someone is lurking...crime of opportunity. But then come the questions.
If she walked out to "run away", like you said, why wouldnt she take a coat/jacket? It was a cold, rainy night in February. Where were their jackets kept? Were they in a place that she felt she couldnt get to without waking up her parents? How come noone heard her leave the house, yet OBryant overheard her tossing and possibly going to the bathroom? Were the bedrooms in the back of the townhome? They didn't own a computer, no cell phone for Asha. How did someone have the opportunity to groom her? When? She spent alot of time with relatives it seems, especially that weekend and also church. Plenty of opportunity there but who?
You have lived in this area, you know how dark and scary that road is at night. We have heard how Asha was afraid of dogs. Why would she go out and take that chance? What was promised to her or where was she headed to that it was worth the risk? I normally dont put much faith into witnesses, but this case is different. These witnesses seem to have really seen her, down to the clothing, bookbag and piggy tails.
And what is with the green car that LE are looking for info regarding? How did that come into play and did someone tell her to meet them at the shed? MOO

 

[SAMS]

One inconsistency that bothers me is Harold stated in the 911 call that "the next-door neighbor" said "she went down the road".... but NEVER in all the law enforcement stuff is that neighbor mentioned. Just 2 male drivers on Hwy 18 reports of seeing her that reported Monday Afternoon. Also the PD stated "There were hundreds of cars from dozens of states that passed through here," Crawford said. "What happened after those two drivers saw her, we just have no idea. We've got no other witnesses, nobody else who has seen her." Again where is the neighbor?. I'm not saying Harold did something but someone did.

Snipped for focus.
I have never heard of the 911 call. WTH? Who is this next door neighbor and why wasnt this ever mentioned? MOO

 

[SAMS]

@SAMS - sorry my quote option isn’t working. It occurred to me a few weeks back that Asha could have double bagged her own backpack. It was raining the night she left.

Could she have buried her own backpack for safe keeping intending to go back for it later?

I just thought about something. Why would Asha wrap her own backpack to keep it dry when she didn't even wear a jacket to keep herself dry? The witnesses claim to have seen her without a jacket and its been said that her parents verified her jacket/coat to have been left behind. I think that if she had taken garbage bags from the house, that Iquilla would have known the next day? Maybe not. But really, when you think about it, why would a perp go to the trouble of wrapping a book bag in garbage bags? Why? To preserve it for future revisits? So many questions. MOO
ETA: Also, witnesses claimed to have seen the backpack. Not a backpack wrapped in garbage bags, they probably wouldn't have been able to identify it if it were?

 

[SAMS]

Not sure how this would've affected the Shelby area that day, but thought I would post the severe weather the state got that Valentine's day.

Valentine's Day Severe Weather Outbreak: Feburary 14, 2000

 

[BethAnn777]

I just thought about something. Why would Asha wrap her own backpack to keep it dry when she didn't even wear a jacket to keep herself dry? The witnesses claim to have seen her without a jacket and its been said that her parents verified her jacket/coat to have been left behind. I think that if she had taken garbage bags from the house, that Iquilla would have known the next day? Maybe not. But really, when you think about it, why would a perp go to the trouble of wrapping a book bag in garbage bags? Why? To preserve it for future revisits? So many questions. MOO
ETA: Also, witnesses claimed to have seen the backpack. Not a backpack wrapped in garbage bags, they probably wouldn't have been able to identify it if it were?

If the witness saw her with a backpack then I think that answers the question of if Asha bagged her own backpack, no. Thanks for this info.

Without the witness statement I would say that I can see me protecting my stuff from the rain but not caring if I get wet.

I never really thought about her walking in the rain with no protection from the rain. Heartbreaking! What was she thinking? I cannot imagine.

