Into the Darkness

0:00 Speaker 1: True crime story the disappearance of Asha Degree. February fourteenth,

0:05 Speaker 1: two thousand, Shelby, North Carolina, a quiet neighborhood, a stormy night,

0:11 Speaker 1: and the disappearance of a nine year old girl who

0:14 Speaker 1: walked into the darkness and was never seen again. Asha

0:17 Speaker 1: Degree was a bright, kind and energetic fourth grade student

0:21 Speaker 1: who loved basketball, reading, and spending time with her family.

0:26 Speaker 1: She lived with her parents and older brother in what

0:29 Speaker 1: everyone described as a loving home. But in the early

0:32 Speaker 1: hours of Valentine's Day morning, something unimaginable happened. Around two

0:37 Speaker 1: thirty am, during a powerful storm with heavy rain and

0:40 Speaker 1: strong winds, Asha quietly got out of bed. She packed

0:44 Speaker 1: a small backpack with personal items, put on a light jacket,

0:48 Speaker 1: and left her house. No one knows why her parents

0:51 Speaker 1: were asleep and had no idea their daughter had walked

0:54 Speaker 1: out into the night. Shortly afterward, two passing motorists reported

0:59 Speaker 1: seeing a small child walking alone along Highway eighteen. One

1:03 Speaker 1: driver even turned around because they believed the child was

1:06 Speaker 1: in danger, but when they came back, Asha was gone.

1:09 Speaker 1: Authorities launched one of the largest searches in the area's history.

1:14 Speaker 1: Police volunteers and rescue teams searched forests, roads, and nearby properties.

1:20 Speaker 1: Days later, investigators found Asha's backpack buried near a highway

1:25 Speaker 1: construction site, more than twenty miles away from her home.

1:28 Speaker 1: Inside were personal items, including books and clothing, but Asha

1:33 Speaker 1: was nowhere to be found. The biggest mystery was why

1:36 Speaker 1: she left. There were no signs that she had been

1:39 Speaker 1: forced from her home. Her family insisted she was happy

1:43 Speaker 1: and had no reason to run away. Investigators found no

1:46 Speaker 1: clear evidence of an abduction, yet the idea that a

1:49 Speaker 1: child would willingly walk alone into a stormy night remains

1:53 Speaker 1: difficult to understand. Over the years, several possible clues appeared.

1:57 Speaker 1: Witnesses reported seeing a vehicle near the air area where

2:00 Speaker 1: Asha was last spotted. Some people came forward with possible information,

2:05 Speaker 1: but none of the leads solved the case. More than

2:08 Speaker 1: two decades later, Asha's disappearance remains one of North Carolina's

2:13 Speaker 1: most heartbreaking mysteries. A little girl stepped onto a dark

2:16 Speaker 1: road carrying a backpack and somehow vanished forever. The question

2:21 Speaker 1: that still haunts investigators is where did Asha degree go

2:25 Speaker 1: that night?