Crime Junkie - UPDATE: Asha Degree

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

When nine-year-old Asha Degree vanished on Valentine’s Day in 2000, it devastated her family and small town of Shelby, North Carolina. After years of little to no new information, the case has broken wide open and authorities may be closer than ever to solving what they are now saying is a murder.Ashley and Brit originally covered Asha’s case for Crime Junkie in 2019, but with all the new information that’s come out in February 2025, Ashley asked investigative journalist and North Carolina native Delia D’Ambra to join her to dive into the case with a fresh perspective.Listen to Ashley and Brit’s original episode, MISSING: Asha Degree, wherever you get your podcasts!Want to watch this episode on video? Check out our Crime Junkie YouTube Channel! Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/update-asha-degree/Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllcCrime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat. Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!

Hi, Crime Dunkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And if you are watching this episode on YouTube, you might notice I have a special guest to treat today. This has been a wild couple of weeks when it comes to updates in cold cases. And one of North Carolina's most infamous cases, the disappearance of Aisha Degree, was the latest to break. And when I hear cold cases in North Carolina, there is one name that comes to break. And when I hear cold cases in North Carolina, there is one name that comes to mind. Hi, everybody. Delia Z. Ambrot here, host of Counter Clock and Park Predators and proud North Carolina resident for most of my life.

Thank God we have a resident expert on call for all things North Carolina. Because when this happened, I was feverishly texting you. I was like, you need to come tell this story. You need to get all the search warrants and like get on a plane and come to Indianapolis immediately You were not in Indianapolis. No, no, I was at home and honestly I think it was like within an hour of you sending me like that first text a couple days ago You're asking me like hey come to Indy in February from Florida, which like Like no, I would not do but because it is this case, I knew like, okay, I got to get my hands on these search warrants.

I'm totally down. I guess what she did. So we are going to shake things up a bit today. Britt and I actually covered this case on Crime Junkie way back in January of 2019. But instead of the throwback to that episode, Delia and I are going to walk you through this case with fresh eyes and a whole new perspective because what has unfolded recently, I think kind of changes everything.

It really does. And I've known about this case probably, you know, she was nine years old when she disappeared on Valentine's Day in 2000. And so I've known about it for a long time. And it really is one of those cases where, you know, if you're local and it was locally known well, but like agencies and news outlets outside of the state of North Carolina really didn't cover it much until recently.

And everyone is talking about this, like crime juggies, you are blowing up our DMs, I hear you. And I am ready to jump right in because there's a ton of new information to cover. But I do want to tell people like how we got here a little bit. And the reason I was like feverishly texting you because the timing of all this is a little wild. Yeah, it is really wild because I was also just texting you like a week ago saying like, hey, I'm looking at maybe like what's the next thing for counter-clock? Like what's the future season of counter-clock or whatever.

And so I had brought up to you, I was like, you know is there a world in which I can do a missing persons case on counter-clock? I wish I needed the actual time. I know, I know. This might be the worst idea I Clock? I wish I needed the actual time frame. I know. This might be the worst idea I've ever had. I know. Because I've never done that. I've never done a missing case on Counter Clock.

Like, in order to do that, it would have to be, like, the right fit, and we were kind of, like, talking about it. And really, like, Aisha's case came to top of mind. Um, but also to, you know, where she disappeared from is not that far from, like, the Winston-Salem area and the Charlotte area, which is where I spent a ton of time for. Those are your stomping grounds. I know, for CounterCock Season 7.

So I've really been inundated in that area. And so it made me have more interest with that. But then also, I'd interviewed an FBI agent a couple of years back for Dark Arena. His name is Jim Garnosio. And he actually was the FBI CARD team leader on Asia's case. And CARD is Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team for the FBI. So I got to know some people at the FBI that had worked the case.

I felt like I had some ends. And so that's why I kind of was like, maybe as a journalist, this is my way of trying to tackle it or whatever. Delia tells me, she's like, I'm gonna just reach out to some people, see if I can make some contact. But nobody had reached back out to you.

