Asha Degree

Asha Jaquilla Degree, a nine-year-old from Shelby, North Carolina, disappeared during the early morning hours of February 14, 2000. According to investigators, she left her family's home sometime after midnight, carrying a packed bookbag, and walked south along rural North Carolina Highway 18 in heavy rain and wind. No reason for her leaving has ever been established. Two truck drivers reported seeing a girl matching her description walking along the highway roughly a mile from her home at around 4 a.m. When one motorist slowed and appeared to approach her, she reportedly ran into a wooded area beside the road. Her parents discovered her missing early that morning, and she has not been seen since.

The initial search drew hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement personnel. On February 15, 2000, investigators recovered items in a nearby shed — including candy wrappers, a pencil, a marker, and a hair bow — that her parents identified as belonging to Asha. A more significant find came in August 2001, when construction workers uncovered her bookbag buried at a site off Highway 18 in Burke County, roughly 25 to 30 miles north of Shelby. Investigators later disclosed that the bag contained two items that did not belong to Asha and that they could not explain: a New Kids on the Block concert T-shirt and a Dr. Seuss library book that had come from her elementary school but that she had not checked out. The bag and its contents were sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico for analysis.

The FBI's Charlotte Field Office worked the case alongside the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation for years. In 2016, investigators publicized a dark green early-1970s vehicle they believed Asha may have entered, and in 2017 an FBI team re-created the conditions of the disappearance to generate leads. Authorities have said hundreds of interviews were conducted over the years, and a standing reward was repeatedly increased to encourage tips.

Beginning in September 2024, the investigation entered a more active phase. On September 10–11, 2024, the FBI, SBI, and Cleveland County Sheriff's Office executed search warrants on multiple properties and towed an older-model vehicle; the warrants stated that authorities believe Asha was the victim of a homicide and that her body was concealed. Reporting on the unsealed warrants indicated that they named members of a Cleveland County family — identified in the documents as Roy Dedmon, Connie Dedmon, and their daughters AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, Lizzie Dedmon Foster, and Sarah Dedmon Caple. According to the warrants, two items from the backpack "returned evidentiary results," and a hair recovered from Asha's undershirt was reported to be consistent with a DNA profile associated with AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, who was 13 at the time Asha vanished. Additional warrants executed on February 13, 2025 sought cellphones and referenced text messages and a polygraph examination. The Dedmon family has denied any involvement, and authorities have not established a connection between the two families.

As of early 2026, no one has been arrested, charged, or convicted in connection with Asha Degree's disappearance, and the persons named in the search warrants have not been charged with any crime. The case remains an open, active investigation classified by authorities as a homicide. A reward of up to $100,000 was being offered for information leading to a conviction, and new billboards were posted in 2025 to solicit tips.