Harold Degree made a 911 call to report Asha missing shortly after the family woke up and discovered she was not in the house & calls to family who lived on the same street produced no information as to her whereabouts. The duration of the 911 call was approximately 2 minutes, 40 seconds. It was placed at 6:39 a.m. on Monday, 14 February 2000.
The transcript was published in full by the Shelby Star.
Transcript:
Dispatcher: 911
Harold Degree: Yes, I'd like to report a child missing.
Dispatcher: From where?
Harold: From my house.
Dispatcher: What's your address?
Harold: Uh, 3404 Oakcrest Drive.
Dispatcher: Is this an apartment?
Harold: Yeah.
Dispatcher: Which apartment?
Harold: Uhh, Apartment 3406.
Dispatcher: Okay, is she missing from 3404 or 3406?
Harold: 3404, I mean.
Dispatcher: There's not an apartment number?
Harold: It's 34-, nuh-uh, no, nuh-uh (Crying in background.)
Dispatcher: It's not like an A or B?
Harold: No, nuh-uh.
Dispatcher: What's your name?
Harold: Harold Degree.
Dispatcher: Your phone number, Harold?
Harold: (Gives phone number.) The next door neighbour said she went down the road and said she just seen a kid down the road. (Crying continues in background.)
Dispatcher: What's the child's name?
Harold: Asha Degree
Dispatcher: What's her full name?
Harold: Asha Jaquilla Degree
Dispatcher: Can you spell it for me please?
Harold: A-s-h-a J-a-q-u-a-i-l
Dispatcher: J-a what? (Crying, talking in background.)
Dispatcher: J-a what?
Harold: J-a-q-u - I mean, yeah, J-a-q-u-a-i-l-l-a
Dispatcher: Degree?
Harold: Yeah, yeah.
Dispatcher: How old is she?
Harold: Uh, nine.
Dispatcher: White or black?
Harold: Black.
Dispatcher: When did you last see her Harold?
Harold: Last time I went to bed, she was in the bed. We got up this morning, called her to get up to go to school, and she wasn't in there. And her book-bag's missing and her pocketbook. (Crying continues in background.)
Dispatcher: So you don't know if she got dressed or if she's still got on her bedclothes or what?
Harold: We don't know.
Dispatcher: Was the door open or anything?
Harold: No. Uhh, her brother sleeps in there with her and when he uhh, when he was in there he didn't hear her when she got up.
Dispatcher: Okay.
Dispatcher: 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?
Harold: Okay.
Dispatcher: Thank you. Bye-bye.
Note
We have attempted to secure the original 911 call recording with no luck.