And it's because it turns out everyone's been really busy. Yeah, so I actually made my first, I told you, I made my kind of first pass Nobody had reached back out to you. And it's because it turns out everyone's been really busy. Yeah. So I actually made my first, I told you, I made my kind of like first pass at reaching out to the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, which is in charge of Asia's case. And I knew like, okay, I need them to kind of be on board, right? And so then ghosted, like nothing. And then all of these like things happened. I'm like, okay, yeah, they've been like, this all makes sense, you know,

why I didn't give them a call back. Yeah, they've been a bit busy like they said. So TBD on the next season of Counter Clock. There might be another case for you to solve if this one gets solved. But Delia's loss for Counter Clock is Crime Junkies game because it has given her and I time to deep dive into all the new updates and you get to hear them right now.

So let's not waste a single moment. We have a lot to get into. It all starts on Valentine's Day morning in 2000. Asha Degree is nine years old and she's living with her mom and dad, Iquilla and Harold, and her 10-year-old brother, O'Brien. The family's apartment is in Shelby, North Carolina, which is about an hour directly west of Charlotte, if I've got that right, Delia?

Yeah. Okay. So the Degrees go to church on Sunday, February 13th. They have lunch at one of Aisha's aunt's houses, which is just down the street from their place, and then they turn in for the day at around like 8.30 p.m. Harold goes to work at a second job that he has, and Iquilla spent the evening with O'Brien and Aisha. Now, normally Iquilla would give her kids a bath that night,

but there had been some kind of car accident or like crash near their home that had kind of, I guess, knocked out their power, so their normal routine is basically just like out the window for that night. And so because of that, Iquilla had planned to just like do it all the next morning, which would be Monday, February 14th, which is of course Valentine's Day. So overnight between the 13th and 14th, sometime between 1230 and 230, Harold gets home from his second job. And before he goes to bed, he checks on his kids.

Aisha and her brother actually share rooms, so he was able to peek in and lay eyes on both of them at the same time. By 545 in the morning, Iquilla is up for the day, and she goes to start the kids bath like she planned, do the whole morning routine thing so they can get out the door for school by 630. But when she enters O'Brien and Asia's room, she only sees O'Brien asleep under his covers. Asia's just gone. So the family searches all over their house. They search in the cars. They have like talking to family members who live nearby and they're getting

frantic as more and more time goes by and they can't find Asia after doing all of that. So they decide at around 6 30 a.m. like okay now it's time to call the police right like they don't wait all day long by 6 30 they know something is wrong. So Harold gets on the phone with 911 and actually back when Britt and I did our original episode I had found a transcript of the 911 call and she and I actually voiced it. So I will give everyone a throwback of me reading Harold's words and Britt as the dispatcher. 911? Yes, I'd like to report a child missing.

From where? From my house. What's your address? Uh, 3404 Oak Crest Drive. Is this an apartment? Yeah. And which apartment? Uh, apartment 3404 Oak Crest Drive. Is this an apartment? Yeah. And which apartment? Uh, apartment 3406.

Okay, is she missing from 3404 or 3406? 3404, Amy. There's not an apartment number? It's 3...4...uh, no, no. It's not like an A or B? No, uh. And what's like an A or B. No, huh. And what's your name? Harold Degree.

Your phone number, Harold? The next door neighbor said she went down the road and said that she was just a kid on the road. What's the child's name? Asha Degree. What's her full name? Asha Drakwila Degree. Can you spell that for me, please? A-S-H-A-J-A-Q-U-A-I-L

J-A what? J-A-Q-U-I-I mean, yeah, yeah, J-A-Q-U-A-I-L-L-A Degree? Yeah, yeah. How old is she? Uh, nine. White or black? Black. When did you last see her, Harold?

Last time I went to bed, she was in bed. We got up this morning, called her to get up to school, and she wasn't there. And her bookbag's missing, and her pocketbook. So you don't know if she got dressed or if she still got on her bed clothes or what? We don't know. Was the door open or anything? No. Her brother sleeps in there with her, and when he was in there, he didn't hear her when she

got up. Okay. All right. I'll go get her. Okay. I'll go get her. Okay. I'll go get her.

