Asha Degree: Warrants reveal new details in case of girl missing for decades

SHELBY, N.C. (WBTV/Gray News) - A girl who went missing in North Carolina in 2000 is now believed to have been killed, according to search warrant documents released Monday.

The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office believes Asha Degree, who was 9 years old when she went missing in February 2000, was actually a victim of homicide.

Investigators think Degree’s disappearance may be linked to a family from Cleveland County.

Asha Degree time-lapsed photos. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)

A series of search warrant applications were made public on Monday, Sept. 16, in connection with searches recently carried out by the sheriff’s office, FBI and state investigations bureau. Law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple properties, including a home and property in Shelby, an assisted living facility in Vale, and a home in Charlotte.

The locations are owned and lived in by members of the Dedmon family. The search warrants were requested after DNA samples linked Degree with AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez and a man named Russell Underhill, according to the documents.

Investigators believe local family played role

Degree has not been seen since she went missing the night of Feb. 14, 2000. Some of her belongings, however, were found in Burke County more than one year after her disappearance.

Degree’s backpack was discovered more than 30 miles from where she was reportedly last seen about 17 months after she went missing. The girl’s belongings were “wrapped in two sealed black plastic garbage bags” and were found along North Carolina Highway 18 near Morganton, court documents read Monday.

Two of the items in the backpack reportedly returned evidentiary results, linking DNA to AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez, who was 13 years old at the time Degree went missing, and Underhill.

According to the documents, a sample of a hair stem taken from Degree’s undershirt appeared to match AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s DNA.

There were two other sisters of AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez who were ages 15 and 16 years old in February 2000.

Investigators now believe Degree is a “victim of homicide, with her body concealed,” authorities wrote in the search warrant application.

Because of the Dedmon sisters’ ages at that time, investigators believe “adult assistance” from their father, Roy Dedmon, and their mother, Connie Dedmon, “would have been necessary in the execution and/or concealment of the crime.”

Several people, places searched

Several search warrants were carried out for the Dedmon parents, AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez and multiple properties associated with them.

Roy Dedmon’s home at 621 Cherryville Road is about 3.7 miles from Degree’s last known location near North Carolina Highway 18 and Wallace Grove Drive, officials said. His home and property were searched by law enforcement on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11.

Law enforcement confirmed Friday that the search was connected with Degree’s disappearance.

Roy Dedmon’s home was first searched by a drone in February.

Another one of the searched properties included an assisted living home known as North Brook Rest Home located in Vale. The assisted living facility is owned by Roy and Connie Dedmon.

Russell Underhill, the man whose DNA may be a match with what was found on Degree’s belongings, lived in “at least two facilities” operated by Roy and Connie Dedmon at the time the young girl disappeared. He resided at the North Brook Rest Home between 2002 and 2004.

Underhill died in 2004.

It was not entirely clear how Underhill was related to or connected with the Dedmons. Underhill “knew and associated with” Roy Dedmon, investigators found. Roy Dedmon was listed as Underhill’s emergency contact, according to medical records.

AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s home in Charlotte was also searched, documents showed.

What was found during searches

Several items were seized from Roy Dedmon’s home on Cherryville Road.

There are reportedly 29 vehicles registered in Roy Dedmon’s name. Three green vehicles and one red truck were seen at his property in Shelby.

At least one of those older green vehicles was seized from the property last week. The vehicle resembled a car wanted in connection with Degre’s disappearance. Authorities believe Degree got into a 1970s-era green vehicle on the night she went missing.

In 2016, the FBI said they were looking for a 1970s-era green Ford Thunderbird or Lincoln Mark IV. The vehicle taken last week from the Cleveland County property was identified as an AMC Rambler.

Authorities also took a variety of computers, laptops, cellphones and records from Roy Dedmon’s home. There was also a human tooth in a plastic bag that was retrieved, according to the search warrant documents.

Roy Dedmon also had a DNA sample taken from him during that time.

Connie Dedmon does not currently live at the home on Cherryville Road, officials said, but authorities searched her home and removed two computers, flash and hard drives, a tablet, and various CDs and SD cards.

From AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez’s home, authorities only reported seizing a Blackberry cellphone.

No human remains were found at any of the properties.

Relevance of North Carolina Highway 18

Two witnesses saw Degree walking along North Carolina Highway 18 on the night she went missing.

Roy Dedmon’s home on Cherryville Road is fewer than four miles, and about six minutes, away from where Degree was last seen by a witness.

