New details about Asha Degree, a girl who went missing at the age of nine in 2000, were revealed in search warrant documents released on Monday (September 16). The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, in the USA, reportedly now believes that Degree was a victim of homicide. This may put an end to the missing child’s heartbreaking, two-decade-long case.
Investigators think Degree’s disappearance may be linked to a family from Cleveland County, North Carolina, which is where the girl was from and where she went missing.
A series of search warrant applications were made public on Monday in connection with searches recently carried out by the sheriff’s office, FBI, and state investigations bureau, local broadcaster WBTV reported on Monday.
Law enforcement reportedly executed search warrants at multiple properties, including a home and property in Degree’s birth city and place of disappearance Shelby, as well as at an assisted living facility in Vale, and a home in Charlotte.
New details about Asha Degree, a girl who went missing at the age of nine in 2000, were revealed
The locations are reportedly owned and lived in by members of the Dedmon family. The search warrants were requested after DNA samples linked Degree with a woman named AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, and a man named Russell Underhill.
More than one year after Degree disappeared in Shelby in the early morning hours of February 14, 2000, some of her belongings were found in Burke County.
Burke County, which is also in North Carolina, is located around 40 miles (approximately 64 kilometers) from Cleveland County.
Degree’s backpack was subsequently discovered more than 30 miles (approximately 48 kilometers) from where she was last reportedly seen about 17 months after she went missing.
Her belongings were “wrapped in two sealed black plastic garbage bags” and were found along Highway 18 near Morganton, a city located about 39 miles (approximately 63 kilometers) away from her home in Shelby.
Two of the items in the backpack reportedly returned evidentiary results, linking DNA to Dedmon Ramirez and Underhill, WBTV reported.
A DNA sample of a hair stem taken from Degree’s undershirt matched the DNA of Dedmon Ramirez, who was 13 years old at the time Degree went missing.
New details were revealed in search warrant documents released on Monday (September 16)
Investigators now reportedly believe Degree is a “victim of homicide, with her body concealed.”
In February 2000, at the time Degree went missing, in addition to AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, there were two other Dedmon sisters who were ages 15 and 16 years old.
As a result of the Dedmon sisters’ ages at that time, investigators believe “adult assistance” from their father, Roy Dedmon, and their mother, Connie Dedmon, “would have been necessary in the execution and/or concealment of the crime,” according to the local broadcaster.
Several search warrants were reportedly executed on properties linked to the Dedmon family, including Roy Dedmon’s home, located 3.7 miles (approximately 6 kilometers) from Degree’s last known location, and an assisted living facility in Vale owned by Roy and his wife Connie Dedmon.
Russell Underhill, whose DNA was also linked to Degree’s belongings, lived in facilities operated by the Dedmons at the time of her disappearance. He passed away in 2004.
Investigators found that Underhill knew Roy Dedmon, who was listed as Underhill’s emergency contact.
The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, in the USA, reportedly now believes that Degree was a victim of homicide
Moreover, authorities searched Dedmon’s home, seizing a green vehicle resembling one wanted in Degree’s disappearance, along with various electronics and a human tooth.
Searches of other properties, including Dedmon Ramirez’s Charlotte home, yielded minimal evidence, though no human remains were found.
According to the released search warrants, investigators found that Roy Dedmon used to send one of his daughters to “transport patients in an unreliable vehicle to/from Broughton Hospital in Morganton,” around the time Degree disappeared, WBTV reported.
Dedmon’s attorney confirmed that the property searched by the FBI belonged to Roy Dedmon, who reportedly denies any involvement in Degree’s case.
Investigators stated that Dedmon had no known ties to Degree or her family. Both the attorney and the sheriff’s office urged the community not to spread rumors, as no human remains have been found.
Roy Dedmon’s attorney reportedly alluded to Underhill in his press conference, saying that he may be the one who knows what happened to Degree.
This may put an end to the missing child’s heartbreaking, two-decade-long case
The attorney said the search would “sadly link” a person to Degree’s disappearance who is “no longer living.” Nevertheless, there have been no arrests made in connection with Degree’s case, as per WBTV.
The FBI, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office have been investigating Degree’s disappearance for over 20 years, while her family believes she is still alive.
A team from state, local, and federal agencies remains dedicated to the case, and a $45,000 reward is offered for information leading to her discovery.
For reasons unknown, Degree packed her bookbag in the early morning hours and left her family home north of Shelby on Valentine’s Day 2000.
The nine-year-old began walking along nearby North Carolina Highway 18 despite heavy rain and wind.
Several passing motorists saw her; when one turned around at a point 1.3 miles (approximately 2 kilometers) from her home and began to approach her, she left the roadside and ran into a wooded area.
An intensive search began after her parents, Harold and Iquilla Degree, discovered her missing from her bedroom when they went to wake up their children for school.
“Sounds like they’re covering for someone,” a reader speculated
