Asha Degree /// Part 2 /// 476 | Forensic Files

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[Music] on March 14 2000 it's now been one month since nine-year-old Asia degree
disappeared on this day Asia's parents appear on The Montel Williams TV show the degree family along with Asia's
basketball coach his name is Chad Wilson they did interviews on The Montel Williams show that aired that day and we
also have America's Most Wanted and the Oprah Winfrey show that did segments on the case as well on March 22nd the
degree family put up a billboard at the spot where Jeff the our eyewitness said that he saw Asia run into the woods that
same day Sheriff Crawford stated that his Department was trying to rule out a handful of unnamed suspects they
contacted local sex offenders spoke to to everyone who may have had contact with Asia the FBI created a
psychological profile of Asia's abductor which has never been released to the public I can't remember and I was
scouring my notes to try to find the exact date Captain but there was a statement from the sheriff sheriff
Crawford at some point this would be within weeks of her disappearance saying that the the parents were clear to
suspects are no longer considered to be suspects remember we had him stating within 12 hours or 24 hours of her going
missing that we're looking for clues in everyone's a suspect well at some point at least on the record in that newspaper
on that day he says the parents are no longer suspects right and just like you talked about before we
we have no dog scent or any real evidence other than eyewitnesses to back up the idea that she left the house on
her own now now how she did that I think that is debatable but but we know that at some point
we we have to trust these eyewitnesses because there's so many of them and they're all their stories seem very
similar not only are the stories similar they're reporting these independently of
one another which adds to The credibility and then when you go to the areas where they're saying that they saw
Asia we're finding Asia's belongings right so I mean it's it's this happened I mean yeah confirmation of the
eyewitness accounts right so what that means is investigators believe that Asia left
her residence of her own accord but of course why and for what is really anyone's guess we mentioned yesterday
that people have said she was upset about a basketball game I I I just find that incredibly
difficult to believe that the outcome of that basketball game would would really I mean look it's cold and
raining it's a thunderstorm as you pointed out yesterday people have said that she was scared of the dark scared
of dogs she's nine that's the thing that we need to like Circle and underline a bazillion
times even the national Center for missing exploited children say that typically they rarely see anyone run
away under the age of 12. so a basketball game I'm upset about a basketball game but I'm scared of the
dark and scared of dogs well I'm scared of Storms and that's that's what I keep coming
back to if one were to run away this is not the ideal time to do it it seems to me like if there was
something going on at your home or you're upset about a basketball game or what have you
you could pick a different time to run away you could go well maybe I'll wait 24 more hours maybe it won't be raining
then yeah and we don't have anybody after the game other than the initial shock of her
losing or the initial emotions of her losing everybody says she bounced back and she
was fine during her brother's game she was fine during a sleepover and one thing that we don't have that's not
public information but law enforcement might be fully aware of this one thing we are not armed with is the
knowledge of when that backpack was packed up that could be fairly important and we
got to keep in mind too law enforcement may know this because they're not going into this blind she's a nine-year-old
child her parents are very involved in her life it's very easy to go to Mom and Dad
especially within those first few hours these are the questions you're asking we
need to try to determine what she may have taken with her so Mom Dad tell us what what items of
hers are missing from her room and so that's how they come up with this is what she probably took with her now
based off of the items you believe that that she took with her that are missing from your home
you can then put together a different type of timeline of when she potentially packed up that bag
it's very easy for mom to say hey I watched that basketball uniform right after a game I do it every time so she
must have packed it up afterwards or she didn't wear this to the slumber party you see where I'm going with this it you
can determine these things and law enforcement May in fact know that my suspicion here one thing that's been
pointed out is that her fourth grade class at falston elementary school they were recently reading The Whipping Boy
book which is a book that I remember we read when I was a kid well when I was a kid in school this is by Sid Fleischmann
the book centers around a story of a prince and a common child who receives lashes on behalf of the prince
so if the prince does something bad it's the it's the common child that gets physically punished for
this the two create this unlikely friendship and they decide to run away together and they go
off on some adventures and then they both return safely later so some people pointed out maybe maybe this is a
possibility maybe she's going off on some Adventure I I don't know I can I feel confident about certain things in
this case and what I can say is I feel confident that for her to have left in the middle of the night under those
conditions weather conditions she's either a running away from something or B running to something there was
something that was uh of urgency that that required leaving that night yeah I again I disagree but we can argue to a
blue in the face on whether or not she was sleepwalking or where she was heading to I just don't know what be so
urgent or what kind of con somebody would have to um coax this girl out that's Afraid of the
Dark afraid of storms afraid of dogs nine years old to leave her house in the middle of the night without telling
anybody in the summer of 2000 just a few months after she went missing there was
a major tip that came in for the case and this came out of the county jail in Mecklenburg
an inmate his name Baron Ramsey started making collect calls to the Charlotte Observer and the Cleveland County
Sheriff's Office insisting that he knew what happened to the girl he's 32 years old at the time of this event he says
that he and another man were heading back to Shelby driving on NC 18 in the early morning hours of February 14th
