Asha Degree, for those who are unfamiliar, disappeared on February 14, 2000. She was 9 years old at the time.

Her father worked night shift and checked on the kids around 2:00 am. Her mother went to wake her up that morning around 6:00, and she wasn’t in her bed.

She left with a packed book bag and locked the front door behind her.

Witnesses claim they saw a girl matching her description walking along a highway around 4:00 am that morning.

Days later, candy wrappers were found at a shed nearby the highway where she was seen walking. They also found a pencil, marker, and a hair bow belonging to Asha.

A year after she went missing, her backpack was found buried at a construction site wrapped in trash bags. Some of her belongings were still inside.

This case has always haunted me. I just can’t fathom getting up in the middle of the night as a little girl and walking out of my house. It was February, pouring rain, and freezing, and she didn’t have any winter clothes packed.

Reportedly she had a stable home life and loving parents. She didn’t have access to the internet, so it’s not like she met an online predator. My gut tells me she was lured out by an adult, but I feel like it would have had to know the person extremely well for them to convince her to leave her house like that, and not to tell anyone about her plans.

Thoughts?