Okay. I'll go get her. Okay. I'll go get her. Okay. I'll go, he didn't hear her when she got up. Okay. All right, Harold. I will get an officer to get in touch with you just as soon as possible. If you do happen to locate her, please call us back and let us know, okay? Okay. Thank you. Bye-bye.

The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office responds to that call by 640 in the morning, and right away, they're using scent dogs and sending out more deputies to look for Aisha. By 7 a.m., the degrees' friends and neighbors are all awake and they learn what's going on, and initially investigators look for signs of forced entry at the family's house. You know, like anything that might indicate an intruder came in, but there's just none of that. In fact, based on what Harold told the dispatcher, which was that might indicate an intruder came in, but there's just none of that. In fact, based on what Harold told the dispatcher, which was that some of Asia's things like her backpack and pocketbook and like shoes and stuff were missing, they're also considering whether there's a possibility she could have just walked away on her own.

Right, yeah, I remember that theory cropping up early on, like did she just decide to leave her life? But I don't think that lasted very long because I think it became pretty clear, at least from information her parents told authorities, that Aisha just like, she wasn't the kind of girl to venture off like that on her own. And she's nine. She's like still little too. Yeah. And she like reportedly was very timid, shy, super afraid of the dark and stuff. So and not to mention she had by all accounts a really good home life. Exactly. But for some reason, and a reason no one could really explain, her stuff is gone.

Oh, and I might have forgotten to mention this, but all of the doors to the degree's house were reported to have been locked when everyone woke up. And interestingly, Aisha did have her own spare key in her book bag. So I think maybe that kind of also made people assume that she might have left on her own spare key in her book bag. So I think maybe that kind of also made people assume that she might have left on her own and then took her stuff, used her key to lock up. Otherwise, why was everything like locked up like that? Right. Yeah, I remember the key thing. And I don't think anyone disputes that she physically left on her own. But I think the big question is why. And I know there was some coverage that said she'd found out of a basketball game the Saturday night before she vanished.

But like, that's hardly a reason to just like take off. I mean, I know that you're nine years old, but no? No, yeah, I think that's always been a bit of a stretch, like of an assumption, at least in my mind. And it's never been definitively stated as the reason she left. To your point, she had a good home life as far as we know, so I think that people were just like looking for anything,

and that's like the biggest wrong thing in the world of a nine-year-old. Anyway, fast forward a little bit, and the next big thing that comes up to investigators is that a motorist was apparently driving along Highway 18, which is this two-lane road near the family's house. And this motorist tells authorities

that they saw a young girl who matches Asia's description walking along that roadway sometime between 3.30 in the morning and 4 o'clock in the morning. Now where she is seen is like a mile from her front door and she's headed into the town of Shelby, but at the time it was like raining and storming which I think is important. And other than the fact that this motorist saw her, it doesn't seem like they were able to gather anything else and potentially because of the rain and the storm.

The only really big detail is that when Aisha is reportedly seen by this person, she is not in her nightgown that she'd been wearing when her mom put her to bed the night before. Now she's actually said to have been wearing this long-sleeve white shirt and pants. So she's like dressed in her normal like day clothes. Now there's another sighting of her by a truck driver who said that he made a u-turn to try and see if she needed help. But for some reason when he got closer to her and asked her if she was okay, she just like ran off into the tree line. And that was the last reported sighting of Aisha ever that we knew about at the time. But then like two days later though, don't the cops find some of her stuff?

Right, so that happens on February 17th. Authorities who were still searching for her, like high and low all over the area at this point, they're like searching a rural property off Highway 18. And they end up talking to this lady there who tells them that on February 15th, so that would have been the day after Aisha vanished, this woman found a random Mickey Mouse hair

bow, a green marker, and a pencil inside of a shed. And the items were just kind of like tossed right on the ground near the doorway of this shed. And when law enforcement, which at this point, by the way, includes the FBI, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, when they come in and they do their own search of this shed, they find a bunch of candy wrappers that match some of the candy that Asha had gotten for Valentine's Day weekend before she vanished. But this doesn't lead them to Asha, and they don't get another lead for more than a year after that. And they don't get another lead for more than a year after that.

