Police also named members of a local family as suspects. The Dedmon family includes Roy and Connie Dedmon and their daughters Lizzie Grace Dedmon Foster, Sarah Gwen Dedmon Caple and AnnaLee Victoria Dedmon Ramirez.

The three girls were teenagers at the time, and documents showed that while officers believed they may have been involved, they would have required adult assistance due to their age.

(NewsNation) — Authorities in North Carolina conducted a new search in the 25-year-old missing persons case of Asha Degree on Friday.

Degree was 9 years old when she disappeared from her home in Shelby, North Carolina, in 2000. The investigation has recently seen a surge in activity, with multiple searches performed and court documents revealing new information about suspects.

Friday’s search in Lincoln County, North Carolina, involved both Lincoln County and Cleveland County law enforcement officials as well as agents from the FBI and the State Bureau of Investigation.

Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman told local media that he would not be releasing details on the search but did say the current property owner consented and was not connected to the investigation.

Drone photos showed law enforcement agents searching an area that included several old buildings that appeared to be in a state of disrepair.

Disappearance of Asha Degree

Degree left her house in the early morning hours of Valentine’s Day in 2000. She took a backpack with some of her belongings with her, and witnesses saw her walking alongside a highway during an intense storm.

Her parents began searching for her when Degree’s mother went to wake her at 6:30 a.m. and found she was not in her bed. Two witnesses reported seeing Degree near the road, including one who said they saw her run into the nearby woods.

A day later, candy wrappers and a hair bow belonging to Degree were found in a shed near the woods. In 2001, her backpack and other items were found during a construction project, wrapped in black plastic.

The search for Asha Degree

In 2024, authorities searched several properties and collected evidence that included a green 1964 AMC Rambler. Court documents associated with that search indicated that officials believe Degree was killed and her body concealed.

Police also named members of a local family as suspects. The Dedmon family includes Roy and Connie Dedmon and their daughters Lizzie Grace Dedmon Foster, Sarah Gwen Dedmon Caple and AnnaLee Victoria Dedmon Ramirez.

The three girls were teenagers at the time, and documents showed that while officers believed they may have been involved, they would have required adult assistance due to their age.

Electronic evidence was also seized, including text messages between the daughters with Foster saying it was her fault that all of this was happening.

Court documents also show that a witness told police that Foster had confessed to killing Degree at a party before Caple told her to stop talking.

Foster later declined to take a polygraph test, and Caple refused an interview with police.