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On February 14, 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree left her home in Shelby, North Carolina during a storm in the early morning hours.

Multiple motorists reported seeing a small child walking alone along Highway 18 before dawn. When one driver turned around to check on her, she ran into nearby woods.

More than a year later, Asha’s backpack was discovered buried along the same highway — wrapped in plastic trash bags.

For decades, the case remained unresolved.

But in 2024 and 2025, newly executed search warrants and court documents revealed that investigators now believe Asha was killed and that her body was concealed. DNA evidence and properties connected to the Dedmon family in Cleveland County have brought renewed focus to the 24-year-old case.

No arrests have been made. No charges have been filed.

Asha Degree was nine years old.

This is Missing Veil Files — Case File 004.

If you have any information regarding this case, please contact the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina.

Primary Sources & Reporting:

• Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office press releases
• FBI Charlotte Field Office statements
• September 2024 and February 2025 search warrant court documents
• WBTV reporting on 2024–2025 search warrants
• The Charlotte Observer coverage
• Associated Press reporting
• Historical coverage from The Shelby Star
• Interviews and public statements from Harold and Iquilla Degree

Case Timeline References:

• February 14, 2000 disappearance timeline
• August 2001 backpack discovery
• Highway 18 eyewitness accounts
• 2024–2025 investigative updates

If you have a missing persons case you believe deserves to be told, reach out to us at Veil of Echoes on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook.

Missing Veil Files releases every other Saturday.

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