SHELBY, N.C. — Law enforcement and the Cleveland County community are continuing to search for the Shelby girl who disappeared from her home on Valentine’s Day 26 years ago.
Asha Degree disappeared on Feb. 14, 2000. She was last seen walking down the side of N.C. Highway 18 in the rain with a bookbag.
The bookbag, with a book from her school library and a t-shirt that did not belong to her inside, was later found buried along that same highway.
Law enforcement continued investigating in 2015 when a new lead turned up. Degree may have been seen getting into a dark green 1970s-model Lincoln Continental Mark IV or Ford Thunderbird with rust around the wheel wells. A car matching that description was towed in 2024, just miles away from where Degree disappeared.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
- Investigators believe Asha Degree was killed and concealed, new warrants reveal
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In 2025, warrants revealed text messages sent right after a search at a Cleveland County home. A search warrant was executed a few months later, with authorities present at a property in Lincoln County.
Since the girl’s disappearance, investigators have said they believe Degree was killed and concealed.
Now, authorities continue to search.
Between the FBI, local authorities, and the governor, the reward for information on Degree’s disappearance has hit $100,000.
On the 26th anniversary of her disappearance, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI posted on social media that they continue to search for information to find Degree.
Anyone with information has been asked to contact the FBI at (704) 672-6100 or the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office at 704-484-4822.
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