It's not until early August of 2001 that a contractor digging an access road for a new house about 50 yards away from Highway 18, near this place called Burke County, which is more than 25 miles from the degree's home. This guy finds a black trash bag buried in the land that he's working at. Buried. Buried. And then when he takes that out, inside that black trash bag buried in the land that he's working at. Buried. Buried. And then when he takes that out, inside that black trash bag is another black trash bag. And then inside of that bag is a kid's book bag with Asha's name and phone number written on it. And I don't know if I'm remembering this correctly.

You might know, Delia. But I, at the time, feel like I remember me and Britt talking about how he like sees this buried thing again in trash Bag and trash, and he doesn't do anything he ends up like telling his partner or wife or whoever at home Yeah, like so his partner at the time was like wait a minute That's a big red flag like you need to call the sheriff's office because they knew about Asia's case and they knew like what was going On there was this little girl missing Even if there wasn't like a little girl missing like a kid's book bag buried in a bag in a bag, like. Yeah, very strange.

Why does it take the wife to like make a call? But that's again, we said that day one, the story for another day. So eventually the sheriff's office gets their hands on this evidence. They do call the police and they do search the property themselves, but they actually don't find much of anything else

related to the case. But when they look inside the book bag that has Aisha's name on it, they find a Dr. Seuss book from her elementary school library and a New Kids on the Block concert t-shirt. But the thing is, they don't really say much about those items at the time. They don't say if they were hers. In fact, if I remember correctly, I don't even think they tell people right away what was in it.

I think that comes out to the public years later. Yeah, it does. But they did send the book bag and its contents off to the FBI's lab for forensic analysis. And by 2003, some kind of results had come back. But the sheriff's office didn't release those publicly. And clearly, whatever it was that they got wasn't enough to solve this case, because it just languishes after that for another year and another. And then the 10-year anniversary comes and goes, then the 15th.

There's even a large reward that they end up offering, but there are just no new leads. Yeah, and I think the reward actually got up to like $45,000, but like nothing. And it really isn't until 2016, because that's when the whole like, I think the green car thing comes out right? The green car, yes. This becomes super important. So in May of 2016, the FBI released that they believed a girl matching Asha's description got into a dark green vehicle.

And I see like in later reporting, like pulled in or like more of a forcible action. Like placed in by someone. Yeah. They say that that was seen on the morning she vanished. And actually, they specifically say that the car could be either an early 70s Lincoln Mark IV or a Ford Thunderbird with like rust around the wheel wells. Very distinct. Very distinct. So we actually have photos of each car. And as you can see, they're super similar.

Yeah, they're both, I would say, kind of, I would describe them as like a two-door, boat-like sedan. And they do look very similar. Right. So it's the FBI's information about the car sighting that really grabs everyone's attention. Because it comes so long after Asia disappeared. Again, there was like nothing in all of those years. It's almost like the thing I want to know is like, where did this come from?

Did you have it all along and why wouldn't you have released it sooner? Or if someone knew it's coming forward, why wasn't that part of the story? Yeah, it's clearly something the sheriff's office and the FBI discovered at some point in their investigation, right? Like something led them to blast that out to the community about this car and the sighting and everything. Right. And though that happened in 2016,

like we didn't know why or what it meant or if it led to anything, but now in 2025, that green car is more important than ever. Okay, so after they released the car information, like I said, radio silent for years, just nothing. And then in early September 2024, everything changes literally five months ago. So news agencies in North Carolina and I'm really tied

in with a lot of journalists still in North Carolina, and they have been following Asia's case. They noticed that the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office, the FBI, the NCSBI have like descended on some properties and they are up to something in Shelby. There's a noticeable flurry of activity on these properties in Cleveland County and also in a nearby county called Lincoln County. And one of the biggest things that emerges is that an older model green vehicle is seen being towed from one of those locations. And I actually dug up a clip from WBTV of this car, so I want everyone to take a look. And Ashley, you can see it too. Oh yeah. This looks super similar to those other two green cards that the FBI released back in 2016,