 

[T rex]

Okay, last post until others post. LOL. Through research, I found the home at 3404 Oakcrest drive. It is a single level home divided into two duplexes. No downstairs for Iquilla to go down to check if Asha was in the kitchen. Bad info. MOO

نتيجة بحث Google عن الصور حول https://ap.rdcpix.com/1992449788/a637fa4e4f729081b8158a69244900cbl-m0xd-w640_h480_q80.jpg

Here it is again via google earth. I guess you must have the app to view it but most of us probably do. You'll start off right above Asha' s house and if you broaden the view you can follow the route she took, hwy 18 south. It's not far to Turners Upholstery (5023 Fallston Rd.) a white top building and I assume the building behind it with the old tin roof might be the tractor shed. I don't know how much this area has changed over the last twenty years but it looks like there's a lot of homes and quite a few businesses. The road four lanes close to the area Asha was last seen. There is also an amusement park in this direction less than two miles from her house.

Google Earth

 

[SAMS]

Here it is again via google earth. I guess you must have the app to view it but most of us probably do. You'll start off right above Asha' s house and if you broaden the view you can follow the route she took, hwy 18 south. It's not far to Turners Upholstery (5023 Fallston Rd.) a white top building and I assume the building behind it with the old tin roof might be the tractor shed. I don't know how much this area has changed over the last twenty years but it looks like there's a lot of homes and quite a few businesses. The road four lanes close to the area Asha was last seen. There is also an amusement park in this direction less than two miles from her house.

Google Earth

An amusement park? Wow thanks

 

[T rex]

I think Asha was familiar with the area that she was last seen despite all the times I've heard that she somehow wasn't. It just wasn't that far from where she lived. She may not have known where she was going but I think she knew where she was at.

 

[TristanP]

I think Asha was running away from something, not running away to something.

 

[T rex]

Most people, including me, feel like Asha's family had nothing to do with her dissapperance. When this is taken out of the equation it leaves only two major theories. The grooming theory and the chance encounter theory.
As for the grooming theory I do not believe anyone was meeting Asha or had made plans to meet her. No one is going to wait around all night and how would they know when she was coming? When would she be able to get out? Would she be able to get out? Would she get caught trying to get out? When dealing with a nine year old there would just be too many variables and it would be too risky. I just don't see it. Now I do think it's much more possible that she could have been going to someone's house. A grooming plan like this wouldn't have to be elaborate or a complex one. The simpler the better. They could have just left it up to Asha to decide if and when she would come. If this were the case they may not have known she was coming until she knocked on their door.
A chance encounter is a possibility that I don't dismiss at all and I don't know why so many people think it is such a stretch. I believe it would have been someone fairly local and probably coming from or going to work. Having said that I also want to discuss another possibility although it may not be that likely. It's something I have posted about before and have often wondered about. I have recently read in one of Nadal's posts, and I think he is quoting another poster Migmuu, a witness quoted as saying that he sent out a cb call to other truckers. I do not know what the source for this is but it does concern me somewhat if it did indeed happen. This man is supposedly a former deputy and he should have known better. Now he does say in that quote that he thought it was a small woman and he may have only said this in his own defense I don't know but it doesn't change the way I feel about it. If you see a child on the road in the middle of the night then you (especially if your a former deputy) switch over to a LE or emergency channel and notify the authorities. If you see a grown woman then you just have to come to the conclusion that she knows what she's doing and probably doesn't want it broadcasted out that she's walking the road in the middle of the night all alone. I don't know what this guy was thinking. He may have had good intentions but you don't put good intentions ahead of good judgement. Anyway whatever happened to Asha after this last sighting I think happened rather quickly. She was on the road for less than a mile and a half and was spotted twice. She didn't walk the road for another mile and a half or she would have been seen several more times. This theory raises the question of why Asha would have been out at that time to start with and that's not an easy question to answer but when I think about it three things occur to me and these are things that have probably occurred to most of us. The first one is Asha was walking in the opposite direction of her school. The second one is she was doing this at a time just before school hours on a Monday morning. When I consider both of these the third thing that occurs to me is: Asha didn't wanna go to school. Now I can only speculate at the reasons for why this would be but I can't help but think of the sleepover from the night before. Could some of the other kid's have been poking fun at her, giving her a hard time or laughing at her about something? Could Asha have been embarrassed about something and thought it was going to carry over into school? I don't know but this could answer the question of why she chose to leave when she did and that's because it was the only time she could have left. There's no two ways about it, either leave right now or go to school in a few hours. And by the way, how can we be for sure that she packed the bag before she left? Did she take her backpack to the sleepover? Maybe it was already packed and just hadn't been unpacked. If Asha had a dreadful feeling about going to school for some reason or a combination of reasons and just couldn't deal with it then she may have got her backpack and took off on impulse and then came across the wrong person and they grabbed her on impulse. This entire case may be one of impulse. Just some thoughts.