this after buying drugs and Hickory which would be 28 miles north of Fallston 9.1 miles of that would be on this
highway of nc18 he says that the other man was driving a pickup truck and that they struck a girl as she was crossing
the road he says that the girl was still alive when the driver put her in the back of the pickup Ramsay says that the
driver dropped him off at home and left with the girl a few days later Ramsay said that the man returned to take him
fishing on Moss lake near Kings Mountain Ramsay says that he helped the man obviously he knows this man's name it's
just not printed in the paper he helped the man dump the now dead girl's body in
the lake the king's Mountain area is about 19 miles south east of Fallston of Aisha's home Ramsay says he was
reporting This months later because one his conscience was bothering him and two
he's facing a long federal prisons day and he was hoping for a deal Ramsay robbed a Bessemer City Bank in April of
2000 so after the girl went missing investigators searched nc-18 for car parts and found nothing they're looking
for evidence that there would have been a hit and run or some type of accident they were doing that the day that she
went missing and the the day after they based off of his statements they dragged Moss Lake twice and even used an
infrared underwater camera and dive teams but found nothing they found zero yeah no evidence of Asia at all in
October of 2000 they moved the inmate they moved Baron Ramsey to the Cleveland County Jail
because Ramsay tells them hey let's put me here we can arrange for a meeting with the driver of the pickup
that that hit the girl and had me help him dispose of her body yeah we can have him come and meet me here
okay so they move him to this Cleveland County jail once he's there Ramsay along
with other inmates they plan to escape but somehow the guards figure out their plan and they stop this Escape Plan yeah
because they figured out their dumbasses so the authorities are left wondering look she's not where you said she was or
not where you said we would find her was this all just a lie so you could get to Cleveland County jail and try to make
an escape and if you can't make the Escape is this is this like a really good plan because
then maybe you could throw this other guy under the bus and receive some type of deal from us whether we found her or
not typical criminal the authorities say that that they were suspicious of him from the get-go they were suspicious of
him especially after this Escape Plan was discovered and he failed several polygraph tests in regards to the
information that he provided to surprise enforcement so surprised it doesn't seem
like there is there's anything really here in fact authorities have been on the record stating that they do not
believe Ramsay at all and they think he had nothing to do with why she is still missing and her family has said the same
thing too that they they just don't believe this Ramsay guy's story yeah but the the point of contact though makes a
lot of sense to me because you hear about you know in the mara Murray case or Brian Shafer or something like that
where oh well maybe they just got hit by a vehicle and then somebody had to dispose of the body well what the what
would be the motive well when the guy is telling you well we we had a bunch of drugs and we're criminals anyways we got
a bunch of drugs now we got this girl that we hit I wouldn't believe that you would find a bunch of evidence because
she's nine she's small how much damage is she gonna do to that vehicle so the story starts out as plot as
plausible I believe plausible enough where the cop said we gotta see where this goes but like you
said the story starts falling apart pretty quickly well yeah and if you're gonna hope to receive any type of deal
at all or even if you're just trying to do some good at the very least maybe her body could
be where you say it's going to be yeah uh that would be a good starting point we know that not to be the case on
August 5th of that same year she's now been missing for several months and Asia would have celebrated her 10th birthday
February 14 2001 gets us up to the one year marker Asia's now been missing for one year their parents her parents have
their 13th year wedding anniversary and they said to the papers you know that's something we will no longer celebrate
um of course we're still married still in love with one another we just cannot celebrate anything right on that day
going forward August 3rd of that same year 2001. Terry Fleming he's the owner of Precision
Grading he's working on a construction project in neighboring Burke County he uncovered
Asia's missing book bag and how does he know that it's hers well it has her name
and telephone number and some reports State her address as well written in the bag hey and how far away was this from
where she went missing okay so the the book bag was located more than 26 miles from her family's home so this would be
North this is in a different direction from where she was seen walking that morning the general description of it is
this captain that buried off of Highway 18. the book bag was found 18 months after
Asia disappeared the book bag was double wrapped in black plastic trash bags found more than 26 miles from her
family's home in a different direction from where she had been walking the book bag was found off of nc18 about six
miles south of Morganton which is almost 30 miles north of the intersection of nc18 and NC 180. remember that's where
she was roughly seen last yeah it was found in a spot about 50 yards off of the highway here's a full description of
what was found in the bag although I would like to throw out a buyer beware here as I don't
think officially there was ever a full inventory of what was in the bag that was released to the public
but online this was the most comprehensive list that I could find so I thought it was worth mentioning so
they say that Asia's black book bag and black Tweety Bird purse were missing from her room after she
disappeared along with a pair of blue jeans with a red stripe black sneakers a long sleeved white shirt with purple
lettering a red vest with black trim black overalls with Tweety Bird on them and a long sleeve black and white shirt
also we have Asia's house key that would have been in her book bag now of course
investigators searched this area for several days after this find I mean this is a major find in the investigation all
they found in this area Captain was they found some animal bones which one would
expect to find they also found a pair of men's khaki pants that were found Jake from State Farm khaki pants thing is