Degree’s backpack, which contained some clothing and a book, was also found along North Carolina Highway 18, though several miles away near Morganton, which is in Burke County. The backpack was also about 7.2 miles away from Broughton Hospital, also in Morganton.

According to the released search warrants, investigators found that Roy Dedmon used to send one of his daughters to “transport patients in an unreliable vehicle to/from Broughton Hospital in Morganton,” around the time Degree disappeared. North Carolina “Highway 18 is the most logical route to travel to and from Northbrook Rest Home and/or Brighton Hospital,” investigators said.

Roy Dedmon reportedly would send his daughter, who was 16 or 17 years old at the time, and not AnnaLee Dedmon Ramirez.

Roy Dedmon denies any connection with Asha Degree

The attorney for Roy Dedmon held a press conference last week amid news of the search at his home.

The attorney confirmed that the property searched that week by the FBI and local authorities belonged to Roy Dedmon, who is reportedly in his 80s. However, the attorney said that Roy Dedmon denies any involvement in or knowledge of Degree’s disappearance.

Search warrant documents did say that Roy Dedmon did not appear to have any ties with Degree or her family.

Roy Dedmon’s attorney asked the community to not jump to any conclusions once the search warrants were released. The attorney asked the community to “let law enforcement do their job,” and to avoid spreading any rumors.

The request was made after the sheriff’s office asked the community to not spread rumors or false information amid the investigation. Some online posts had falsely claimed that a body had been found amid the FBI raid.

No body or human remains have been found by law enforcement to date.

Roy Dedmon’s attorney alluded to Underhill in his press conference, saying that he may be the one who knows what happened to Degree. The attorney said the search would “sadly link” a person to Degree’s disappearance who is “no longer living.”

Law enforcement reportedly interviewed Roy Dedmon, who maintained that he doesn’t know what happened.

There have been no arrests made in connection with Degree’s case.

About Asha Degree’s case

The FBI, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office have been investigating Degree’s disappearance for more than two decades. Degree’s family recently said that they believe the girl, who would be in her early 30s now is still alive.

The state, local and federal law enforcement agencies involved have a team dedicated to finding Degree. A $45,000 reward is available for information that leads to finding Degree.

The FBI Charlotte office previously told WBTV that they identified a number of people over the years who have been considered a “person of interest” for various reasons in this case. More specific details weren’t provided.

Anyone with information can contact the FBI’s Charlotte office by calling 704-672-6100.

Timeline: Asha Degree’s disappearance

Degree went missing on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 2000.

Around 6:15 a.m. that day, Degree’s parents woke up to find the then-9-year-old girl was missing. Both her and her backpack were gone.

Degree was reported missing by 6:30 a.m. Family members said they last saw Degree asleep in her bedroom.

Earlier that morning, at around 4 a.m., two truck drivers reported seeing a little girl walking on North Carolina Highway 18. That girl matched Degree’s description.

At that point, she was about a mile from her home.

Investigators and community members spent months looking for Degree. In August 2001, more than one year after Degree disappeared, her bookbag was found 30 miles away in Burke County.

The items in the backpack were reportedly sent to an FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia.

For years, the family remained hopeful that Degree would be found. Investigators continued to search for the missing girl in the years that followed her disappearance.

Search for Asha Degree

In 2017, investigators brought in a special FBI team in an effort to generate new leads. The team recreated the early morning hours of Degree’s disappearance. At that time, officials said there were “multiple people of interest” looked at in connection with the case.

In 2018, detectives released pictures of two items found in the girl’s backpack that didn’t belong to her. Inside the bag was a children’s book from her school library that Degree didn’t check out and a shirt that wasn’t hers.

Investigators have continued to search for Degree and have been hopeful that new technology could help them solve the case. Detective Tim Adams, with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, told WBTV in recent years that “technology has advanced quite a bit over the years,” which could eventually lead to answers.

The investigation continued with this week’s Cleveland County raid, though it wasn’t immediately clear that the search was tied to Degree’s disappearance. As rumors of the connection swirled, family members spoke out, including Degree’s great uncle, Jesse Jackson.

Jackson told WBTV that he was moved by the community’s continued remembrance of his niece.

“Thank God for that,” Jackson said. “I thank God that they still have hope and faith.”

Jackson said the last 24 years have been very hard on the family and that even the possibility of having more answers gives him hope of some closure for them.

“I hope and pray to God that they find her, dead or alive” Jackson said. “Then we can be at rest and that’s all I can say.”