Renewed Effort to Find Asha Degree, 18 Years After She Disappeared in Cleveland County
CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. —Β Still no answers after 18 years for the family of a Cleveland County girl missing since the year 2000. Now, there’s a hope a renewed effort could lead to new clues in the search for Asha Degree.
Not knowing what happened to her 9-year-old daughter still haunts Asha’s mother Iquilla Degree.
“This is worse than death, because at least with death, you’ve got closure,” Degree explains, “She’s the first thing on my mind when I wake up, last thing on my mind when I go to sleep.”
On the 18th anniversary of her disappearance, the FBI announced it’s put new resources into the case.
Local agents and investigators have conducted around 300 interviews in just the past five months.
She disappeared from the family’s home north of Shelby on Valentine’s Day 2000.
Truckers reported seeing her walking along Highway 18 early that morning. That is her last known sighting.
In 2001, a construction worker found her bookbag on the same highway, but in Burke County.
