Reward increases in Asha Degree case 25 years after her disappearance
READ MORE: 25 years after Asha Degree's disappearance impacted the Shelby community, family prays for answers
Detectives believe that she was abducted after leaving her Shelby home on Valentine's Day in 2000. She was nine-years old at the time.
Investigators found her book bag and an undershirt in a trash bag in Burke County a year later.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
Investigators believe Asha Degree was killed and concealed, new warrants reveal
It's been 24 years since the disappearance of Asha Degree
Attorney: Dead person may hold key to 'circumstances of Asha Degree's disappearance'
Retired FBI agent haunted by Asha Degree case
There was a break in the case in September 2024 when investigators identified two suspects and found new evidence.
They executed a search warrant on Cherryville Road on one of the properties of Roy and Connie Dedmon.
The search warrant also stated that Asha was a victim of homicide, and her body was concealed.
The Dedmons have not been talking and their lawyer says they are innocent.
In 2024, the reward was $45,000.
'We recently retested evidence using new advancements in technology and continue to make significant progress,' officials said.
If you have information and have not spoken to investigators, call the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4822, the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI or tips.fbi.gov.
VIDEO: Neighbors highlight new search for Asha Degree
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Yahoo
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How to outfox financial scammers
While financial scams have always been around, the variety of schemes that scammers employ to steal money are easily proliferated these days with the internet, social media, AI and crypto. Frauds and scams ranked No. 6 on the list of top consumer complaints last year, according to a recent report from the Consumer Federation of America. And the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center found that financial losses from cybercrime alone last year reached $16.6 billion – a 33% increase over 2023, with the vast majority of those losses coming from fraud. The average reported loss was $19,372. Earlier this month, the Federal Trade Commission noted that there was a more-than-four-fold increase between 2020 and 2024 in the number of reports of older Americans (age 60 and up) who said they'd been scammed out of $10,000 or more. The increase among those reporting that they'd lost over $100,000 was nearly seven-fold. Some people 'reported emptying their bank accounts and even clearing out their 401(k)s,' according to the agency. Common schemes How can that happen? Any number of ways. And it's not just those over 60 who are susceptible. 'Any type of scam can happen to anyone,' said Emma Fletcher, senior data researcher in the consumer response division of the FTC. Imposter scams, where criminals masquerade as a trusted government agency or business, are among the most common. Whereas in the past a lot of scams tried to trick you into giving out your financial account numbers, many now seek to persuade you to move your money from one of your accounts to another type of account the scammers can access. 'The scams generally involve someone contacting consumers to alert them to a fake and urgent problem and then proceeding to try to persuade them to transfer their money to 'keep it safe' or for some other false reason,' the FTC said. Among the lies they might tell: Your Social Security number is linked to serious crimes. They're calling about suspicious activity on your account. Or you're in trouble with the law and have to post bond. Or they may offer something that is too good to be true, like easy money for a simple task. In exchange, they will ask you to pay something up front. Among other types of imposter scams are: Tech support scams: These can take the form of a pop-up security alert or audible alarm on your computer, purporting to be from Microsoft or Apple. The message might be that your computer has been hacked, and it will include a number to call for help. Sometimes the criminals will tell you they need to get remote access to your computer to fix something. Prize and sweepstakes scams: It's never the victim's lucky day when a scammer, posing as a representative of a sweepstakes or lottery entity, contacts you and tells you that you have to pay money to get your big prize. Telltale signs of a scam To help spot a potential financial scam, keep an eye out for common red flags: A government agency or company contacts you out the blue and makes threats and demands. There are currently imposters even pretending to represent the FTC itself. The FTC notes it 'will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize.' The same is true of any reputable business or government agency. You're told to go to a bitcoin ATM or make a bank transfer. Last year, the FTC found that 33% of older adults who reported losing $10,000 or more to an imposter scam said cryptocurrency was the method of payment requested, while 20% said they were asked to make a bank transfer and 16% said they were told to pay in cash. The most typical crypto payment involved sending someone to a bitcoin ATM, which some scammers may refer to as a 'safety locker,' Fletcher said. A case reported by CFA, for instance, involved a scam caller telling a consumer they were 'under arrest for failing to appear in court and was in contempt for missing jury duty. They insisted that the consumer needed to post bond, and the sheriff could not accept a check or credit card. Instead, the scammer directed them to a federal kiosk, specifically a Bitcoin ATM.' You're told to buy gift cards to pay the scammer: Another type of scheme has victims go to one or more stores to buy gift cards and then share the unique numbers and pin with the scammer. Reduce your odds of getting scammed There are several ways to reduce your chances of being swindled. Do not engage. When you get an unsolicited call, text, social media message or email – or you get a strange warning alert on your computer – don't respond. Do not call the numbers suggested nor click on any links offered. Instead, if you're concerned it may be legitimate, call the actual entity the person contacting you claims to be from and do so by looking up that entity's real number and website yourself. 