The department announced the combined reward was raised to $75,000.
SHELBY, N.C. — It’s been over 25 years since Asha Degree disappeared from her home in Cleveland County, and the agencies involved in investigating the case announced an increase in the reward for information in connection to Asha.
Asha, who was 9 years old at the time, left her family’s home on the night of Valentine’s Day in 2000. There have been multiple developments in the case over the years, but none of them have led to the discovery of Asha’s whereabouts.
On Friday, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office posted a video ahead of National Missing Children’s Day saying its office is committed to finding Asha.
“It’s everybody’s goal in the community to find out what happened to Asha Degree and bring her home,” Lieutenant Jordan Bowen said. “With the tight-knit community; we all want the same resolution. We all want answers. We want to bring her home. Still, even today, especially 25 years later with the momentum, tons and tons of work, tons of resources, money, just thoughts, ideas, new technologies are going into play, and it’s a good thing. Hopefully it brings us closure here soon.”
RELATED: TIMELINE: Asha Degree disappearance
The department announced in that video the combined reward was raised to $75,000. The FBI increased its reward to $50,000, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office and community continue to offer $20,000, and the State Bureau of Investigation just added an additional $5,000 to bring the combined reward to up to $75,000.
“It is the hope and desire of every employee here at the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office along with our federal and state partners to bring Asha home, to bring closure,” Sheriff Alan Norman said.
On Friday, April 4, 2025, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office announced that it was partnering with multiple agencies to search a property in Lincoln County in connection with Degree’s disappearance.
“We’ve been working this case for 25 years, constant work” Chief Deputy Durwin Briscoe said. “But just recently, I’m sure everyone has seen about some of the things that happened around September. Based on that, the information that we got, we continue to work with the FBI, State Bureau of Investigation.”
Briscoe is referencing Sept. 18, 2024, when the department announced Asha was a “victim of homicide” and her body was “concealed,” according to search warrants. Investigators said a hair sample found in Degree’s backpack in 2001 led them to the home on Cherryville Road. David Teddy, the attorney for the property owner who he identified as Roy Dedmon, said the investigation would soon reveal a now-deceased individual was responsible for what happened to Asha. Teddy declined to elaborate further on why he believed that.
“It’s never been a cold case,” Detective Tim Adams insisted. “We’ve always worked it as if it happened yesterday. The technology that was available in 2000 was not what it is today. So in 2001, her bookbag was found along Highway 18 in Morganton, resources are brought in, that evidence was tested.”
The case has captured national attention since the beginning. 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.
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