FBI Release New Info On Asha Degree Case

“Your hope is all you’ve got and as mothers I think you have a feeling your child is alive,” said Asha’s mom, Iquilla Degree.

Iquilla Degree hasn’t seen her daughter Asha since Valentine’s Day in 2000. Sixteen years later, the FBI says a car like this, possibly a dark green 1970’s Lincoln or Ford Thunderbird, could be involved.

“A witness says they saw her getting into it, someone who matches her description so we could determine whether the car is connected to her disappearance or whether it is not,” said FBI Charlotte Spokeswoman, Shelley Lynch.

The witness saw the car along Highway 18 in Shelby, where two other witnesses say they saw Asha walking the night she left her home. The FBI hope this jogs other people’s memory.

“Try to potentially identify other witnesses that may have seen same vehicle or perhaps someone that knows someone who may have owned a vehicle that matches that description at that time period,” said Lynch.

A year and a half after Asha disappeared construction workers found her backpack buried off the same highway in another county.

“We’ve re-interviewed people we’ve actually looked at whether there’s new technology that exists since the time of her disappearance that potentially we can process new evidence,” said Lynch.

Iquilla says she will never give up on finding her daughter.

“I’ve always said somebody knows something, so hopefully somebody will eventually come forward and tell us what happened that morning,” said Iquilla.

The FBI is offering a $25,000 thousand reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for Asha’s disappearance.