One of America’s most notorious cold cases of a missing child is close to being solved. Police suspect the child 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. She was never seen again.
The girl, a well-behaved and balanced girl from a good family, packed her schoolbag and for unknown reasons secretly sneaked out of her house.
She left her home during a storm and was seen by passing motorists shortly after, but when they stopped to help her, she disappeared into a wooded area.
Tragically, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office believes they have solved the mystery, saying Asha was murdered and her body subsequently hidden.
Asha Degree, who was nine when she disappeared, is believed to have been murdered and her body hidden by a family and a colleague
Last week, several items were seized at one of the addresses, including an older green vehicle that resembled a car wanted in connection with Degree’s disappearance.
Last week, officers executed search warrants at several properties, including an address in Shelby, a nursing home in Vale and a home in Charlotte.
The locations are owned and occupied by members of the Dedmon family. The warrants were sought after DNA samples linked Asha to a certain AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, who was 13 at the time, and a certain Russell Underhill.
According to authorities, Degree’s backpack was found “wrapped in two sealed black plastic garbage bags” along Highway 18 a year after his disappearance
Degree’s backpack was found along Highway 18 a year after he disappeared, “wrapped in two sealed black plastic garbage bags.”
Two of the items in the backpack have now yielded results indicating a link between DNA from Dedmon Ramirez and Underhill.
The documents show that a hair sample from Degree’s undershirt matched Dedmon Ramirez’s DNA.
Authorities said there were two other Dedmon sisters, ages 15 and 16, alive at the time of her death.
Investigators now believe Asha was the victim of murder and that due to the sisters’ young age, “adult assistance” was provided in her death.
They said father Roy Dedmon and their mother Connie Dedmon were “necessary in the execution and/or concealment of the crime.”
Roy Dedmon’s home, located just a few miles from Degree’s last known location, was searched by police last week.
Several items were seized at the address, including an older green vehicle that resembled a car wanted in connection with Degree’s disappearance.
Authorities believe Degree got into a green 1970s car the night she disappeared, similar to one that was towed last week.
In 2016, the FBI said they were looking for a green 1970s Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark IV. Last week’s vehicle was an AMC Rambler.
The search documents show that several computers, laptops, mobile phones and other documents were also found in the house, as well as a human tooth.
The case had baffled investigators who had been investigating the case for two decades. Locals are seen here in 2000 searching for the Degree
Police executed search warrants at multiple properties, including an address in Shelby, a nursing home in Vale and a home in Charlotte
Several computers, laptops, mobile phones and documents were also found in the house, as well as a human tooth, according to the search documents.
Another building is a nursing home, owned by Roy and Connie Dedmon.
Russell Underhill, the second DNA match, lived in at least two of the couple’s buildings when Degree disappeared, officials said. 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 searched by authorities, they reported seizing a Blackberry phone.
Investigators have since discovered that Roy Dedmon used his daughters to transport “patients in an unreliable vehicle” to and from Broughton Hospital in nearby Morganton.
According to investigators, Highway 18 was the “most logical route” at the time of Asha’s disappearance.
They say Roy Dedmon was going to send his daughter, who was 16 or 17 at the time, and not AnnaLee.
The locations are owned and occupied by members of the Dedmon family, with the warrants sought after DNA samples linked the missing girl to an AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez
Attorney David R. Teddy, who represents Roy Dedmon, denied at a press conference last week that his client had anything to do with Asha’s disappearance.
The lawyer confirmed that the properties belong to Dedmon, who is in his 80s, and asked the local community not to draw any conclusions from this.
Teddy seemed to allude to Underhill by saying that he might be the one who knew what happened to the young girl.
Authorities have reportedly questioned the elder Dedmon and no arrests have been made in connection with the case.
Degree’s parents, Iquilla and Harold, said WBTV last year that they still believe that their daughter, who would be 32, is still alive.
Iquilla told the outlet, “I never thought it would last 23 years. She was a happy child, she was quiet, she liked everyone.”
The last time they saw their daughter was when she went to sleep on February 13.