super weird to me but the statement that they put out at the time was that they didn't believe that the pants had any
connection to Asia's book bag or to Asia's case yeah right and I don't know how they were able to determine that if
it's something that I mean you might be able to look at something and determine that it's been there for well over 18
months called science or maybe they have other reasons to believe that now well you also you have this book bag that is
put in two trash bags and buried so why wouldn't they take the same precautions with the pants
if they were connected that brings us to another piece here in the case where you really gotta you really gotta sift
through the details to have a full idea of what's going on because when I get rid of a pair of pants I put them in two
bags and I bury them all right off the freeway of course well so this guy that found them he he was working in the area
he's the owner of that that company this is an area that's been going through some changes and being worked on
for quite some time so a lot of people have questioned well why would anybody double bag
her book bag and then bury it some have even said that this is similar to a parent killing one's child and then
wrapping them up in a blanket and and placing them somewhere like some form of preservation
and no I think it's to possibly uh Guard from scent dogs or something well the other thing too is people say well if if
someone killed her why would they bother bagging double bagging this item before
burying it was it so that they could retrieve it at another time to preserve it as some kind of trophy or to not get
caught um I think what I go to is the the sheriff's statements at the time and I
found this to be very interesting because the story that's lived on for 20 years is that the bags were found buried
50 yards off of the the side of the highway the sheriff at the time said that because the the the land had been worked
and worked over several times he had evidence to believe that the bag that someone discarded this
that the item was double bagged and simply thrown out of a moving vehicle at some point and then it became buried
over time because they were working the land so that puts a whole different spin on
things and makes a lot more sense when you think about it rather than someone killing a child double bagging this
thing and burying it you the placing the item in trash bags seems to defeat the purpose of burying it right
but you do point out a good thing at the idea that maybe you're trying to hide the scent or any type of scent that
might might come from that but you're you're 26 miles away from the area in question well and the double bagging and
throwing out the window can make sense I would say if if you're double bagging it
maybe somebody's just less likely willing to try to rip open two bags to see what's in it they could just assume
that it's trash and discard of it on the side of the road yeah I think the placing it in a trash bag one serves the
purpose of concealing it until you have the opportunity to get rid of it and then
it conceals it further even after you've discarded it people see unfortunately uh we live in a world where people throw
[ __ ] out their Windows ass hats and it sits on the side of the highway filthy animals and so if you if you were to see
a book bag well that might draw someone's attention much much more than it would if someone saw a common black
trash bag now investigators with this finding announced that they considered Asia's
disappearance to be a criminal matter and Foul Play was suspected after the book bag's discovery of course that
surrounding area was thoroughly searched afterwards but other than the pants or the animal bones no additional evidence
was reportedly located at that time one thing that I found really interesting here captain and this is all
based around the finding of the book bag it was the sheriff's statement at the time he's kind of going through some of
the facts of the case and he's given us a little more information here so his statement was several drivers witnessed
her Asia walking South along North Carolina Highway 18 around 4 a.m but did not alert police her parents reported
her missing a few hours later when they woke up and found asha's bed empty more than a year later her book bag was
discovered buried along the same Highway where she was last seen walking based on our investigation we have
reason to believe that individuals in this community or the surrounding area have knowledge of or information
pertaining to The Disappearance of Asia very interesting to me that what he's saying in general there is now this area
where the book bags found is the point of our investigation rather than where she went missing from we
think someone in this area 26 miles north has information pertaining to Asia's case
foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] all right we're back a quick
announcement we will be at crime Con in Austin Texas our promo code is tcg10 for 10 off if you use our promo
code and also I will be going uh Nick cannot make it this year to Crime con UK on our promo code is the same TCG 10 for
10 off your tickets in January of 2014 detectives announced that they were looking into 57 year old Donald Ferguson
who was arrested for the 1990 rape and murder of seven-year-old Shalonda poll whose body was found behind an
elementary school in Greensboro North Carolina while investigating a seemingly unrelated sexual assault in 2013 the
authorities in South Carolina entered his DNA into a National Database and realized it matched the suspect's sample
in shalonda's case so there in South Carolina they're investigating a completely different
case they have some DNA that they throw into the system and they they come up with a
hit to this other victim right this murdered victim seven-year-old murder victim Shalonda Poole so authorities of
course are going to arrest this Donald Ferguson they try him for it he's found guilty but what this gives us here is a
potential suspect because they want to know what this guy would have been doing in February of 2000 yeah it's reported
that he was living about 40 miles from the city of Shelby at and around that time so he could have had something to
do I will throw this out there though in the the case of Shalonda poll she was a
neighbor a neighbor's daughter and her body was found fairly close to their home and unfortunately
when these cases are solved and I mean anybody can think back to cases that that they've heard elsewhere or seen on
TV a lot of times when it's younger victims like this especially young boys and girls it's often a neighbor
someone that has seen this child time and time again maybe doesn't maybe has some type of relationship with the
