Asha Degree was nine when she disappeared from her family’s home in Shelby, North Carolina, in the early morning hours of February 14, 2000. Her father checked on Asha and her brother about 2:30 a.m. and found them sleeping. By the time her mother went to wake them for school at 6:30 a.m., Asha was gone. She had packed a bookbag with clothes and personal items and walked out into heavy rain and wind.

Between about 3:45 and 4:15 a.m. two motorists, including a truck driver, saw a small child matching Asha’s description walking south on North Carolina Highway 18. One driver turned back to approach, and the child ran off the roadway into a wooded area. Days later some of Asha’s belongings were found in a shed near that area. In August 2001 her bookbag was recovered at a construction site about 26 miles north of Shelby; it had been wrapped in two black trash bags and contained school library material and a T-shirt her parents did not recognize.

Local, state and federal authorities have pursued leads over the years, including a reported sighting of Asha entering a dark green early 1970s Lincoln Continental Mark IV or Ford Thunderbird and the execution of search warrants and seizures of items of interest. No resolution has been announced. If anyone saw Asha or noticed a matching vehicle in that area in February 2000, please share what was seen.