'Stop and verify. If it feels urgent, if they're rushing you and creating alarm, and you weren't expecting that contact, go directly to the company or agency that they're claiming to be and check it out,' Fletcher said. Never move money on demand. If you do end up engaging, a clear sign something is wrong is that you're told you have to move money fast. You may be told you have to transfer money out of an account that has been compromised in order to 'protect it.' Or to send money to get yourself out of some sort of (fake) trouble. No legitimate business, government agency or law enforcement entity would require this. Never pay money for the promise of getting more money. Anything financial that sounds too good to be true usually is. And that's especially the case when you're being told you need to pay something upfront to get something desirable in return (e.g. a commission, a job, prize winnings, etc.) Don't assume you're too smart to be duped. A scammer can catch anyone at a particularly vulnerable moment. For example, you might already be in a heightened emotional state when you get a call or text; or the focus of the scam may pertain to something you were just dealing with – e.g., you may have recently driven through a number of tolls when a scammer sends you a text about unpaid tolls. 'For each of us there is a scam that can get us at just the wrong moment,' Fletcher said. 'The scammer hijacks your ability to think things through clearly.' Make liberal use of the 'Block Caller' and 'Report Junk' functions on your phone: Getting a call or voicemail from a number you don't recognize should be blocked. The same goes for unsolicited texts and social media messages. And, the FTC warns, don't necessarily trust your caller ID function either, as scammers have been known to 'spoof' it – meaning they can falsify the information sent to your caller ID display. If you've been scammed It can happen to anyone. If it happens to you, take steps to minimize your losses and help stop the scammers from victimizing others. Here is an FTC resource page that offers steps you can take if you think you paid a scammer or if the scammer has access to your personal information or to your computer. But, generally speaking you'll want to let your bank and/or other relevant entities such as the credit bureaus or gift card issuers know immediately. To minimize your losses, 'Time is of the essence,' Fletcher said. You also might want to consult a consumer law attorney who specializes in consumer rights and consumer fraud to see what your next best steps are. 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Yahoo
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Former FBI Agents Are Exposing The Wildest Secrets They Can Reveal Without Killing Us, And Holy Crap
As an avid Criminal Minds-watcher, I've always wondered what it was actually like to work as an FBI agent. A while back, Reddit user mr_squirell asked, "FBI/CIA agents of Reddit, what's something that you can tell us without killing us?" Here's what they said: Note: Obviously we can't confirm all of these stories, but these people are supposedly speaking from their own experiences as alleged government employees. 1."I worked with a woman who was a former NSA. We would always beg her to tell us stuff, but she never did. The one thing she did say, though, was that during training, they show them a video of a bunch of things they've found out about and stopped. She said she hardly slept for two weeks after watching that." —jseego 2."My dad worked for GCHQ in the '80s doing voice recognition, and he can't say anything more for another decade. The technology used that lets Siri and Alexa recognize you today was also being used in the '80s... Just a bit slower..." —arabidopsis Related: 3."I was an analyst, not an agent/officer. 85% of all classified material is classified because of how it was collected, not because it is juicy/useful. Yes, your boss and co-workers said that stuff about you." —ben70 4."We are all told never to use sites like Reddit. Social media in general is pretty much a no-go." —Throwaway93ee90299 5."An ex-Company man once told me that the movie Get Smart was more accurate than James Bond." —spiff2268 6."I talked with some CIA recruiters towards the end of college and almost applied earnestly after a large group Q&A and then a much smaller one. The thing that stuck out to me was that the guys said most CIA agents are out of shape and have limited combat training with guns or hand-to-hand. They made it clear that it's the military that uses force. If confronted, they were trained to immediately surrender or to drop their bags and run if possible." —dring157 Related: 7."If you go through the FBI interview process, it takes a while. Chances are, you're going to have to spend some time working on crimes against children, which is really tough, and most people don't want to do it." —thermobollocks 8."My dad worked for the government, and he told me that any time he had a meaningful interaction with someone who wasn't American (i.e. going over to my friend's house for Lunar New Year or going on vacation to Canada), he had to report it all, and if he saw anything suspicious." —AudiKitty "Yep. I went through a clearance upgrade and got asked about a couple of people that I know through friends who I didn't include on my paperwork and if I knew their background." —derpyfox 9."I worked with the Australian Federal police with the spider squad doing 'computer stuff' for them in regards to pedophiles and finding trafficking victims. 