family maybe doesn't but it's usually someone that's in close proximity to to the victim themselves the old creepy
[ __ ] neighbor yeah so they they looked into him I don't know I know nothing has
come of it because uh we would be having a much different discussion here today that was back from 2014. and well one of
the things that you haven't got into is you know this was 2000 she was nine years old the the family didn't have a
family computer some people think that's odd and and today's standards I think that would be
a little strange for our family not to have some kind of access to the internet whether it's through a cell phone a
tablet or or some other means but in 2000 I didn't have a computer I don't think uh you know my parents were
divorced and I I don't think either one of them had a computer at the time or or
one that was working well or or had easy capabilities or easy access to the internet so the grooming or the
possibility that some uh pedo was in contact with her to get her to go out of her house that night would be
somebody that her the family would have had to know and again I don't think there's any evidence or was connected to
circles that the family would know about her school the church the basketball team yeah you're right if if some creep
lured this kid out of her house he didn't use it he didn't do it via computer into the home right and you're
right there are people like I've I've heard it and read it time and time again people
say Aisha had a very sheltered life oh no they just didn't have a computer and they think about how sheltered this is a
couple days before she goes missing she's at her aunt's house you know and then the next day she's at the
basketball and then she goes to her brother party that has almost a dozen kids there she's in Bible study classes
plays on the basketball team she goes to school right this is not a sheltered life this is an extremely normal life uh
her mother was on record at some point saying that they didn't have a computer because
um they didn't want any Pro you know they had small children 10 and 9 years old they didn't see the need for a
computer nor did they want to mess with any of the headaches of monitoring what the kids may be doing on the computer
yeah the other thing too sometimes if you can't afford something you just don't buy it I mean I was trying to
think I was going to say the same thing I was going to say Yeah in 2000 I didn't
have a computer either that doesn't mean that I was sheltered no I I had one it's
just it worked horribly I think it was one of those old Gateway computers that was was all jammed up
with Napster music yeah Napster music and porno and you know what and I couldn't afford to replace the thing
because I didn't make good money and they were expensive so there's it doesn't point to a sheltered life in my
opinion well you should have told your girlfriend not to download all that poor now all right back to the case so we
have the FBI that comes out and they announce a suspect vehicle which is believed to
be either an early 1970s Lincoln Continental Mark IV or possibly a Ford Thunderbird green in color with rust
around the wheel wells yeah I mean look if you take these two cars and put them side by side they look like the same car
just maybe a like this was the newer model and this is older model but they are different cars by different
manufacturers yeah very similar vehicles um I can understand why if somebody's reporting this to authorities that they
wouldn't be able to 100 percent say for certain that it was a Ford Thunderbird or a Lincoln Mark IV what I do find
extremely interesting about this tip is look she went missing in 2000 this is reported to be an early 1970s vehicle
that makes it not one of a kind but fairly unique yeah where if you could find this
vehicle or get a direct link to this vehicle you're going to have a bigger piece of
the pie to work with if you're an investigator now one thing that I find weird is that
there's no specifics given on where this new information came from and I want to
put new in air quotes there air quotations there new information is this something that they had for years
or was this in fact new information because I I've seen a lot of people argue that because it could be something
that they had a tip that they had early on and now that they're they're pulling this out of their back pocket and look
and you know we we see this all the time and we've heard John Douglas talk about
this these law enforcement agencies need to sometimes make a decision early on are
we going to use the public for help or not and if we are then this tips you know if this is not a new tip but
something they had early on this is something that would have been better on to to know early on because it's pretty
easy to get rid of a vehicle well and that's going to be my major hang up with this case and with the investigation
itself now when in their press release what is stated is that the vehicle was occupied two times I don't know what
that means the sheriff at the time this is Alan Mormon also said that the car was discovered by legwork
you know because they want to know where this new information is coming from it was discovered by legwork Between the
Sheriff's Office investigators and the FBI but would not go into any further detail about the new lead the direct
statement is that Asia may have been cited getting into a distinctive dark green vehicle early 1970s model car on
the night that she was last seen the vehicle which had rust around the wheel wells again is thought to have been a
Lincoln Mark IV or a Ford Thunderbird those photos pictures examples of those Vehicles come
up pretty regularly if you just Google Asia degrees name yeah we'll post those on all social media Facebook Instagram
and Twitter this is going to bring us up to October 2018. I I don't this case just leaves me
shaking my head uh for for many many reasons and I and I don't want to sound like I'm
Kermit the Frog being Uber critical of the Sheriff's Department but I I just can't help but under I just
don't understand this investigation this is when the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office detectives appealed for
information from the public about two items of Interest this was a book this is mcelligott's pool which is a
children's book by Dr Seuss and a New Kids on the Block concert T-shirt now an investigator said that these
items are vital clues in the Asia degree investigation at the time oh investigators would not say where these
items came from or why they believe them to be vital clues in Asia oh in her case
it was later revealed that these two items were found in her book bag that was found in August of 2001.