 

[SAMS]

"Harold, Iquilla, and O’Bryant picked Asha up early in the morning to go to church. Afterwards, they went to cousin Shalonda Brown’s home, where Asha’s grandma gifted her a bottle of cologne and some Valentine’s Day candies."
(Clipped from @Migmuu earlier post)

What and where is the families church located? Does anyone know the name of the pastor from back then?
MOO

 

[SAMS]

Most people, including me, feel like Asha's family had nothing to do with her dissapperance. When this is taken out of the equation it leaves only two major theories. The grooming theory and the chance encounter theory.
As for the grooming theory I do not believe anyone was meeting Asha or had made plans to meet her. No one is going to wait around all night and how would they know when she was coming? When would she be able to get out? Would she be able to get out? Would she get caught trying to get out? When dealing with a nine year old there would just be too many variables and it would be too risky. I just don't see it. Now I do think it's much more possible that she could have been going to someone's house. A grooming plan like this wouldn't have to be elaborate or a complex one. The simpler the better. They could have just left it up to Asha to decide if and when she would come. If this were the case they may not have known she was coming until she knocked on their door.
A chance encounter is a possibility that I don't dismiss at all and I don't know why so many people think it is such a stretch. I believe it would have been someone fairly local and probably coming from or going to work. Having said that I also want to discuss another possibility although it may not be that likely. It's something I have posted about before and have often wondered about. I have recently read in one of Nadal's posts, and I think he is quoting another poster Migmuu, a witness quoted as saying that he sent out a cb call to other truckers. I do not know what the source for this is but it does concern me somewhat if it did indeed happen. This man is supposedly a former deputy and he should have known better. Now he does say in that quote that he thought it was a small woman and he may have only said this in his own defense I don't know but it doesn't change the way I feel about it. If you see a child on the road in the middle of the night then you (especially if your a former deputy) switch over to a LE or emergency channel and notify the authorities. If you see a grown woman then you just have to come to the conclusion that she knows what she's doing and probably doesn't want it broadcasted out that she's walking the road in the middle of the night all alone. I don't know what this guy was thinking. He may have had good intentions but you don't put good intentions ahead of good judgement. Anyway whatever happened to Asha after this last sighting I think happened rather quickly. She was on the road for less than a mile and a half and was spotted twice. She didn't walk the road for another mile and a half or she would have been seen several more times. This theory raises the question of why Asha would have been out at that time to start with and that's not an easy question to answer but when I think about it three things occur to me and these are things that have probably occurred to most of us. The first one is Asha was walking in the opposite direction of her school. The second one is she was doing this at a time just before school hours on a Monday morning. When I consider both of these the third thing that occurs to me is: Asha didn't wanna go to school. Now I can only speculate at the reasons for why this would be but I can't help but think of the sleepover from the night before. Could some of the other kid's have been poking fun at her, giving her a hard time or laughing at her about something? Could Asha have been embarrassed about something and thought it was going to carry over into school? I don't know but this could answer the question of why she chose to leave when she did and that's because it was the only time she could have left. There's no two ways about it, either leave right now or go to school in a few hours. And by the way, how can we be for sure that she packed the bag before she left? Did she take her backpack to the sleepover? Maybe it was already packed and just hadn't been unpacked. If Asha had a dreadful feeling about going to school for some reason or a combination of reasons and just couldn't deal with it then she may have got her backpack and took off on impulse and then came across the wrong person and they grabbed her on impulse. This entire case may be one of impulse. Just some thoughts.

