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Inside the Backpack
Asha’s backpack was found by construction worker, Terry Fleming, on August 3, 2001 in Burke County, just over the line from Cleveland County and the original search area. The backpack had been placed in two black plastic bags. Although it was sent to the FBI lab in Virginia on August 11, 2001 for forensic tests, including DNA analysis, neither the results or a full list of the bag’s contents has ever been made public.
No authority has ever specified that these items were found in Asha’s backpack. Many recent articles state the items were found in or with the bag, but as you can see below, this is not what has been stated by law enforcement. Photos of the items - or similar items - were released to the public nearly 18 years after the backpack was discovered.
Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office Video Release
Video Transcript
9-year-old Asha Degree disappeared from her home in Shelby, North Carolina on February 14th of 2000. Since that day, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation have followed hundreds of leads in an attempt to find her. Now we’re asking everybody in the community for help with new possible clues on the case.
I’m Detective Jordan Bowen with the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office. Our investigative team has discovered two items of interest that could possibly provide new leads about Asha’s disappearance. The first one is a library book. [Photo of the cover of McElligot’s Pool by Dr. Seuss is shown] If you, or someone you know, had this Dr. Seuss library book around the time of Asha’s disappearance and lost track of it, call us. Library records do not go back to 2000.
The second item of interest is a T-shirt like this one. It is a concert T-shirt from the New Kids on the Block band. They are a boy band that first became popular in the early 1980s. They are still performing today. If you had a T-shirt like this one, or know somebody who did, at any point in time, please call us. The number to reach the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office is 704-484-4822. Again, that number is 704-484-4822. Asha Degree is Shelby’s sweetheart and we know that everyone in this community wants the same thing when it comes to this case and that’s to find out what happened to her and to bring Asha home. Remember, there is a reward of up to $45,000 for information that helps find out what happened to Asha Degree. Thank you and please help us spread this message on social media by sharing our post.
Photos of the “Items of Interest”
A question about library records
In the 2018 video, Detective Bowen states that library records do not go back to 2000. Asha’s backpack was recovered in August 2001. It’s possible that the 2000 records would have been available at that time. While this is an assumption on our end, it makes no sense for records from less than a year earlier to be unavailable. In 2018, sure. With this in mind, either no search of the records was performed in 2001 or the book was not found at the same time as the backpack.
Additional Questions