which it makes total sense because like everything, like according to the search warrants, everything that the law enforcement agencies were up to in September, like this has to 100% be connected to Asia's case. So if you would, like I had you go get the, it was so funny that I also have to be behind the scenes here. I tasked you, I was like,

you got to get these search warrants. And you're like, you have to be like in the court system or they mail them to you. And I was like, girl, you got to have a friend. And you're like, oh yeah, I'll just call. Oh, I have friends. Phone a friend. I have friends for sure. So what'd you find? So according to the warrants, authorities visited and searched structures and land on

a few properties in close proximity to one another in Cleveland County. Like, so they were on like similar parcels or whatever. They also went to a property in Mecklenburg County, which is closer to Charlotte, so more in the Charlotte area. All of the properties in Cleveland County were owned by a couple named Roy and Connie Dedman. Roy and Connie have three daughters, Lizzie, Sarah, and Anna Lee. The daughters are all adults now, but back in February 2000 when Asha disappeared, they were teenagers. So Lizzie's the oldest, she was 16, Sarah was 15, and Anna Lee was 13. And the property in Charlotte that was searched in 2024 was

actually associated with the youngest, Anna Lee. And the warrants state that investigators were looking for physical evidence specifically related to Asia's disappearance. And this included a lot of things like photos, kids' clothing, they seized the Deadman's electronic devices like notebooks, business records, their cell phones, some of the daughters like personal journals, a rifle. And they were also allowed to take any and all records for a man named Russell Bradley Underhill, who was a tenant at one of the family's homes in 2000. So the reason that any of these folks came on investigators' radar in 2024 was because they found with modern DNA testing, the presence of Russell's DNA and a hair that was an identical

genetic match to the dead man's youngest daughter, Anna Lee. And that was on Aisha's shirt and from the trash bag that her book bag was found in. So that's probably all the stuff that they found in 2016 that they like we sent off to FBI, we found something but couldn't do anything with it probably. Right. And I looked at these two and it seems like the Deadmans had zero connection to Asia's family right? Like as far as nobody's reported that they did not know one another, they didn't go to the same church or anything that kind of thing So the important thing being like there would be no reason for their daughter's DNA or hair or their tenants DNA to be

Anywhere nearer on her stuff unless they had some kind of interaction with her Yeah, exactly and at least according to the search warrants we have that's like the case right like so what's super interesting is that in? February we have, that's like the case, right? So what's super interesting is that in February 2000, Roy and Connie's friend, this like Russell Underhill guy, he was having health issues and being cared for by a place called Cleveland Health Care. And as a part of his care, which like Roy was in charge of because like he and his wife actually like owned another facility called Northbrook Rest Home, Roy would sometimes send his eldest daughter, Lizzie, to transport patients from that facility to an area hospital called Broughton Hospital.

Which is so weird to me because we don't have any context for how they know him and they do seem very intricately tied into his health care and he's a tenant. Roy's his emergency contact. they're clearly very close. They're helping this man with his health. Now, in 2000, the deadman's house was about six minutes away from where Aisha was last seen walking on Highway 18 by those witnesses. And that road is what investigators say is the most logical route for Lizzie, Roy's oldest daughter, to have taken if she was making like one of those hospital runs for her dad.

And the search warrants also clarified that the vehicle she used for those trips was quote unreliable. So what's like the implication there? It being unreliable. So I think it's just saying like it's an older car, right? Like it's not a brand new car. Maybe an older green car? Right, yeah. So the search warrants go on to explain that Roy Dedman has 29 different vehicles registered in his name, and three of those are green. Now when authorities interviewed Sarah, the middle daughter, in September 2024, she told them that back when she was a teenager, she drove a dark green AMC Rambler that her

dad had given to her in 1999. And the search warrants actually include a photo of that exact car, which everyone can see. It's a black and white photo, so it's hard to kind of tell there's like no color, which kind of sucks. But it's actually pretty similar looking to the two car images that the FBI released in 2016, you know, the Lincoln and the Thunderbird or whatever that they believe Aisha was seen being put into or pulled into.

