Why did she pack a bag, grab her key and leave the house?
By AmberLynn
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
United States
July 2, 2019 8:30pm CST
It was late at night in Shelby, North Carolina when Asha Degree got out of bed, quietly packed some things and left her home. Her brother, O'Bryant, who was sleeping in a bed in the same room, thought that his sister had just gotten up to use the bathroom.
Her mother, Iquilla, looked in on her children early the next morning and thought that maybe Asha had gone downstairs.
She wasn't there. Asha's grandmother lived across the street so they called over to her house but the grandmother hadn't seen her either. That's when Iquilla threw the phone at her husband, threw open the door and ran down the road screaming her child's name.
Asha would be seen by a few people that night but none of them had actively tried to stop her. One man, a trucker, had turned around and followed her for a little ways intent on seeing if she needed help but the girl ran into the woods and he hadn't followed.
Her home life was pleasant and she was a happy child. Why then, had she left? No sign of forced entry, no sign that she had been taken against her will. She took her house key with her, which gives the illusion that she had intended to come home again.
She had been reading "The Whipping Boy" By Sid Fleischman in school. It is a children's book about two kids who run away from home but eventually return. Was that her intention? To go on an adventure but return?
It’s difficult being a parent. Your job is to raise protect your child(ren) and do your best to raise them the right way. However, the outside world is hard to avoid, and it will always come …
7 people like this
7 responses
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
3 Jul 19
YEs, well maybe not creepy but definitely very sad.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 19
@sophie09 I wish children didn't go missing, didn't run away and end up hurt. I wish that there wasn't so much hate, fear and violence in this world.
1 person likes this
@sophie09 (34230)
• Indonesia
3 Jul 19
@ScribbledAdNauseum of course it is sad too
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@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
3 Jul 19
I think she was running to get away from the trucker. Stranger Danger and all of that.
I've read several different articles about this. They've never figured out what has happened, but they think she might have gotten into a car with someone eventually.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
3 Jul 19
@JustBhem She was 9 years old. This happened in 2000 I believe.
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@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
19 Jul 19
I have read about this case. It sounds like it was her own decision to leave her home, and the question is what happened afterwards. Some people think that someone abducted her or killed her on purpose. Other people think that she was hit by a car, the person didn't intend to kill her, but it happened and then the person got rid of her body.
Why did she leave her house? Was it an adventure (inspired by the book?) that went wrong? I guess that could be the reason. Someone suggested that she was going to meet someone, but I don't know about that.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
20 Jul 19
You know, I had not thought that she could have been hit by a car and the body gotten rid of. That's very possible. I feel so sorry for the family. Her brother is a father now himself and has a child the age she was when she disappeared. They hold out hope that she is still alive but I think it's better for them to grieve and let her go. I do not think she will ever be found.
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@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
20 Jul 19
@ScribbledAdNauseum I saw that an age progression photo of her had been made, but I agree with you, I don't think that the family is going to see her again. Of course there are cases where people are found many years later, but I don't really believe that it is going to happen in this case.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
21 Jul 19
@Porcospino I do not think so either. She was either ran over by a car or someone picked her up. I do not believe her to be alive, but if she is? Then I do not think she will ever come forward.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
3 Jul 19
Yes, she left her home late at night and was never seen again. Years later they came across evidence that made them believe she eventually got in someone's car. I read somewhere that her brother now has a child that is the same age as the girl was when she disappeared.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
3 Jul 19
I was wondering that myself. From the way I understood it, she had finished the book on Friday and it was Monday when she went missing. Maybe she had been thinking about the book while the storm was going on and decided she wanted to explore.
1 person likes this
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
4 Jul 19
@ScribbledAdNauseum Sometimes young people are attracted by what they read and they want to experience an adventure.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
4 Jul 19
She was 9 years old. From what I've read, it seems everyone thinks she was fine, hadn't been bothered or scared until she ran into the forest. Then it seems she must have eventually met up with a car, and that's the last they know. This happened in 2000. Her brother now has his own child, the same age as his sister was when she disappeared.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
4 Jul 19
@ScribbledAdNauseum that's so sad. I doubt she has survived all these years.
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
5 Jul 19
@ScribbledAdNauseum i think believing that she is alive is having false hope.
@RasmaSandra (98072)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
3 Jul 19
Sounds very mysterious and yes, it sounds like she might have thought to go on an adventure. But after all this time has gone by I doubt if she will ever be found.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
3 Jul 19
We can only hope that she's still alive and leading a happy life, or that if she did die, that she didn't suffer.
I do think that she went on an adventure and had every intention of going home again.
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