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

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MISSING ASHA DEGREE: Authorities release photos of items that could help track down girl missing for 10 years
Asha%20Degree%20items_1539054261757.jpg_13272057_ver1.0_640_360.jpg

Asha%20book_1539054602186.png_13272060_ver1.0_640_360.jpg
Bringing these items forward and hoping that LE have received some good tips concerning them.
 
Still curious about how the shirt and book relate to Asha. If I recall her mother said she didn't own the NKOTB shirt. Hopefully we will be getting answers soon!

My OWN thoughts:

The possibility of a serial comes to mind.

Pay attention to the information given: 'if you or someone or someone you know has ever lost a library book like this' contact the local law enforcement. The NKOTB concert shirt is older than the time period Asha disappeared- the band didn't start touring again until fairly recently and the shirt is so distinct in its styling and in the fact it is a concert shirt. These items did not belong to Asha so what does that tell us?

They *could have* belonged to another child who may be tied to Asha's disappearance.
 
My OWN thoughts:

The possibility of a serial comes to mind.

Pay attention to the information given: 'if you or someone or someone you know has ever lost a library book like this' contact the local law enforcement. The NKOTB concert shirt is older than the time period Asha disappeared- the band didn't start touring again until fairly recently and the shirt is so distinct in its styling and in the fact it is a concert shirt. These items did not belong to Asha so what does that tell us?

They *could have* belonged to another child who may be tied to Asha's disappearance.
Welcome to Ws lenee925, you could be right about those items!
 
My OWN thoughts:

The possibility of a serial comes to mind.

Pay attention to the information given: 'if you or someone or someone you know has ever lost a library book like this' contact the local law enforcement. The NKOTB concert shirt is older than the time period Asha disappeared- the band didn't start touring again until fairly recently and the shirt is so distinct in its styling and in the fact it is a concert shirt. These items did not belong to Asha so what does that tell us?

They *could have* belonged to another child who may be tied to Asha's disappearance.
I think you are right! Looks like authorities could have found a predators stash of 'trophies'.
 
I could have sworn I read somewhere that someone claiming to see her walking that night outside said she was wearing that shirt. Can’t remember where I read that. But i am thinking if it’s pouring rain, the power is out so you only have the lights from your car headlights, how can you look at that shirt that was really outdated for that time period and think “oh that’s a NKOTB shirt”. o_O
 
GIRL'S FAMILY FINDS HOPE AS SEARCH IS NARROWED
Newspaper
February 18, 2000 |
Charlotte Observer (NC)
Author: AILEEN SOPER,
Staff Writer * Contributor:
Staff writer Karen Cimino
contributed to this article.
|Page: 1A
|Section: MAIN998 Words
A trail that was growing cold offered new clues in the case of a missing 9-year-old Cleveland County girl when relatives identified her hair bow and other items Thursday. Investigators called the discovery of the bow, candy wrappers, and a pen and pencil in an outbuilding just a mile from Asha Degree's house the first tangible evidence in her Monday disappearance. It lifted the flagging spirits of family members, investigators and searchers.
The family is very hopeful," said Maurice Jackson, Asha'smaternal uncle who is acting as the family spokesman."It's the first evidence they've seen that they think might be Asha's." Volunteers and investigators have combed an area along N.C. 18, about 1 1/2 miles south of Asha's home north of Shelby every day since her disappearance. Motorists told police they'd seen the girl walking south on N.C. 18, near the intersection of N.C. 180, about 4 a.m. Monday. The break came late Wednesday, when investigators brought one motorist back to where he reported seeing Asha. Jeff Ruppe, of. Fallston, a truck driver for Sun
Drop Bottling Co., pointed out a spot near a field owned by Charles Turner. As part of its investigation, the FBI gave Ruppe a polygraph test, which he passed.Investigators believe Asha likely left home on her own,then met trouble. Her parents reported her missing at 6:30 a.m. Monday, after her mother went to wake her for school."My biggest fear is that she is somewhere, hurt, not able to get help," said Cleveland County Sheriff Dan Crawford."What if she is only a tenth of a mile from where we looked?"
Turner, who runs Turner's
Upholstery, said he and his family found several items in a rickety outbuilding on their land near where Asha was last seen. Among them was a wallet-sized photograph of a young girl. On Tuesday, they gave it to police, who showed it to Asha's family. But the girl's relatives could not identify. the photo. The Turners did not give investigators several other items they found next to the picture. They held onto them,thinking they. didn't matter because Asha's. family hadn't recognized the picture, said Turner's son, Charles Turner Jr. On Thursday morning, a member of a search party looking for Asha found a candy wrapper near the Turners' outbuilding, Crawford said. Asked about it, Turner's wife and daughter gave searchers the other items, which they had kept in a pile on their porch, Crawford said. Asha's relatives recognized the items. "The parents were just tore all to pieces because they said`Yes! Yes! It's hers," said Cleveland County sheriff's Detective Wayne Thomas.Crawford said he believed the most significant find was the pencil that had "Atlanta" on it. The Degree family held its reunion there last year.