And if you look kind of closely, it even has like some front end damage that's pretty noticeable. I just saw that. And I think it's like important to go into this car in a little bit more detail, like just for a second. So this is a 1964 AMC Rambler, so pretty old, like which is what we keep coming back to. And according to the search warrants, it was registered to Roy at an address

that was searched by investigators. Now, when it is seized by law enforcement, it is parked next to a house that Roy is renting to a tenant at the time. And this was the part that I thought was so weird. I don't know if it's connected to the car, but more just like broader strangeness of whatever was going on in this property

that they got the car from. So the home used to be occupied by his daughter, Sarah. Sarah's the middle daughter, but she had since moved. And the guy who lives there tells investigators that in the five years or so that he has been renting from Roy, he says there are tells investigators that in the five years or so that he has been renting from Roy, he says there are these three rooms in the house that are all padlocked and he's been told not to go in them.

Which like, what? Yeah, I would be like, now I want to go in them more than anything now that I'm renting from you. Um, did you also like see that part about the hole? Yes. Tell them about the hole. So around the same time that authorities also speaking with this tenant or whatever, they speak with a woman named Laura Dedman, who I think is related to Roy. I mean, obviously they have the same last name.

She tells them that several years before this, she saw Roy digging a hole at that property that was not just like a small hole for like a fence post or something. This hole was chest deep. And that this is after what year? After 2000? No, this is after like 2016. This is like fairly recently up until 2024. So like just a couple years before 2024. Oh, whoa. Okay. So you guys are caught up in the car. That happens in September 2024. So there was a flurry of information at the end of 2024 where Asia's case was, you guys were DMing us about it. We were like kind of holding to do an update because we thought something bigger was going to happen.

It took a minute. We weren't wrong. So that search wraps up and authorities obviously have the Rambler in their possession. They also have fresh samples of Roy Conney and Annalise DNA. It's also at this point that investigators come right out and say that they no longer think Asha is just a missing person.

They now actually believe that she was a victim of a homicide and that her body has been concealed this whole time. But nowhere on any of the deadman's properties did investigators find a body or human remains, nothing skeletal, like all these searches took place over the course of two days and nothing definitively connected to Aisha.

Like there were, as far as I know, no more clothing or personal belongings, nothing surfaced. Yeah, and I think like right after this, an attorney representing Roy and his family, he like makes some public statements about how like, that's a really important point. You know, he's like, hey, this family has been named as suspects, but they deny any and all involvement in what happened to Asha Degree. Right.

According to coverage by WBTV, the family's attorney, this guy named David Teddy, he holds this press conference and he asked the community not to spread rumors, not to jump to any conclusions about Roy or Connie or their daughters. He states that the Dedman family denies any involvement in the case and also kind of alludes to Russell Underhill perhaps being the link between the Dedmans, their properties, and whatever happened to Asha. Which is like, awfully convenient because according to the search warrants and additional news coverage, Russell died long ago, all the way back in 2004. So it's not like he's

around anymore to say anything or defend himself. Right, like it's kind of one of those things like, are we really gonna blame like the dead guy who died just a couple years after she disappeared, who like can no longer be questioned or investigated. Yeah, the same guy, by the way, who the deadmans were clearly like very involved with in seemingly like his healthcare. He was in a healthcare facility and they're transporting him. And I mean, I know why this attorney said what he did to reporters, but it still feels

like I don't know, just like a little too convenient for me still. Yeah. Anyway, where things get even more interesting. so this is why we're doing this now. On February 13th of this year, so you know, weeks ago, barely, a week ago, that's when the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office executes three more search warrants for the Dedman family, specifically to investigate them for felony obstruction of justice. And it is these documents that I was like, you know, the 2024 search warrants were great, but like these were the ones we had to

get our hands on if we were going to do this update episode because what these warrants reveal are emails, text messages, cloud data, and phone calls between Roy, his daughters, and one of their ex-husbands. And some of these communications are head-turning to say the very least. Yeah, I think that's just one way of describing it. So looking through the warrants, because I went through all of them page by page, and they are specifically for the contents of three Apple iPhones one that belongs to Lizzie Another that belongs to Roy and another that belongs to Sarah right and just to remind so for our listeners

