Asha Jaquilla Degree-Missing 13 Years!



Asha Jaquilla Degree

On the early hours of February 14, 2000, about 2:30 AM, 9 year-old Asha Degree was last seen in bed by her father inside their rural home in Shelby, North Carolina. Degree shared a room with her brother who claims to have heard noises, but assumed his sister was tossing in her sleep. Her mother went to wake Asha up for school at 6:30 AM, but her daughter was nowhere to be found and hasn't been heard from since.

Two drivers claim to have seen Asha walking up Highway 18 between 3:30-4:15 AM. She was said to be near the intersection of Highway 180. There was also a raging storm this Sunday night. One of the drivers who spotted Asha walking along the highway towards Shelby was so disturbed by the sight of a little girl walking by herself along a busy road during the night, that they turned the car around. After the car turned around, the driver saw her disappear into the woods, and this has proved to be the last confirmed sighting of Asha.

Asha's black Tweety Bird book bag was missing from her room along with some clothing. All the doors were locked the day she vanished-Asha kept her house key in her book bag. It is believed that she left on her own, but her reasons for leaving are unknown.

Three days later, her pencil, marker and Mickey Mouse hair bow were found on the doorway of a tool shed at Turner's Upholstery which is located on Highway 18. Eighteen months later, Asha's book bag with her name and number inside of it was found 50 yards away from highway 18 in a wooded area, six miles south of Morganton, double wrapped in black plastic bags by a construction worker. Several other items were also identified as belonging to Asha that were found with the book bag.

 Some of Asha's belonging were found in a tool shed off Highway 18 three days after she vanished. (Photo Credit: charleyproject.org)

 Asha was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, white jeans an white tennis shoes. She typically woe her hair up in pig tails. When she was last seen, she weighed 60 lbs. and was 4'6". Degree has brown eyes and black hair. Authorities have dug up areas in search for her remains, but have only found animal bones and a pair of men's khaki pants. She is also afraid of dogs. They believe she has met with foul play. Her case was featured on the TV Show, Find Our Missing and The Montel Williams Show. The FBI also added Asha on their Missing & Kidnapped Persons wanted list. This means there is a possibility Asha may have crossed state lines.

A theory I have read in Asha's vanishing is that she was upset over a basketball game her team lost and that could possibly be her motive for leaving home, even though she was in a reportedly good mood later on. A second one deals with a book she was reading in her 4th grade class at school. It was called The Whipping Boy and tells a story of two children who runaway from home. It notes their adventures and in the end they return happily ever after. It is not known if she took the book as a metaphor for her reason for leaving home.

Asha is described as a loving, athletic girl who loved her sports. Photo Credit: charleyproject.org

I believe that she was walking down the highway and was picked up from there by someone with poor intentions. Another theory that has bounced across my mind was she possibly left to meet up with someone, who either harmed her or took her away somewhere. According to JetMag.com, Asha's mother claimed they did not have a computer at the time she vanished, so Asha could not have contacted someone online, unless it was on a computer at school, friend's house or library.

I doubt a 9 year-old girl could get very far by herself without being noticed. I also think that if she has met with foul play, her remains must be somewhere close by, perhaps even still in Shelby, North Carolina, judging from where her backpack and personal belongings were found.With all the evidence that has been found, I agree with police- I think this is going to be a homicide investigation. I also think that it is more likely Asha was going to meet someone that night that she knew who may have made her false promises. This could have been a trusted adult, such as an adult she knew through her friends, friends of the family, neighborhood or through school. Taking into consideration where her belongings were found, I really believe the person who took her knew the area well, and had this all planned out from the beginning. Also, with how quickly some of her belongings were found on Highway 18 (February 17, 2000), I don't think she was kept alive for long after she vanished, and I doubt she would be outside of Shelby, North Carolina. None of this can be confirmed without finding Asha, but if there's a murderer out off the leash there, they need to be found right away before another child is targeted.

The question of why a 4th grader would wander off into the dead of the night during a raging storm has police baffled. Photo Credit: CharleyProject.org

As for why she left, it could be so many things. I think the person who last saw her should be looked into again, just in case along with other adults she knew. I think she had the intentions of meeting with someone she trusted who made her feel safe enough to leave her home around 3 AM.  She seems to have had a happy home life and was a very good student. We all have our secrets, we all have times in our lives where we feel bombarded by life itself and just want to get away. The thing is, we don't show it or talk about it, mostly because of shame, perhaps. But whatever Asha's reason was for leaving, it doesn't change that fact that she could be in danger. I also find it sad that so many cars passed a young girl walking down the street at 4 in the morning, yet no one stops to see or question if she is okay, or even call the cops. There is also a lot of wildlife and rural area along Highway 18, making finding Asha like a needle in a haystack. Why would a little girl feel safe running into the woods at 4 AM in the morning?

Shalonda was only seven when she was brutally murdered and left behind an elementary school in 1990. (Photo Credit: search.digtriad.com)

**Update: 

 According to an article in FoxCarolina.com, in July of 1990, the strangled body of a seven year-old girl named Shalonda Poole from Greensboro, North Carolina was found in the woods behind Jones Elementary School a day after she went missing. Her remains also exhibited signs of being sexually assaulted. Finally, after going over twenty years without answers, a suspect was arrested with the help of advances in forensic technology and information obtained in an interview. The man arrested was 52 year-old Donald Ferguson, who used to work around Shalonda's school and briefly knew her family enough to stop over and play a game of cards once. He left the area after Shalonda vanished. He has now been taken into custody, and police are convinced they have Shalonda's killer.

Twenty-three years later, an arrest is finally made in Shalonda's unsolved murder. The man accused of her death is 52 year-old Donald Ferguson. (Photo Credit: www.listwns.com )

 The resolution in Shalonda's murder opens the door to the case of Asha Degree. Investigators are looking into Ferguson to see where he was 14 years ago at the time of Asha's disappearance. Both Asha and Shalonda were from North Carolina, and it is possible he passed through Shelby county at one point. Both Asha and Shalonda have similarities and vanished almost exactly ten years apart. Also, Ferguson had a history of working around a school, so in my opinion, his job records and history should be checked to see if he worked around kids at all. Perhaps he lured Asha away by gaining her trust? Maybe he met her through a school function? I will keep everyone as updated as I can on the development in Asha's case. I hope this will be the year she will come home. Please try to remember if you have seen this man at all around Shelby, North Carolina around the time of Asha's disappearance.

Her family needs answers, so please look at her picture, and try to remember if you've seen her. Her family does a walk every year in tribute to Asha. They put up a billboard with all her information on it in the area she was last seen in. Her mother also raised $25,000 as a reward for anyone with information leading to Asha's whereabouts. Her mother also said the local police departments and FBI believe Asha left the house of her own free will, and headed down 18 South, the way her bus route went. She would now be 23 years-old. Please visit her website for more information.

If you have any information about the disappearance of Asha Degree, please contact:

Cleveland County Sheriff's Office
704-484-4822

An updated age progression of what Asha would look like as a twenty year-old woman. Photo Credit: charleyeproject.org

Source:
http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/24388106/police-spartanburg-man-charged-in-1990-murder-of-7-year-old
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2536007/Man-52-charged-sexual-assault-strangulation-seven-year-old-North-Carolina-girl-1990.html

 http://www.charleyproject.org/

http://www.ashadegree.com/

http://www.qcitymetro.com/news/articles/questions_linger_in_the_case_of_asha_degree091231500.cfm

http://jetmag.com/news/iquilla-degree-where-is-my-daughter/

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/nc-girl-asha-degree-disappeared-10-years-ago/story?id=11591506