AshDeg
 
I could have sworn I read somewhere that someone claiming to see her walking that night outside said she was wearing that shirt. Can’t remember where I read that. But i am thinking if it’s pouring rain, the power is out so you only have the lights from your car headlights, how can you look at that shirt that was really outdated for that time period and think “oh that’s a NKOTB shirt”. o_O
Here's the quotes from the truckers who believed to have seen her that night.

Witness #1: Jeff Ruppe, Sun drop bottling company driver

"I seen a little girl walking down
the road with her book bag,"
"She had on a little dress and
white tennis shoes, and her hair was in pigtails."Ruppe grew concerned."I went back, but she never did
look up at me," Ruppe said."She
looked like she knew where she
was going. She was walking at a
pretty good pace."

Witness #2: Roy Blanton Sr., on trucking run with son

"It was a small figure wearing
light-colored clothing," said Blanton, a former deputy at the
Cleveland County Sheriff's Department who now drives for
Porter's Transport Inc. "I thought it was a woman.
I couldn't tell it was a child. I thought that maybe it was a
domestic-violence thing where a woman left the house and was out walking."
They worried she might get hit by a truck, so they used their CB
radio to warn nearby truckers to be on the alert, Blanton said

Info from the Charlotte Observer article, 'CONCERN GROWS AS GIRL STAYS MISSING' from
February 17, 2000; Author: AILEEN SOPER

AshDeg
 
After 19 years, Asha Degree's mother holds on to hope her daughter will be found
Feb 17 2019 rbbm.
``Even after almost two decades, the search for Asha still continues today. The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office has a detective whose sole focus is the missing girl, and Sheriff Alan Norman has said it’s his duty to see the case closed and the girl found. The FBI is assisting in the search.

Last year, two new items of interest in her case were made public, a Dr. Seuss book and a New Kids on the Block concert T-shirt.

Since Asha’s disappearance, a sign with her photo asking for information has sat along N.C. 18 near where she was last seen. Every year, a group of family members and supporters make a walk from the Degree house to the sign to remember Asha and remind people the search is still ongoing.

This year, that walk was held the weekend before the anniversary of her disappearance``

``While it is difficult at times, Degree still hasn’t given up hope her daughter will one day be found.

“I’m not going to give up till the case is closed, one way or another. I still think she’s alive, I don’t really care what nobody else thinks,” she said.``
 
It's never been confirmed what was in Asha's backpack. I understand that it has been stated (or at least implied) that she did not own the NKOTB shirt or the book in question. I wonder if perhaps she had borrowed them from (or thought she had borrowed them from) the girl in the picture, and through whatever means (phone?) the "girl" asked Asha to return them? There's no reason to believe these were found in her backpack afaik, I'm just trying to make sense of it.
 