the book itself was later determined to have been borrowed and we know this per a stamp inside the the book the book was
borrowed from the Fallston Elementary School library in early 2000. the statement from the police and the
FBI is that Captain to tell you this makes me want to chug this beer and punch myself in the
face or punch yourself in the nuts they're stating that in the face Asia did not check this book out
they're also stating that they we don't know who checked it out because the records don't go back to the year 2000.
hmm holy [ __ ] let's explore all of the problems with everything that they just
said you can tell me that you know that the book was borrowed from the Fallston Elementary School library in early 2000
but you can't tell me who checked it out but you can tell me that it wasn't Asia
that seems awfully bizarre the records don't go back to 2000 well when did you start looking for the
records because now it's 2018. and you're saying the records don't go back to 2000. if these items did come
from the book bag like your website says yeah you found these items in August of
2001. you mean to tell me that the Fallston Elementary School didn't have records of the previous school year then
right right and if they didn't again how can you tell me that she didn't check out the book
it's it's absolutely just okay but the Bizarro yeah but the book to me is not that big of a mystery uh she checked it
out or somebody else checked it out but she had that book I believe she probably
had that book at her house when she left that night and it was in her book bag the the item that baffles me more is
this um New Kids on the Block shirt it almost looks like a nightie on on on some level and maybe he she could have
got it from somebody at that slumber party but because the only record that I have of anybody talking about the New
Kids on the Block shirt is her parents saying that's that wasn't her shirt she didn't own that sure okay well she was
at a slumber party with how many people but but they again I mean you would think they would would show that to all
persons involved to determine that it that it wasn't hers which is that's been the general statement that and that's
what was weird about when the book bag was found originally back in 2001 there was a statement by the the sheriff
saying when asked what was in the book bag or in the trash bags he says something like 90 of 90 or 99 I can't
remember which one it was of everything was that was found belonged to Asia and at the time nobody
knew what the hell that could mean and then later we fast forward to 17 years later when they're telling us
about this book that and and I get what you're saying I think of much more importance as the New
Kids on the Block t-shirt for the investigation I just find it incredibly weird that they would say hey this book
was checked out from her school library but she didn't check it out you know you
could simply say these items were found in her book bag tell us that in 2001 so we can actually
do something with the information not 17 years later and don't make it so damn convoluted about the book itself just
say it came from her school but we don't we we don't have any evidence that she is brought it with her or that it that
she checked it out it could have come from another source and by the way this new kid's on the Block shirt it had to
have come from another source because we've showed it to everybody that that knew her
and everyone says the same thing she had no reason to have that in her possession
in fact that shirt would have been that was from the 1989 1990 hanging tough World Tour that the New Kids on the
Block went you know went on this tour yeah absolutely classic she wasn't even born until August of two thousand
I'm so I'm sorry of 1990. still could be a fan I mean of a legendary band like that I mean well I get there but they're
out there don't you can we can we can we all agree that if the authorities and her family say that it's not hers it
wasn't hers yeah my only issue with that is again the I don't know the number of people
that were at the slumber party I believe personally that most of those items in our book bag were in our book bag it's
probably starting on the 11th and then going into the Sleep the slumber party because the the candies that her coach
gave her on the on the 12th you know we we found those so that's what also makes me believe oh yeah well
her basketball uniform would have been packed away as well right and and I agree 100 with you but I also want to
keep in mind this is something that law enforcement may know we've already seen time and time again they have
information on stuff in this case and they're just not releasing it to the public they may have confirmation from
Mom and or dad that that items were were packed at a different time and really really the cutoff is that
basketball uniform yeah possible because that's something that's that's very simple that we know that she she would
have had to have taken it out of a backpack at some point to wear it on Saturday and did it go right back into
the backpack afterwards or was it washed and put away in her room uh these are things that the parents in law
enforcement would know at the time here's my big big problem with this case it's time
and time again I I feel like the most crucial pieces of evidence are just being swept aside it's almost like
they're brushed under the rug it seems like law enforcement for the most part believe that something weird was going
on that probably involved Foul Play very quickly in this little girl's disappearance they appealed to the
public for help they just didn't appeal to the public I think in the in in the right manner
right again like you said this case is really frustrating I mean one why did she leave her house it doesn't make a
