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

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This is from amazon.com:

From Publishers Weekly
With his flair for persuading readers to believe in the ridiculous, Fleischman scores a hit with his new creation. Sis's skillful pictures emphasize events in the adventures of the orphan Jemmy, kept in his king's palace to be thrashed for the offenses committed by the royal heir, known as Prince Brat. It is forbidden to punish Brat, whose tricks multiply until Jemmy is tempted to escape the daily round of flogging. But the prince himself takes off and forces the whipping boy to go with him. As they get into and out of trouble on the outside, Jemmy hears that he has been accused of abducting Brat. When the prince arranges for their return to the palace, poor Jemmy fears the worst, but things turn out for the best at the story's satisfying close. Colorful types like a thief called Hold-Your-Nose Billy, Betsy and her dancing bear Petunia, et al., increase the fun.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The Whipping Boy is not a story about abduction. It's about a bratty prince who keeps getting spanked, but the one who actually gets the spanking is Jemmy, the palace whipping boy. So when Brat runs away, he takes Jemmy with him. He learns a lesson about caring for other people.

I think the point that Asha's class was reading it was that it was a tale of adventure, and maybe she struck out on her own as an adventure? Just a thought.

As far as location, as far as I recall from the story, it is all very ambiguous, just a kingdom in a make-believe land. But it's been a long time since I've read it. I don't remember any cities, though. Not modern ones, anyway.
 
http://www.shelbystar.com/news/asha_28858___article.html/county_name.html

16 Feb 08

It’s been a mystery for county and state law enforcement for nearly a decade.

Thousands of cases have come and gone. Thousands of arrests, convictions and solutions.

But there’s been no solution here. No closure. Not since the day 9-year-old Asha Degree disappeared.

Her image remains scattered across the county. Fliers taped to windows. Billboards on busy highways.

much, much more at link
 
http://www.shelbystar.com/news/asha_28858___article.html/county_name.html

16 Feb 08

It’s been a mystery for county and state law enforcement for nearly a decade.

Thousands of cases have come and gone. Thousands of arrests, convictions and solutions.

But there’s been no solution here. No closure. Not since the day 9-year-old Asha Degree disappeared.

Her image remains scattered across the county. Fliers taped to windows. Billboards on busy highways.

much, much more at link
 
When she is walking on highway 18 is she walking in the opposite direction of her house or toward her home? She lives in shelby and is seen north of shelby but walking south. To me that means she is walking in the compass direction of her home. She walked off into the darkness on highway 18...I would call 911 if I saw that.
 
So young to be gone so long. Where on earth could she have thought she needed to be headed at that time. I truly hope her devoted family get closure eventually.
 
I read that one of those that saw her only reported it later when they realised she was now missing.

Maybe Asha wasnt on that road for long before someone picked her up so she wasnt actually seen by that many people.
 
The fact that she turned off the road and into the darkness sounds so unusual, seems like it would so be scary to a 9 year old to do that. I wonder if Asha had a prearranged plan to meet someone and that was where she was told to go.

From her CP page:
Degree's pencil, marker and Mickey Mouse hair bow were discovered in the doorway of a tool shed at Turner's Upholstery on Highway 18 on February 17, 2000, three days after her disappearance. Her belongings were found near the stretch of road where Degree was seen walking in the early morning hours of February 14. A search of the area failed to produce additional evidence. The items were discovered more than one mile from Degree's residence.

I wonder if the tool shed was unlocked and if it was visible from the road she was last seen on? I wonder if these items were in a pile like they were placed there or scattered like they were dropped in a struggle?

This case seems like it may have been a prearranged meeting IMO. Other than the internet I wonder where she could have met someone...
 
I wonder what the reason would be for someone to double wrap the book bag in plastic bags and bury it alone. If an abductor wanted to get rid of evidence giving it a double layer of protection seems unusual. It looks like by wrapping the bag twice someone was actually trying to preserve it from the elements.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
 
Would the double bagging indicate maybe someone new the little girl and was carefully discarding her stuff?

I'm thinking that maybe the abductor didn't discard the book bag at all. They buried it, maybe with the intent of going back to get it. It was found 20 something miles from where she is last seen walking, so whoever buried it most likely had a access to a car, if that is the case they could have brought the book bag anywhere.
 
The perp probably put it in the bags to conceal it in his/her car/truck... and for easy transport... It was heavily publicized what the bag looked like. They probably didn't want to drive around with it in plain view.
 
Bumping for Asha, this is such a sad and mysterious case. What in the world was a little girl doing walking along the highway at that hour?

I'd really love to hear detailed witness statements about those sightings.
 
Isn't it possible she was sleep walking?

I suppose it is possible, though if she had a habit of doing so, you'd think her family would have mentioned it as a possibility. I suppose it could have been the first time she ever did it, I don't know enough about the condition to really speculate about that.

I wonder if it is possible that she had already been abducted by the time people saw her on the highway.
 
FYI everyone Asha degree has been compared to the 9 year old doe found in New Jersey..sorry no link right now i'll try to add later..and it was not a match. The detective did give me a little info on asha's dentals however. He told me her dental records indicate that even if grown to maturity, Asha would never have a tooth number 7 or tooth number 10. I have also put in a further request for info to her brother, not sure he will respond, but I asked him if she had any personality quirks or anything we should be on the look out for such as mannerisms, preferences, ect. I'll let you all know if I hear back.
 
I think of Asha quite often. I hope they are still actively investigating her case.
 
I hope so too.
I think they really have run out everything the know and without some one spilling their guts or finding something else it will stay stalled.
 
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