Lizzie is Roy's oldest daughter. Sarah is the middle Anna Lee would have been the youngest So according to the search warrants, when authorities executed those searches in September at the family members' homes and properties, Lizzie spent a lot of time on her phone while all of that was going on. Her sisters, Sarah and Anna Lee called her, then Roy called her, and then Lizzie called Roy. And so the search warrants contained

pages and pages of texts. But Delia, you pulled some of the messages that seem to really stand out to investigators. Like, I think we need to kind of go through these because this is like, I think the crux of everything. Yeah, I did. And so like, there's a couple exchanges, but there is a text exchange between Anna Lee and Lizzie on September 10th, 2024, where Anna Lee says, I am so sorry, I just said all that. I am just in complete shock. And then later that same day, Sarah texted Lizzie, they think it's our shirt. It's not her shirt.

Her mom said it wasn't hers. I don't remember that shirt. I'm scared though. Dad is probably going to be a huge suspect. And I assume they mean that band t-shirt that they found in her backpack. They don't say that. Yes, that's what I have to assume they're referring to

because that's all we kind of know at this point. So the next day, September 11th, 2024, Lizzie's ex-husband texted her that he was sorry, like her family was going through this situation. And then a few hours after that, Anna Lee texted Lizzie. Young is texting all this? Yeah. Lizzie, you don't need to be talking to anyone.

I'm at the lawyer's office now. They advise we should all not talk to them without representation. Now, Lizzie then texted her ex-husband, this is going to get nothing but worse. I'm talking to my doctor at five to get something for my nerves. I'm just so worried. So, so worried.

I mean, it's a nightmare that's going to keep getting worse. I can see nothing good happening anytime soon, and I'm an optimist. They're so weird. It's wild like when you read texts, like, you know, I think we should all keep the caveat of like, yes, they are texts. They're just words on a page. But at the same time, like, it is like... It's clear what they're talking about. Yeah, it's clear what they're talking about. Yeah. And it's the next few messages

that I think are the most interesting. And they come the day after with the ones that you were just reading. They come from Sarah, the middle child to Lizzie who's the oldest. Sarah says, I just talked to David Teddy, who is the family lawyer. I just talked to David Teddy.

The theory is I did it. Accident covered it up. And Lizzie later texts her ex-husband again and says, I feel so horrible, so, so horrible. I don't know what to do. I caused this. Yeah, like on their face, these messages, they don't sound or look great. Yeah, and keep in mind, like between a lot of these texts, there are phone calls back

and forth between Sarah, Lizzie, Lizzie's ex-husband, Anna Lee, Roy, like they're all playing phone tag. And after all of this, it seems like everyone clams up and they aren't talking to investigators anymore. So after September 28, there's another string of messages between Sarah and Lizzie. And it starts with Lizzie saying, I'm just so anxious about like what's going on behind the scenes. Like, what are they doing now? What's going to happen to me since I wouldn't talk to them? To which Sarah replies, I know girl, I am a disaster. I think if they come

at you again, you just go and be compliant. That's what I'm planning on doing." And then Lizzie writes back, "...I think so too, honestly. I mean, I want to do what Dad says, but damn," to which Sarah replies with, "...and maybe we should have let you do what you originally wanted to do. But we don't know what that is." Now on February 10, authorities asked Lizzie to take a polygraph, which she does, but according to what investigators put in their search warrants, the results of that test show signs of deception. And that same day, investigators also visit Sarah

and ask her for another interview, but this time she declines. So at this point, it's really Roy, Sarah, and Lizzie that law enforcement feels pretty sure have obstructed or at least at a minimum interfered with the investigation into Asia's disappearance and likely death. Like reading between the lines a little based off of some of the FBI and other law enforcement officials like previous statements, to me, it's feeling more and more like maybe what what happened to Aisha was some sort of accident. Maybe it was a hit and run. But it seems like then they're thinking it was allegedly covered up by Roy or Connie,