lot of sense maybe sleepwalking maybe she was lured out by somebody and then all these items that don't seem to be
connected to her that nobody can connect back to her a book a night shirt and then this this picture of this other
girl well we'll go through our thoughts uh in some some better detail here in a minute before I want to hit on a couple
of other items here captain in November of last year November of 2020 an inmate named Marcus Mellon who is a convicted
he's been convicted of sex crimes against children from 2014 convicted piece of [ __ ] he wrote a letter to the
Shelby Star newspaper claiming that Asia degree was murdered and he knows where to find her
so of course these claims were under investigation for many months but not verified
again another problem with this case though is that road itself is what do you say 180 some miles
145 yeah okay so that's that's a lot of distance for even somebody to go oh yeah
we picked this girl up and then eventually we put our remains back on that road or whatever
you know they if they're off by 10 miles probably too much for the Searchers to to figure out so in his letter to the um
newspaper he wrote Asia degree has been missing for over 20 years about four months ago I had found out her
whereabouts and what had happened to her she was killed and then took and buried
I do know how and what town she is in I hope you get this letter and do come see
me it's on the up and up so it took a while for investigators to they were saying that it was coveted
that was slowing them down on interviewing and it sounds like there was a an outbreak where this man is
being housed where he was serving his time so that seems very likely but later in fact just very recently I can't
remember if it was days or just a couple weeks ago but authorities came out and said you know we've spoke to this inmate
we've looked into everything he said it's not let us anywhere we don't know if this is they're not questioning the
credibility of the information as far as this guy believing what he's telling them
what it is is that they figured out that this is all information that he's received second third fourth hand right
it's a it's information that's traveled from person to person to person to person that seems to have worked its way
to him and by this point it has no relevant information or anything that they can use for their investigation
over the 21 years that Asia has been missing there's been three different inmates that's come forward saying they
know where she is and what happened to her we discuss two of them in detail the the third one I believe took place in
2004 and I kind of skipped over that because it it was really nothing he was a it was an inmate saying this is where
her body can be found they search there and search there and search there and it was just a wasted expense wasted
efforts there they found zero there nothing right so for me Captain when we when we talk about
the thoughts and feelings and suspicions that we have in this case the thing that that really breaks my
heart that I mentioned in yesterday's episode you know some of these cases really get
to you and some of them it almost feels like the people aren't so real that that
they're you know actors on a screen somewhere but this one I what I cannot shake from from my mind and from my
heart is thinking about that young girl walking down walking down the side of the street
out in the country in the pitch black cold and rain on her own that that has has pierced my heart and
will stick with me for some time that breaks my my heart to think about that and then I keep going back to the
idea of okay yes there's a chance she might have been sleepwalking I can agree with that but if she wasn't
she was this is the act of a desperate person she's either running away from something horrible or running towards
something and whatever it was if she it had a sense of urgency the storm was not going to stop her the
dark was not going to stop her whatever it was she was going to go and and carry
out whatever Mission she she set herself on and I don't have I know some people do and I'm no smarter than anybody else
definitely not but I don't have any suspicions about Aisha's parents or about the family
I don't see any evidence that there was anything weird going on I really don't think she was running away from anything
I think she was very likely running towards something and my gut will not allow me to
to feel suspicious about the parents and and look I I've called out parents in many many other cases many other cases
usually that's my go-to when I first started reviewing this thing my go-to is normally the parents well when I first
started reviewing this I thought how could it not be the parents or one of the parents what's interesting I think
sometimes you have to have have the the eyeball tests and the ear ball test and like you said you can go look up
interviews they've done with Montel Williams with Oprah Winfrey uh being on America's Most Wanted a lot of times too
they might seek out local publicity for a case but if they're in on it a lot of times the parents will shy away from a
bigger national attention nothing that they say to me or I mean there's really nothing that they have said ever that I
ever felt it was suspicious in any way and I I know they both took polygraph tests and past those and allowed in the
court of law but it's like well please use those as a tool and they pay past both of them and they just to me they
pass the eyeball tests in the year ball test and it's 21 years later if if it were the parents usually that's a very
easy conclusion to come to for law enforcement we wouldn't be sitting here having the same conversation and then
then you have to believe let's say let's say you do suspect the parents well then
you have to convince yourself that somehow there's just some coincidence that that
Asia or someone matching her description was seen walking alone in the middle of
