One of America’s most notorious unsolved missing child cases is close to being solved; police believe the boy was murdered by a suspect whose identity they know.
Nine-year-old Asha Degree disappeared from her home in Shelby, North Carolina, in the early morning of February 14, 2000, and was never seen again.
The young girl, a well-behaved and well-adjusted girl who came from a good family, packed her backpack and sneaked out of her home for unknown reasons.
She left her home during a storm and was spotted by passing motorists shortly afterward, but disappeared into a wooded area when they stopped to help her.
Tragically, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office now believes it has solved the mystery and says Asha was murdered and her body was subsequently hidden.
Asha Degree, who was nine when she disappeared, is believed to have been murdered and her body hidden by a family and an associate.
Several items were seized from one of the addresses last week, including an older green vehicle that resembled a car wanted in connection with Degree’s disappearance.
Last week, police executed search warrants at several properties, including an address in Shelby, an assisted living facility in Vale and a home in Charlotte.
The locations are owned and lived in by members of the Dedmon family. The warrants were sought after DNA samples linked Asha to AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, who was 13 at the time, and a Russell Underhill.
Authorities say Degree’s backpack was discovered a year after she disappeared “wrapped in two sealed black plastic trash bags” along Highway 18.
Degree’s backpack was discovered a year after it disappeared “wrapped in two sealed black plastic trash bags” along Highway 18.
Two of the items in the backpack have yielded results linking the DNA of Dedmon Ramirez and Underhill.
According to the documents, a hair sample taken from Degree’s T-shirt appeared to match Dedmon Ramirez’s DNA.
At the time of her death, authorities said there were two other Dedmon sisters who were 15 and 16 years old.
Investigators now believe Asha was the victim of homicide and that due to the sisters’ young age there was “adult assistance” in her death.
They said Father Roy Dedmon and Mother Connie Dedmon “would have been necessary in the execution and/or concealment of the crime.”
Roy Dedmon’s home, which is just a few miles from Degree’s last known location, was searched by police last week.
Several items were seized from the address, including an antique green vehicle that resembled a car wanted in connection with Degree’s disappearance.
Authorities believe Degree had gotten into a green 1970s vehicle the night she disappeared, similar to one seen being towed last week.
In 2016, the FBI said it had been looking for a 1970s-era green Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark IV. Last week, the vehicle was an AMC Rambler.
Various computers, laptops, mobile phones and disks were also recovered from the house, as well as a human tooth, according to search documents.
The case baffled investigators who have been looking into the case for two decades. Here locals are seen in 2000 searching for the title.
Law enforcement executed search warrants at several properties, including an address in Shelby, an assisted living facility in Vale and a home in Charlotte.
An assortment of computers, laptops, cellphones and disks, as well as a human tooth, were also recovered from the home, according to search documents.
Another property included an assisted living residence owned by Roy and Connie Dedmon.
Russell Underhill, the second DNA match, had lived in at least two homes owned by the couple at the time Degree disappeared, according to authorities. He died in 2004.
Underhill’s connection to the family remains unclear, but investigators say he “knew and associated with Roy Dedmon.”
While AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s Charlotte home was also raided by officers, a Blackberry phone was reportedly seized.
Investigators have since discovered that Roy Dedmon had used his daughters to “transport patients in an unreliable vehicle” to and from Broughton Hospital in nearby Morganton.
Investigators say that at the time of Asha’s disappearance, Highway 18 was the “most logical route to travel.”
They say that Roy Dedmon would send his daughter, who was 16 or 17 at the time, and not AnnaLee.
The homes are owned and lived in by members of the Dedmon family, and the arrest warrants were sought after DNA samples linked the missing girl to AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez.
At a news conference last week, attorney David R. Teddy, who represents Roy Dedmon, denied any connection between his client and Asha’s disappearance.
The lawyer confirmed that the properties belong to Dedmon, who is in his 80s, and asked the local community not to jump to conclusions.
Teddy seemed to allude to Underhill, saying that he might be the one who knows what happened to the young woman.
Authorities have reportedly interviewed the elder Dedmon and have not made any arrests in connection with the case.
Degree’s parents, Iquilla and Harold, said Cable TV last year that they still believe that their daughter, who is believed to be 32 years old, is still alive.
Iquilla told the outlet: “I never thought it would be 23 years. She was a happy, calm girl, she liked everyone.”
The last time they saw their daughter was when she went to sleep on the night of February 13.