Latest news with #AshaDegree
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
25 years later, reward raised to $75,000 in disappearance of Asha Degree
SHELBY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — As we approach National Missing Children's Day, the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office announced an update in the long-running Asha Degree case. The reward for information leading to answers in her 2000 disappearance has been raised to a combined $75,000. Asha Degree was just 9 years old when she vanished from her home in Shelby on Valentine's Day 2000. Now, 25 years later, investigators said they are making 'significant progress' thanks to advances in forensic technology and renewed public attention. 'We recently retested evidence using new advancements in technology and continue to make significant progress,' the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office shared in a statement Friday. 'To highlight our ongoing search to find Asha, the combined reward was raised to $75,000. Take a moment today to pray for Asha, her family, our investigative team, and our community.' The increased reward follows recent searches tied to properties previously owned by Roy Dedmon, a name that has surfaced multiple times in this decades-long investigation. In April, investigators, including agents from the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), searched an old, abandoned schoolhouse at the intersection of Highway 274 and NC-182 in Lincoln County. Property records confirm Dedmon owned the site from 1991 to 2004. While authorities have not disclosed what, if anything, was found, past search warrants suggest that investigators believe Asha was killed, her death hidden, and her body has never been recovered. Searches also took place last September on properties owned by Roy and Connie Dedmon in Cleveland County. Investigators said at the time that they believed the Dedmons may have helped conceal Asha's death. An attorney for Roy Dedmon has denied any involvement in the case. Earlier this year, newly released search warrants revealed text messages from the Dedmons' daughter that included what detectives referred to as 'a possible admission of guilt.' Witnesses reported seeing Asha walking along NC Highway 182 early on the morning of her disappearance and entering a green 1970s Lincoln Thunderbird. Despite years of searches, interviews, and forensic efforts, her fate remains unknown. The girl who came to be known as 'Shelby's Sweetheart' has never been far from the community's mind. Tips can be submitted by contacting the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4822, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or online at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Yahoo
Reward increases in Asha Degree case 25 years after her disappearance
Authorities announced on Friday that the combined reward in the ongoing search for Asha Degree is now $75,000. 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 VIDEO: Neighbors highlight new search for Asha Degree
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Yahoo
Another search underway in connection with 25-year disappearance of Asha Degree
LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. () — Authorities are conducting another search in connection with the disappearance of Asha Degree. At 9 years old, Asha Degree went missing on Valentine's Day 2000 from her home in Shelby. She was last seen walking along NC Highway 182. Investigators in Lincoln County are searching a property and several buildings at Highway 274 and NC Highway 182 concerning the case, the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office confirmed on April 4, 2025. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office assisted with the search. Officials say the property owner consented to the search and that that person is not connected with the case. CCSO said the nature and outcome of the search will not be released at this time. This comes after search warrants revealed text messages and a possible admission of guilt in connection with Asha's disappearance. The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) are in charge of the investigation. Anyone with information directly connected with Asha's disappearance is asked to call the Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4756. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Yahoo
‘Like your memory': What investigators could learn from phones seized in the Asha Degree case
We showed you some of the text messages between a family at the center of the investigation into Asha Degree's disappearance, but getting the family's physical phones could push the case forward. It's been 25 years since Degree was reported missing. Channel 9′s Ken Lemon got search warrants this week with bombshell new information. Investigators talked to a man who says he heard a daughter of one of the suspects in the case say, 'I killed Asha Degree.' Investigators then got that daughter's text messages from the cloud. PREVIOUS COVERAGE 'I caused this': Warrants reveal text messages after recent search in Asha Degree case Investigators believe Asha Degree was killed and concealed, new warrants reveal Attorney: Dead person may hold key to 'circumstances of Asha Degree's disappearance' Retired FBI agent haunted by Asha Degree case Now, experts say that analyzing the daughter's phone could tell investigators so much more. 'It's the one device that people keep on them at all times,' said Skip Graham with Spy-Tec in Belmont. 'Your phone is like your memory, it's like having another brain and you carry it around with you, and you tell that phone a lot of secrets.' Investigators believe secrets stored on cell phones can tell them what happened to Degree. They believe the 9-year-old was killed not long after she left her home. Police believe Roy and Connie Dedmon of Shelby helped cover up the crime to protect a daughter who reportedly once said she killed Asha. According to search warrants for her iCloud account, she texted her sister last September after investigators searched their parents' property. She said, 'The theory is I did it. Accident. Covered it up.' Graham says they can see much more now that they have seized her actual phone. 'When you delete something on your phone, it's not really gone. It's still there until you run out of hard drive space,' Graham said. Clark Walton, a former threat analyst with the CIA who has given key forensic data testimony in major trials, says a phone examination can also provide detailed GPS information and more. 'A minute-by-minute what was happening on that device,' Walton said. They can even see how the phone was held each time, plus any information on apps hidden from the cloud. He said they can pull the information in less than a day, then the work begins. 'Looking through it, making sense of it, coordinating it with other pieces of evidence in your case can take some time,' Walton said. Multiply that work by three. Investigators now have Roy Dedmon's cell phone and the phones of two of his daughters, including the one at the center of their investigation. They'll have access to those phones for about a week. (VIDEO >> 'I caused this': Warrants reveal text messages after recent search in Asha Degree case)
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Yahoo
Where the Asha Degree case stands 25 years after disappearance
CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Investigators say they are 'closer than ever' to finding the truth about what happened to Asha Degree who went missing in Cleveland County on Valentine's Day in 2000. Authorities credit advancements in technology, specifically in DNA testing, in discovering new leads. 'We were able to acquire court-ordered search warrants, multiple search warrants where we went out and started a phase of the investigation to try to find those answers,' said Cleveland County Investigator Tim Adams. Cleveland County search could be linked to cold case disappearance of Asha Degree Retesting DNA found on Asha's bookbag led to targeted searches on five properties in three counties in September 2024. The 9-year-old girl was last seen walking along N.C. Highway 18. Witnesses said she ran into the woods when a car stopped nearby. During the search in Sept. 2024, officials towed away an older model green car, similar to the 1970s Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark IV officials announced they were looking for in connection with the case in 2016. Warrants show evidence linking multiple people connected to Shelby residents Roy and Connie Dedmon to the case. The Dedmon's attorney maintains the couple had nothing to do with Asha's disappearance. No arrests have been made in the homicide or cover-up, but Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman said they are committed to finding the person or people responsible. 'I can assure you we're going to work this case all the way to the very end for some type of closure,' said Norman. 'Closure not only for the family but for our community and for the sheriff's office, as long as I'm your sheriff.' Investigators say as time has changed the tools they work with, it also may have tampered with any fear potential witnesses may have coming forward. Sheriff confirms searches across Cleveland County connected to Asha Degree cold case 'Now that it's 25 years later, technology has changed so I'm sure that some of the individuals we've talked to, some relationships have changed. They might be in different portions of their life now where they may feel more of an ease to come out and want to give us information,' said Cleveland County Chief Deputy Durwin Briscoe. Sheriff Norman said it is a matter of time before they have an arrest. 'What I would say to you is, 'come and knock on our door before we come knock on your door,'' he said. Authorities encourage anyone with information to call the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4822 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI. Information that leads to an arrest may earn a reward of up to $45,000. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