the night on the side of the highway by multiple people and that somehow her belongings ended up in this tool shed
and that somehow her book bag was double bagged and thrown out the side of the highway 26 miles north of that yeah and
what I think here that this is going back to the chugging of beer and punching myself in the face
in the face the thing here that I I cannot get over Captain is you know you hear you hear the old saying don't bury
the lead you know sometimes with journalism all the the most important part of the story was three paragraphs
down didn't even make the headline I feel like when I review this investigation that unfortunately for
Asia and her family I feel like investigators and journalists have managed to bury the
lead time and time again and it makes zero sense to me the first bit of information
that was found that possibly could be connected to Asia's case and I say possibly because I'm trying to
be responsible I firmly believe that it is related to Asia's case and I'll tell you why it's that photograph of the
unknown girl there is no reason for that photograph to be in the Turner's Tool Shed this shed was
located more than a football field off of the highway it had no doors so it wasn't like
something that Asia had to figure out a way to get into and it had a light because I've read people saying that
well she would have had to have known where that tool shed was maybe she did maybe she didn't but the Turners Clearly
say in an interview we have a light that's on that tool shed you could spot it from the road even though it's that
far from the road in the pitch black maybe she simply went in there to get out from the rain or maybe as you said
maybe something spooked her or the the truck driver stopping attempting to help her scares her and she decides to flee
somewhere and that's her only her only shelter but what we do know is regardless of how they got there items
belonging to Asia degree were found in and around that tool shed along with a wallet-sized photograph of
an unknown girl a photo that was shown to her family to her school to people that knew Aisha and everyone said the
same thing I don't know who that girl is in the photograph nor do I have any idea where
the photograph would have came from well it's clearly a school picture taking that information what did we do with it
to ask the public for help because here's here's the problem with this case Okay the the book the library book
it's quite unique and in fact that stamp putting it at the folson elementary school makes it one of a kind
the New Kids on the Block concert T-shirt classic it's Unique it's not one of a kind but it is from a specific tour
they only had so many stops on that tour and to take it a step further I I'm asking the public for a little bit of
help here if you read the fine print on that on that shirt that tour was the um hanging tough World Tour from 1989 1990
but the fine print on it says winter land Productions 1990 big step Productions 1990 made in the USA
so I I'm wondering does that mean that it was made in 1990 and only available for purchase during the 1990 year of
that two-year tour a good point if anybody has any information about that let us know
so that item is not unique but I mean not one of a kind but it is unique right right the cars the description of the
vehicle very unique not one of a kind but again unique what is unique what is one of a kind
what is sorry I'm jumbling my words like crazy what is one of a kind here in this
story no matter what you cannot shake it is this little girl that's in this other
photograph she is one of a kind we've not been able to identify who that person is
and you know why we haven't been able to identify her is because I don't think hardly anybody's seen this damn picture
when they put it in the newspaper asking for people's help it was at the bottom of page 75. well that's why the
prosecutors podcast reached out to us to cover this case that's where I get all my news the bottom of page 75 on a
Thursday if you really wanted to locate this girl or people that know this girl or where potentially this Photograph
came from you got to get it out there to the public it's not a picture of Asia it's not
anybody that anybody that knows Asia is saying that they know this little girl it would have helped if it was on the
Oprah's show well I I have not seen the segment on Oprah Show nor did I see the segment on America's Most Wanted
but I very very little remains of this photograph in fact there's a lot of reports about Aisha's case to this day
that don't don't even include the photograph being ever found or mentioned anywhere can you send me the photograph
real quick I will send you the photograph but but this is on law enforcement this this Photograph should have been
you remind the public over and over again we're we're still looking for Asia but
we're also looking for information on this Photograph it's not just coincidence that this photograph is
found with her belongings in the same area on the day that she goes missing yeah
but law enforcement's people and people make mistakes and thank you thank you but but of course I make
mistakes too but also we don't we don't know what information that they have that is not released to the public so we
don't know what it's it's really hard to say I I think sometimes to go oh well if it was
me I would do this well we're also looking back on right but we also know that according to their own statements
that they sat on that book and the New Kids on the Block shirt for 17 years how long did they sit on the information
about the car and like you pointed out if we're going to ask the public for help let's ask the public for help well
I think that's where law enforcement and here's the thing I understand no no no no no it's not it's not always