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This led to her having an ongoing partnership with the FBI for the last several years. It turns out the FBI started tracking animal abuse cases about 10-15 years ago due to the incredibly high correlation between abusing animals when you're young and becoming a serial violent offender as an adult." —TheDongerNeedsFood 12."I have a relative who retired from the NSA a few years ago. She has talked about a few things in generalities, nothing specific. Among them: Alcoholism in general is rife in the agency. When you cannot speak to anyone outside the agency about your work, it becomes nearly impossible to confide in anyone close to you. Even if you have close work friends or family, you have to be careful what you say because not everyone is read into every program. Two people can sit next to each other in the same office, working on the same subject for months, and never talk about it with each other, even though they're close friends outside the agency. So people turn to the bottle. Her husband worked for a different government agency and also had a Top Secret-SCI clearance, but she couldn't talk about her work with him (nor could he with her, but his didn't involve the intelligence community)." —NetworkLlama 13."Want to work for them? Prepare to do a fair amount of paper work. The form will ask for each of your employer's contact information, contact information of friends, your history of addresses, etc. They will then send an agent to interview a number of these people. Next, you have to take a psychological exam and be interviewed by a psychologist. Finally, you'll have one last interview with a polygraph and a professional lie detector." —Sw0rDz 14."The agency employs psychiatrists who are cleared to be read into almost any program. Going to them, though, is often seen as a mark of shame among other agency employees, so they are not used nearly as often as they should be." —NetworkLlama Related: 15."Properly secret programs and operations are never named in any way that indicates what they are actually about. They're generally just two words chosen at random and that would rarely come up in normal conversation, stuff like 'Cracked Gorilla' (which I just made up off the top of my head)." —xxkoloblicinxx 16."I applied to be an accountant at the FBI out of college. On the first or second page of the application, it asks if you have ever done any illegal drug. Not wanting to lie, I said yes, and it immediately ended the application process. It's shocking to me that there are so many FBI agents, and absolutely none of them have ever smoked weed." —scotchglass22 finally, "Anyone who is a US citizen can apply to join the CIA. It isn't that hard. If you have any kind of degree in computer science, statistics, engineering, or accounting, and don't have anything that would mess up your getting a clearance, getting a job would be relatively easy there. Working at the CIA is far more boring than you would think." —Intrepid-Client9449 Responses have been edited for length/clarity. So, to all the former FBI and CIA workers out there. What are some other secrets you can share about the job? Let us know in the comments below. Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, share your submission in the form below. Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds: Also in Internet Finds:
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Kohberger prosecutor reveals crucial moment: ‘Everything hinged on that argument'
Failure wasn't an option. With the entire case against Bryan Kohberger on the line, an Idaho prosecutor held steady and helped convince a judge to allow controversial DNA evidence to stand – despite the FBI violating its own policy to obtain it. Jeff Nye, chief of the criminal division at the Idaho Attorney General's Office, was the legal big gun brought in to back up Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson as Kohberger's defense threw a "kitchen sink" strategy at the court – challenging everything and hoping something would stick. "Just pure evil is the way that I would describe him," Nye said of Kohberger. "I think it was surreal, especially going up to Latah County, you know, small courtroom, small town. When I kind of get into my groove, everything else kind of melts away. I forget kind of the external details, but then I go to sit down for my argument and I see him sitting there, and I immediately think about what he did that night and the horrible, horrible acts that he committed against these totally innocent people." One of Nye's key contributions was overcoming the defense's challenges to investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) evidence – which the FBI used to tip investigators off to Kohberger for the first time in what was revealed to be a controversial move that the defense tried to have precluded from trial. "It was critical," Nye told Fox News Digital. "I mean, the stakes could not have been higher in this case on that issue." State police and the independent lab Othram had been working on IGG leads until Dec. 10, 2022, when the FBI stepped in and submitted the crime scene DNA sample to a commercial genetics database designed to help people track their family history. While technically a violation of the bureau's own internal policies and the service's terms of use, the court said the evidence could stand and knocked down Kohberger's arguments that the IGG technique had violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Nye had argued that the policy in question "does not impose any legal limitations on otherwise lawful investigative or prosecutorial activities." The judge on the case ultimately agreed that it had been a valid investigatory tactic. "I struggle with the idea that DNA left at a crime scene, that there's any expectation of privacy," Idaho Judge Steven Hippler told Kohberger's lawyers in January. The FBI previously declined to comment on the issue and instead pointed Fox News Digital to Hippler's Feb. 17 order, which found investigators had not violated Kohberger's constitutional rights and allowed the IGG evidence to remain in play. Nye, who argued in favor of the evidence for the prosecution, revealed to Fox News Digital that it would have been "devastating" if Hippler ruled in favor of the defense. "It would be devastating, because it wouldn't just be the DNA that goes out, the match at least, to Mr. Kohberger. It would be all of the fruit that came from that match. And that's a lot of things," he told Fox News Digital. "That's all the Cellebrite stuff, because they don't have his devices to review if they never made the identification. That's, all of his cellphone records, you know, those warrants were issued based on the identification that was made from the DNA. So all of that's gone. It would have put the state in a very bad position to move forward in this case." The IGG argument ended up being the biggest of his career, he said – and that's coming from a Georgetown-educated prosecutor who has argued homicide cases in front of the Idaho Supreme Court. "The other thing that made me a little bit nervous is when you're arguing Fourth Amendment issues, even if the state loses and the court finds that there was a violation of the Fourth Amendment, there are some exceptions to the exclusionary rule that the state can sometimes argue..." he said. "In my brief and an oral argument, we didn't even assert an exception to the exclusionary rule, because there just wasn't one that could apply, and so everything hinged on that argument that this did not violate the Fourth Amendment." If he failed, prosecutors could have lost access to the IGG and any evidence derived from it or from search warrants based on it, he said. He also had out-of-state decisions that went in the prosecution's favor, but it was the first time the controversy had come up in Idaho. He was nervous – at least before he stepped in front of the judge. "Once you get into a back and forth with the court, or at least once I do, that kind of melts away, and I can focus on the argument," he told Fox News Digital. Detectives said during a news briefing after Kohberger's sentencing that they believed they would still have identified the suspect if he hadn't left DNA at the scene. They had his car, and they said they would have found him eventually. On Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger entered an off-campus house at the University of Idaho and killed Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. He dropped a Ka-Bar knife sheath at the crime scene, near Mogen's hip. And his DNA on the snap generated the lead that brought police to the killer in December 2022. Officially called a "tip" in IGG terms, the DNA match was confirmed when police swabbed Kohberger's cheek upon his arrest at his parents' house in Pennsylvania. After years of denying the allegations, Kohberger's defense took a major turn in July. Having failed to have the IGG thrown out or to have the potential death penalty removed ahead of trial, in large part to Nye's work on the case, Kohberger pleaded guilty. "I wanted to hear him say that, and he finally did," Nye said. "By the time of the sentencing, I had decided myself, I'm done with him. I want nothing else to do with him. I don't care what he's thinking, I do not care what he's doing, and so I made a very conscious effort at the sentencing to not ever look at him, to not pay him any attention, and instead to focus on the victims as they gave their impact statements." The now-convicted murderer received four consecutive sentences of life in prison with no parole – one for each of the first-degree murder charges he faced – plus another 10 years for burglary. As part of the plea deal, he waived his rights to appeal and to seek a sentence reduction. After Idaho AG Raul Labrador took office in 2023, he promoted Nye to run the criminal division in part because of his plan to revamp how the department works with county prosecutors, offering them assistance on major cases in an about-face from policy under the prior administration, which would either take full control over cases or avoid getting involved at all. Before the promotion, he said he led the special prosecutions unit and had a ground-level view of what smaller jurisdictions were asking for when they came to the state for help. It made sense, he said, to want to have control over a case, but he also believes that a community's ability to bring killers to justice should not be based on its population and budget. "I personally feel pretty strongly that the state should step in in these bigger cases and offer to assist," he said. "And so that's what happened in this case." Nye, deputy AG Madison Gourley and former deputy AG Ingrid Batey, who is now a member of the Canyon County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, all assisted on behalf of the attorney general's office. Thompson, the Latah County prosecuting attorney, led the case. His senior deputy, Ashley Jennings, also played a major role, handling a massive discovery process and battling more of Kohberger's pretrial motions. And former U.S. Attorney Joshua D. Hurwit was commissioned as a special deputy prosecutor to assist if the case had gone to trial.