possibly also the daughter's question mark. Yeah, like that's what I was gonna say too. It definitely feels like to me that maybe something tragic happened back in 2000, but then like everything that's gone on since then is just very suspicious. I know. And the thing I don't know, I wish I knew more about that sighting that someone has of like her going into the green car. Was she going fighting? Was she conscious? Did it seem like she was unconscious? Do they know? And I also wonder, this theory of an accident doesn't explain why she was on that road to begin with,

which I cannot get over. Yeah, I think it's like that question of, again, why did she leave her house if she left willingly? Like, was she lured? Like, I don't know. There's so many questions about her exiting her home, like her safe place, right? And going on this road.

The only thing that comes to mind for me is that we know Highway 18 was going towards Shelby. It was in the direction of her school. She took the bus on that road. She had her book bag. Yeah, like she had her book bag. The book that's in her bag, the Dr. Seuss book, is actually a library book from her school. So, you know, that's in the bag. It's like, is she going just like on her own little adventure to have her own time and then is going to be back before they have to go to school?

There's just so many question marks around that for sure. Yeah, I haven't seen anything put forward that she was like meeting up with someone. Or again, we've got no connection between her and this family. So if they're involved in some way, an accident seems to be what like police are posing or at least in the text messages, what they think police are posing based on what their lawyer is saying. And I think that's why too they are trying so hard to connect the the routes between these families homes, the health care facilities, like that's a really critical thing for law enforcement is figuring out like could they have been on that road when, why, all those sorts of things. Did an accident happen. Yeah. And the other big bombshell from these search warrants, it wasn't just the text messages.

There is someone who has a story that kind of corroborates this idea that it could be an accident and that these sisters were involved. So this testimony is from a local guy named Thad Melantin, who authorities interviewed on September 18th of 2024. And it's only in the most recent search warrants though that we were made aware of this interview. So we didn't have them in the September ones, we just got them in February.

But according to the documents, Thad tells the sheriff's office that in the mid 2000s, he was in his twenties at the time and hung out with the Deadman sisters at bars and like house parties, like on a pretty regular basis. And at one particular house party, after Asha Degree vanished, he saw Lizzie, the oldest, sobbing like bawling her eyes out while seemingly pretty drunk. And she's crying and he hears her make several statements admitting to killing Asha.

But when Sarah, her sister, overhears her sister say this, she immediately grabs Lizzy's head and tells her to, quote, shut the fuck up. Now that reaction from Sarah kind of caught Thad off guard because he always knew Sarah to be very calm, a very nice person. So this story is wild. I don't know why we're learning the story. Where was Thad in 2000. And to make sure he wasn't lying, investigators had him take a polygraph and he passed with

flying colors. No, I know though. I feel like we're always like meh on polygraph tests. But like to me though, it seems like somewhat notable that they were like, let's double down on this. Let's like make sure he, you know, passes this test to make sure he's not just like making this up and like trying to draw attention to himself. Totally. I don't think that a polygraph is the end all be all.

But like if the dude's not lying, the story he told is worth looking into. And with everything else we're finding, like it's making a lot of sense. Agreed. Yeah. So as of this recording, no formal arrests have been made in the case and no human remains have been found in the case, and no human remains have been found. But like I feel like I've said this many times before, this case seems to just keep evolving every day. New updates and maybe even possible arrests could come literally any second now, even

by the time this episode gets out. And that is a good thing, because Aisha's family has waited 25 agonizing years to learn what really happened to her. Earlier this month, they told WBTV and reporter Ken Lemon that they're always going to hold out to hope that their baby girl will come home to them one day. And Aisha's mom, Iqla, told the news agency, quote, "'I believe she is still alive,

"'and until somebody can prove me wrong, "'I'm still going to believe that because I have hope." End quote. So, if you guys have any information about the disappearance of Asha Degree or the individuals that we've discussed in this episode, please call the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4788. Or you can call the FBI's Charlotte office at 704-672-6100. You can find all of our source material for this episode on our website, CrimeJunkiePodcast.com.

Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, at Crime Junkie Podcast, and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. The Crime Junkie is an AudioChuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?