dropping ball I think it's it's what uh strategy are you going to take if you're
going to ask for the Public's help then you need to to go with that strategy full force not not half asset and I
think some of these why is it that we can look back on some of these investigations and just go man this
seems like a chaotic horseshit it's because they they didn't pick a strategy and just go with it and then you see
these items come out 20 years later and you go nobody's going to remember that or half the people that would remember
that they died 10 years ago right and I know better than most and understand better than most the idea of withholding
information to save the Integrity of your investigation and the Integrity of your case I really
freaking get that the problem though is what what I have here is what we're dealing with today in this case there's
information that could have been put out there in a better way in a more timely manner that could have led us to a
better situation than where we sit today okay so maybe you run the risk of not being able to get a conviction
Because You released too much to the public you don't know what else you would find
using that information what else you would find to get that conviction based off of the information
You released the other issue too is and this is her mother's words she's having a hard time grieving for
her daughter who's been gone for 21 years there's no body there's no grave site to
go to at the very least it's not what anybody would want but Justice finding this girl alive would be
amazing that's the goal Justice for this girl if something terrible happened to her and she's no longer with us is the
second goal but at the very least maybe we could find the remains for this suffering family and we would
still be in a better situation than we are here today so I think that law enforcement and I think that the media
in a weird way intentional or not um buried the lead here on this case I think there was a lot of good
information out there that could have helped been provided to the public in a timely
manner with better detailed information something something good may have come of it
now we want to point out some things here real quick and this is a quote from H from Aisha's mother Aquila who said
we're hoping and we're praying that she's had a halfway decent life even though we didn't get to raise her she
was nine years old and she'll be 30 this year so this is this is from an interview about a year ago so we've
missed everything but I don't care if she walked in the door right now I wouldn't care what I missed all I want
is to see her now the FBI continues to offer a 25 000 reward for information leading to
the person or person's responsible for Asia's disappearance the community in the Sheriff's Office are offering an
additional twenty thousand dollar reward bringing the total reward to forty five
thousand dollars if you have any information about Asia degree please call the tip line at 704
672-6100 or the national Center for missing and exploited children at 1-800 the lost that's 1-800-843-5678
[Music] for more True Crime garage make sure you check out our old episodes they are now
available everywhere you listen to podcasts also check out our bonus show called off the Record that's only
available on Stitcher premium Colonel do we have any recommended reading this week we are recommending the new book
Maniac by one of my favorite True Crime authors Harold Schechter we have recommended Harold schechter's books
before not too long ago we recommended his book Hell's princess well his new book Maniac the bath school disaster and
the birth of the modern Mass killer is out and available everywhere Mr Schechter is a twice nominated author
for the Edgar award he specializes in serial killers and he is absolutely one of the best True Crime historians and
authors go see why by picking up his new book Maniac the bath school disaster and
the birth of the modern Mass killer check out that great title and many many more at truecrime garage.com on our
recommended page and until next week be good be kind and don't litter [Music] thank you
foreign

Asha Degree /// Part 2 /// 476

Part 2 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

Join us in the Garage as we discuss one of the most bizarre missing persons cases we have seen. In the middle of a cold rainy night 9 year old Asha Degree left her home on foot. Where was she going? No one knows. Why did she leave? No one knows. Where is she now? Someone knows! Make no mistake, the evidence is obvious and mysterious but foul play is most certainly involved. There is a weird “bread crumb trail” in this case that is just a further extension of this big mystery. Who took Asha Degree?

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Brief Summary

Asia Degree, 9, vanished in 2000; investigation reveals troubling leads and suspects but no resolution.

Key points

Asia Degree's Disappearance. Nine-year-old Asia Degree vanished on February 14, 2000, sparking a nationwide search.
Eyewitness Accounts. Multiple eyewitnesses reported seeing Asia leave her home, adding credibility to the case.
Discovery of Asia's Book Bag. Asia's missing book bag was found 18 months later, raising new questions about her case.
The Disappearance of Asia Degree. Asia was last seen walking alone at 4 a.m. on a highway, leading to her mysterious disappearance.
New Suspect in Old Case. Detectives investigate Donald Ferguson, linked to a past murder, as a potential suspect in Asia's case.
Mysterious Items Found. Two items, a Dr. Seuss book and a New Kids on the Block shirt, are revealed as vital clues in Asia's case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's good to be seen and good to see you.

Host Nick welcomes listeners.

0:57WatchNov 8, 2022

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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