I’m going to piggy back off of your theory in regards to her avoiding school and add mine which is that she was still upset over “losing” the game. This makes sense IMO. Another thing. She received a few gifts from her grandma the day before. Why wouldn’t she pack these things? MOO

 

[SAMS]

Asha was said to have left the house in white shirt/white Nike tennis shoes/white jeans. Were these her b-ball shoes? Was she in the habit of wearing her gym/game sneakers outside? I know when I played ball back in school, we were a bit older, but we were never allowed to wear our game shoes outside, everyone carried their uniforms and game shoes into the school for games and sometimes left them throughout the rest of the week in lockers for practice. If this is true, I do not see Asha wearing her ball shoes out in the rain. She seemed serious about ball. MOO

 

[SAMS]

I think Asha was running away from something, not running away to something.

I am one that believes the family to be truthful about her disappearance. But I agree, what do we really know about Asha's home life? Someone close to her could be why she was running. MOO

 

[Nadal]

"Harold, Iquilla, and O’Bryant picked Asha up early in the morning to go to church. Afterwards, they went to cousin Shalonda Brown’s home, where Asha’s grandma gifted her a bottle of cologne and some Valentine’s Day candies."
(Clipped from @Migmuu earlier post)

What and where is the families church located? Does anyone know the name of the pastor from back then?
MOO

Macedonia Missonairy Baptist Church in Waco, North Carolina. No clue who the pastor was, it wasn't the one who lived next to the family who found the stuff in the shed, he was the pastor of Buffalo Baptist Church.

 

[Nadal]

I am one that believes the family to be truthful about her disappearance. But I agree, what do we really know about Asha's home life? Someone close to her could be why she was running. MOO

It's possible but i don't see the abuse staying secret this long, her brother would be an adult now and i imagine misses her and has his own life, if she was being abused i think he'd have came forward by now.

I also believe LE would've unearthed it or at least had suspicions yet they completely cleared the family: That night, Iquilla and Harold were interviewed by the SBI and quickly ruled out as suspects. Detectives say that the Degrees have always been cooperative with the investigation and have “bent over backwards” to help find their daughter. They allowed authorities to search their home and insisted on a polygraph, which they passed. As Sheriff Crawford put it, “There was no — and is no — evidence whatsoever to indicate this mother or father or child are responsible for this child’s disappearance.”

 

[SAMS]

It's possible but i don't see the abuse staying secret this long, her brother would be an adult now and i imagine misses her and has his own life, if she was being abused i think he'd have came forward by now.

I also believe LE would've unearthed it or at least had suspicions yet they completely cleared the family: That night, Iquilla and Harold were interviewed by the SBI and quickly ruled out as suspects. Detectives say that the Degrees have always been cooperative with the investigation and have “bent over backwards” to help find their daughter. They allowed authorities to search their home and insisted on a polygraph, which they passed. As Sheriff Crawford put it, “There was no — and is no — evidence whatsoever to indicate this mother or father or child are responsible for this child’s disappearance.”

I agree that Obryant wouldve indeed said something IF he saw something. And they shared a bedroom and were close. I think he wouldve known. Maybe someone close to the family not living in the home. Just keeping all theories open, since none of us know what happened that night/morning. My theory is that she was still very upset with her game and left. What I can't get is where was she headed and so many other questions.....MOO

 

[Nadal]

I’m going to piggy back off of your theory in regards to her avoiding school and add mine which is that she was still upset over “losing” the game. This makes sense IMO. Another thing. She received a few gifts from her grandma the day before. Why wouldn’t she pack these things? MOO

I find this the least likely theory personally. I think the basketball game theory got introduced because LE asked the family to wrack their brains and come up with anything they can think of that would make her run away, since they were genuinely baffled they came up with that despite finding it unlikely themselves. LE took it seriously at first since they believed she'd show up in a day or two but as time went on and they discovered the bag and photo they started suspecting foul play and abandoned that theory. Just my guess could be completely wrong and that may still be their working theory, i just personally don't see it.