(NewsNation) — Twenty-five years after 9-year-old Asha Degree disappeared in the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day, her family is still seeking answers and hoping new leads will give them closure.
The family is hosting a yearly prayer walk to remember Degree and is continuing to plead with the public to come forward if they know anything about her disappearance.
Investigators recently searched several properties in connection with the case, and warrants for those searches revealed that police believe Degree was a victim of homicide.
What happened to Asha Degree?
On Feb. 14, 2000, Degree took her backpack and snuck out of her family home between the hours of 2:30 and 6:30 a.m. Witnesses saw her walking alongside a highway near her Shelby, North Carolina, home around four in the morning despite heavy rain and winds.
One of the witnesses who saw Degree tried to circle back and find her and reported seeing her run into the woods.
Degree’s family described her as a sheltered child who was scared of thunderstorms, and there has been no explanation as to what may have caused her to leave her house and walk down the road in the middle of the night during a storm.
A search for Degree began when her mother went to wake her up and noticed her missing from her bed. The following day, candy wrappers were found in a shed near where she had been seen running into the woods.
In August of 2001, Degree’s backpack and belongings were found wrapped in two black trash bags at a construction site.
Over the years, multiple efforts have been made to investigate the case. Degree’s family also worked to keep her name and image in the public eye, saying they believe her case got less media attention because she is Black.
Recent developments in the case
In September 2004, authorities executed search warrants on several properties connected to Roy and Connie Dedmon, who have been named as suspects in the case.
Warrants revealed that DNA on Degree’s belongings was linked to Russell Bradley Underhill and to AnnaLee Victoria Dedmon Ramirez. Ramirez is Roy and Connie Dedmon’s daughter, and Underhill, who is now deceased, lived in several facilities owned by the Dedmons.
The warrants also revealed police believed Degree was the victim of a homicide and that her body was concealed.
Ramirez was 13 when Degree disappeared, and the couple’s other two daughters were 15 and 16. Because of their ages, police said they believe they would have needed assistance from adults to commit the alleged crime.
The Dedmons have denied any involvement with Degree’s disappearance.
Multiple pieces of evidence were collected during the searches, including electronics and a vehicle. No human remains were found during the searches.
If you have information directly related to the investigation, call the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office at 704-484-4822. There is a reward of up to $45,000.