Backpack Location

The location of where the backpack was actually recovered is hard to pin down. Looking at everything below, we feel confident that Asha’s backpack was located in the area of Highway 18 and Laurel Haven Avenue in Burke County.

Screenshots from “Find Our Missing” Season 2

The backpack was found by Terry Fleming who has been described as “clearing land from a driveway”[1]. It’s unknown whether this shot from the episode is actually from the scene or a re-enactment.

The locations above were all shown during the episode while the discovery of Asha’s backpack was being discussed. The location of the third screenshot is in Connelly Springs, North Carolina directly off of North Carolina Highway 18.

Screenshots From Find the Missing

IN THE MEDIA

Laurel Haven Avenue is about 7.5 miles from the location identified in the screenshot from “Find Our Missing” season 2

N.C. 18 in Burke County about six miles south of Morganton - Laurel Haven Avenue is about 8 miles South of Morganton

The backpack was found “between the road and a creek, down a 20-foot embankment”

Belongings found “some 25 miles away from her home in Shelby” - 25 miles north of Asha’s home is shy of Morganton on a map but the addresses on NC 18 in that area are technically Morganton addresses. The area identified in Find Our Missing is 18 miles north of Asha’s home. Laurel Haven Avenue is 26 miles from the Degree home

Smart’s Grove Baptist Church is 23.5 miles north of the Degree home and about 5 miles north of the location identified in Find Our Missing. It is about 2.5 miles south on NC 18 from the entrance of Laurel Haven Avenue

The command post was “just south” or where the backpack was found

These photos show thick growth in the area that Asha’s backpack was found

N.C. 18 South in Burke County

Off N.C. 18, about six miles south of Morganton

Nearly 40 miles north of where Asha was last reportedly spotted on February 14, 2000. Using NC 18, Morganton is about 35 miles north of the site of Asha’s billboard near Turner Upholstery

Just south of Laurel Haven Avenue in Burke County

Off N.C. 18, south of Morganton

Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to identify the location of the Hunting Hound or the former Texaco station

The command post was set up at Smart’s Grove Baptist Church, about 2.5 miles south on NC 18 from the entrance of Laurel Haven Avenue

Another photo of thick growth during the search of the area of Asha’s backpack

Photo of a dirt road, presumably the driveway that Terry Fleming was grading / clearing land for

Compiling Descriptions

In Burke County
Off of N.C. 18
6 miles South of Morganton
Just South of Laurel Haven Avenue
Just North of the command post (likely Smart’s Grove Church)
25 miles North of the Degree home
40 miles North of Asha’s last sighting

Asha was last spotted about a mile South of her home. There is no location that fits 25 miles North of the home and 40 miles North of the last sighting. The descriptions here, “some 25 miles” and “nearly 40 miles” don’t help with precision. There can be a location some 25 miles North of the home and nearly 40 kilometers North of the last sighting. If km were not converted to miles for whatever reason, both articles would be pointing to the same location.

Between the road and a creek
20 feet off the road
Down a 20-foot embankment
In an area with thick growth and a cleared driveway

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SOURCES

Asha Degree "Find Our Missing" Season 2 Episode 7

This is the first half of the episode. #FindAshaDegree #JusticeForAshaDegree #ShelbysSweetheart

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Asha Degree "Find Our Missing" Season 2 Episode 7

The Story of Asha Degree

9 year old Asha Jaquilla Degree disappeared from Shelby, NC on February 14, 2000. Some time early in the morning Asha left, for reasons unknown, on her own accord. She pack her backpack and began walking along North Carolina Highway 18... Several passing motorist saw her walking. When approached by one...Asha left the roadside and ran into a wooded area.... That day, investigators found some of her personal effects near where she was last seen in a shed. A year and a half later, her bookbag (still packed) was unearthed from a construction site along Highway 18 north of Shelby in Morganton. The circumstances around Asha's disappearance do suggest runaway...but there is no clear reason for her to do so. She is younger then the average runaway. Instead, it is believed that Asha was abducted by a person...that person has never been identified and Asha has never been found. Please notify police if you have any information that could lead to the return of Shelby's Sweetheart...Asha Jaquilla Degree.

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