NC NC - Asha Degree, 9, Shelby, 14 Feb 2000 #2

New Posts

I just had an awful thought. What if some creep did something sexual to her and then convinced her she was pregnant? He could have told her she needed to leave that night so her parents didn’t find out or some other lie. I just think there had to be a very big reason she left that night.

Could she have been violated at the slumber party she attended with her older family members? Perhaps teen boys or older were allowed to sneak in the house and something happened in private that no one else saw. Was there any “uncles” at the party? Then she was convinced she had to leave so no one found out. The perp would have been very worried about how to fix this problem especially if it happened on a whim.
 
BethAnn777 said:
I just had an awful thought. What if some creep did something sexual to her and then convinced her she was pregnant? He could have told her she needed to leave that night so her parents didn’t find out or some other lie. I just think there had to be a very big reason she left that night.

Could she have been violated at the slumber party she attended with her older family members? Perhaps teen boys or older were allowed to sneak in the house and something happened in private that no one else saw. Was there any “uncles” at the party? Then she was convinced she had to leave so no one found out. The perp would have been very worried about how to fix this problem especially if it happened on a whim.
Click to expand...
One of the problems with this case is that we don't know whether Asha was running to someone (such as a predator who had groomed her) or from something (such as her embarrassment over the loss of the basketball game or some kind of abuse that was occurring in the home). Even if something that didn't involve her directly—frequent arguing between her parents, for instance—could have been enough to make her run away.

People here have been too quick to dismiss the basketball angle, IMO. Something that seems inconsequential to an adult can seem monumental to a child.

There wouldn't have been that many people around at that time of the morning, so the chances of her running into a random predator seem slight, especially since we know that she fled from the one vehicle that approached her. Slight doesn't mean zero, so we can't completely write off that theory.

Another theory that has been floated is that Asha was struck and killed by a vehicle and then removed from the scene and buried. Considering that she disappeared during the early morning hours when drivers would not be expecting to see a person walking along the road and might not see a pedestrian in time, I think that that theory deserves serious consideration.

The counterargument to that theory is, wouldn't the hit-and-run driver just leave her and flee the scene? But what if the person picked her up with the intention of taking her to a hospital but then realized that she was dead? Moreover, there have been cases where hit-and-run drivers removed bodies from the scene for whatever reason. When a person's adrenaline is pumping, the decisions made aren't always perfectly logical.
 
Last edited:
BethAnn777 said:
I wonder if her bag was still packed from the sleepover she was at two nights before? Perhaps she never unpacked and just grabbed the bag and went. I could almost get behind the sleepwalking idea but then for some creep to grab her from there…that seems as unlikely as hitting the jackpot lottery twice, virtually impossible.
Click to expand...
I was thinking that too....but when cases go this long without being solved, something unlikely often has happened...otherwise someone would have thought of it and explored the option.
 
Regarding the sleepwalking theory, not extremely likely, imo. but very possible.
As a kid, my parents received a middle of the night call that my little brother had gone missing from the camp he was attending. Eventually he was found in a barn shoveling manure of all things and he was fast asleep doing it. We laugh of course about that time, but really, he could have gone anywhere and got up to anything!

Just a thought about Asha being upset about losing the game, sometimes when people are upset about something they do not want to talk about, they deflect and blame something else- like losing a game. imo.
 
Ozoner said:
People here have been too quick to dismiss the basketball angle, IMO. Something that seems inconsequential to an adult can seem monumental to a child.
Click to expand...

What's more is the way Asha acted after the game. She started limping around and crying and I think her mother scolded her pretty good for it too. It's possible some of the other kids were giving her a hard time about it at the sleep over. I just really think for some reason Asha didn't want to go to school, thus walking in the opposite direction in the hours just before it started. It was also Valentines day so that could factor in too.

Ozoner said:
There wouldn't have been that many people around at that time of the morning, so the chances of her running into a random predator seem slight, especially since we know that she fled from the one vehicle that approached her. Slight doesn't mean zero, so we can't completely write off that theory.
Click to expand...

The call that went out over the cb radio could improve those chances some. Thats always bothered me.

I think the key to solving this case is the green car.
 
People are too aggressively against the sleepwalking theory... remember "everyone who had access were cleared". That doesn't leave us with a lot. Is it not possible that Asha was in a deep sleep but in her sleep heard her dad at the bedroom door 3 AM. Then sort of awoke thinking she had to go to school, grabbed her backpack & went to the bus stop.. perhaps seeing no bus she just kept walking. Let's say Jeff Ruppe circling woke her up & she hid in the woods. Maybe grew too cold & anxious in the woods / shed and then decided to seek help from a driver. Let's say that , judging from the buried backpack, she maybe didn't live very long. The NKOTB shirt was maybe what the perp gave her to wear that night after the rain ruined her clothes. Then again, NKOTB did have a song called Valentine Girl. Some of the lyrics:
"...I’ll be there for you
Will you be there for me, too?
Valentine girl..." Too bizarre..if the perp is not a stranger I do have an idea who this could be...The photo of the little girl also just seems so planted & it's still chilling that we have no idea who she is. The perp seems very detail-oriented, it always feels like he's playing a game with us. Perhaps he has done similar things in other areas before moving to Shelby.
 