It's never been confirmed what was in Asha's backpack. I understand that it has been stated (or at least implied) that she did not own the NKOTB shirt or the book in question. I wonder if perhaps she had borrowed them from (or thought she had borrowed them from) the girl in the picture, and through whatever means (phone?) the "girl" asked Asha to return them? There's no reason to believe these were found in her backpack afaik, I'm just trying to make sense of it.
I'm confused about the unknown girls picture that was found and why it was never mentioned on her missing persons case files. Was she ever identified?

If the Dr. Seuss book was found in her backpack then wouldn't they have done a library search after it was found to find out who checked it out? Surely they would have records for the following year you'd think.

The NKOTB shirt seems like an older 'victim's' shirt concerning the time frame or even a hand-me-down.

My best guess is they stumbled upon a predator's 'trophy' stash.
 
I don't understand how there couldn't be a record of this book being checked out and who it was that did it. My last few years in school the library was on a computer system. No more card catalogues in the drawers and your name went in the computer, and this was quite a few years before this book would have been checked out. Were there any libraries still checking out books the old way in 2000? Maybe an elementary school, I don't know.
 
In conjunction with National Missing Children’s Day, the Charlotte Division of the FBI is asking the public for information regarding the cases of three missing persons in North Carolina.

President Ronald Reagan proclaimed May 25 as National Missing Children’s Day in 1983. Missing Children’s Day is dedicated to encouraging parents, guardians, caregivers, and others concerned with the well-being of children to make child safety a priority. It serves as a reminder to continue our efforts to reunite missing children with their families.

The FBI in North Carolina is continuing active investigations, alongside our local law enforcement partners, for three missing persons. Asha Degree left her home in Shelby on Feb. 14, 2000. She was seen walking along the highway a few hours later, then vanished. Sara Graham left her home in Fairmont to go to work on Feb. 4, 2015, but never arrived. Abby Lynn Patterson left her home in Lumberton, on Sept. 5, 2017, and has not been seen since.

If you have any information on any of these cases, please contact the FBI's Charlotte Field Office at (704) 672-6100. You may also contact your local FBI office, or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate

Charlotte FBI asks for help from the public for National Missing Children's Day
 
My OWN thoughts:

The possibility of a serial comes to mind.

Pay attention to the information given: 'if you or someone or someone you know has ever lost a library book like this' contact the local law enforcement. The NKOTB concert shirt is older than the time period Asha disappeared- the band didn't start touring again until fairly recently and the shirt is so distinct in its styling and in the fact it is a concert shirt. These items did not belong to Asha so what does that tell us?

They *could have* belonged to another child who may be tied to Asha's disappearance.

NKOTB did a tour in 1994 but then not again until 2008. The concert tee is similar to one that I had in 1989 so, yes, it's definitely older.

And I agree with what you're saying. In the article up above, it said that the book had been checked out from the school library, but that the records didn't go back that far. If it was checked out then it was almost certainly a child. (Unless it was a teacher.) I am still having trouble putting this all together, though. It's not fitting. Asking if anyone had the book and then found it missing? What kind of scenario could that be?

I'm not sold on any one theory, but I HAVE wondered if another child was used in a ruse to lure Asha out-either a child who really did exist or a child who didn't. Did any of her classmates move shortly after Asha disappeared? Any bad divorces or custody arrangements? Child deaths?

I have trouble seeing Asha leaving the house that early in that weather for an adult she didn't know, but what if she were promised an adventure with another child? A secret meeting?

I feel strongly that this was not a stranger abduction. And it absolutely would not surprise me to eventually learn that Asha remained in that town, or nearby, for years.

Lastly, why did Asha have the picture? And from where?
 
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Is there no possibility of finding any DNA, finger prints or anything on any of the items found?
MOO

I feel like maybe they have. I kind of think that's what happened with the NKOTB t-shirt and the book. I think they found Asha's DNA on them and now they're trying to figure out how Asha got them in the first place, hence the whole "did your stuff go missing" or "did you have these things" appeal to the public. Perhaps that's how they're trying to work backwards to figure out what happened to her.
 
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