I've been familiar with this case for years but just a few weeks ago, decided to look on google maps at the area she was last seen and it kind of changed my perspective. I was mistakenly under the impression that this was a heavily forested and mountainous region. The street view and ariel view showed rolling hills and more wide open spaces than I pictured. The barn is close to the road but the tree line is not all that close. She would've had to run a hundred yards or so to reach the tree line and it is still just a grove rather than forest. On a dark stormy night, I'm surprised that she was seen at all because there is no need to walk close to the road. She was likely well off the roadway into the fields/yards.
 
T rex said:
I think the key to solving this case is the green car.
Click to expand...

I guess I should add the book found in the backpack. Whoever took this book from the library at Asha's school no doubt holds a key to solving this case. That is if the parents are right and Asha was not already in possession of it before that night.
 
T rex said:
I guess I should add the book found in the backpack. Whoever took this book from the library at Asha's school no doubt holds a key to solving this case. That is if the parents are right and Asha was not already in possession of it before that night.
Click to expand...
My assumption always was that she had checked it out at school
 
thefragile7393 said:
My assumption always was that she had checked it out at school
Click to expand...
That could very well be true. When I was a kid, I checked out whatever struck my fancy; a pretty picture on the cover, an author I liked, needing to check something out because my teacher said I needed to and I spent my library time talking or daydreaming instead of picking out a book I really wanted so I just grabbed something, etc.
Just like most things in this case, the book might mean something or it means absolutely nothing.
What a mystery this whole situation is.
 
thefragile7393 said:
My assumption always was that she had checked it out at school
Click to expand...

I like that possibility too, however LE seems to think she didn't. I guess because the parents said Asha didn't have the book before that night but I suppose they could have some other reason for thinking that. It's odd that there were no library records after only a year and a half and I still don't see why the students personal records can't be checked to see who owes the school district for not returning the book, unless it was taken without being checked out.
 
psych-nurse said:
I've been familiar with this case for years but just a few weeks ago, decided to look on google maps at the area she was last seen and it kind of changed my perspective. I was mistakenly under the impression that this was a heavily forested and mountainous region. The street view and ariel view showed rolling hills and more wide open spaces than I pictured. The barn is close to the road but the tree line is not all that close. She would've had to run a hundred yards or so to reach the tree line and it is still just a grove rather than forest. On a dark stormy night, I'm surprised that she was seen at all because there is no need to walk close to the road. She was likely well off the roadway.
Click to expand...

One thing about that area at night, it is EXTREMELY dark. Even with the four lane beginning right there, that section between her old house and the four lane is very dimly lit. I stopped once at the road just after Turner's Upholstery and shut off my lights, just to get an idea, and one thing that I noticed was that there is a light above the garage on that property. From my vantage point, it was the brightest light around and I wondered if she may have noticed the same and went that direction when she left the road.
 
Just my perspective... I think Asha might have been similar to me as a kid. I was also a "gifted kid." I thought many times about running away because I was experiencing the emergence of my chronic depression. There was a lot of pressure on me combined with my imaginative child brain, and I genuinely thought I could backpack away from my school if it became too much for me. I wonder if Asha had similar thoughts and actually packed the backpack and left.
 
What if the girl that was actually seen by the eye witnesses was actually the girl in photo? Ah, even as I type that out, it doesn’t seem true.

One thing mentioned in two podcasts I just listened to is that the Turners’ said photos falling out of couches wasn’t a rare occurrence. It’s actually a pretty common thing to find like coins or paper. The photo could have fallen out of one of the items in the shed and had nothing to do with Asha’s case. Has it ever been said how close the picture was to the candy wrappers, pencil, and hair bow?

I said this before and I’ll say it again, could this shed have been a meeting spot for Asha and her abductor? Seems like a perfect spot to me. Close to home, not locked and easy to access. I don’t know…. Just seems it would come together easier if she had been there before and was actually heading to that exact spot that night.

Regarding the stuff found in the shed, if it was in fact Asha’s stuff, it didn’t have to be from that night. The candy wrappers, unless they were somehow packaged to prove it was candy from that Valentine’s, it could have been from anytime. How could it be proven it wasn’t candy wrappers from weeks ago?

Another item found was a pencil from her family reunion. Seems like she had lots of family living near her including cousins that she had a sleepover with. Could any of them used that shed as a clubhouse or meeting spot and they were actually the one to leave the pencil and other items there? But then why wouldn’t they admit to it?

Such a mystery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 113 more.
Total: 3,729 (members: 114, guests: 3,615)

Online statistics

Members online
114
Guests online
3,615
Total visitors
3,729
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
592,390
Messages
17,968,286
Members
228,767
Latest member
Mona Lisa
Back
Top