New search warrants were made public Monday in connection with the disappearance of 9-year-old Asha Degree, with investigators saying for the first time they believe she was murdered and hidden.
Asha has been missing since February 14, 2000. Her parents said they woke up to find she was no longer home in Shelby.
Detectives from the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI were spotted at several properties in Cleveland County on Tuesday. Authorities confirmed to Channel 9 that the searches were related to Asha’s disappearance.
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No criminal charges have been filed and no one has been arrested in connection with Asha’s disappearance.
Channel 9’s Ken Lemon obtained the affidavits filed in connection with the search warrant on Monday.
Seventeen months after Asha was reported missing, investigators found two sealed black plastic garbage bags along Highway 18 near Morganton. Inside the bags were Asha’s book bag and clothing, investigators said.
According to the search warrant affidavit, two items provided investigators with “evidential results,” with DNA samples that could be traced back to two individuals.
The affidavit states that one of the samples belonged to a man named Russell Underhill who died in 2004.
The affidavit states that a hair found on Asha’s undershirt matched the DNA of one of Roy Dedmon’s daughters, based on genealogical records.
The Dedmons had three daughters, all of whom were teenagers at the time of Asha’s disappearance. The DNA sample matched a daughter who was 13 on Feb. 14, 2000, according to the affidavit.
Investigators said that based on the evidence and the fact that there has been no communication with Asha since her disappearance, they believe Asha “is the victim of a homicide, with her body concealed.”
The warrant describes Roy and Connie Dedmon as “suspects” and states that investigators believe their assistance “may have been necessary in the commission and/or cover-up of the crime.” The warrant cites the ages of the Dedmons’ daughters at the time of Asha’s disappearance.
An attorney for Roy Dedmon, David Teddy, told reporters Friday that his client had nothing to do with Asha’s disappearance, but he hinted that the search warrant might reveal “the circumstances of Asha Degree’s disappearance.”
Investigators had information about the DNA evidence, but in May 2023, a new twist came to the case.
According to a search warrant affidavit, detectives interviewed a Cleveland County Social Services employee, who confirmed that Underhill was under the care of Roy Dedmon at Cleveland Health Care in February 2000.
Investigators confirmed Underhill’s whereabouts at Cleveland Health Care through several documents, including a surgical record that listed Roy Lee Dedmon as Underhill’s emergency contact. After Cleveland Health Care closed in 2002, Roy Lee Dedmon and Connie Dedmon opened a nursing home in Vale, North Brook Rest Home, where Underhill lived until his death in 2004.
The social services worker told investigators that “they were told that Roy Lee Dedmon would send his 16- to 17-year-old daughter to transport patients in a dodgy vehicle to/from Broughton Hospital in Morganton.”
Last week, authorities towed away a 1960s sedan that matched the description of the vehicle wanted in connection with Asha’s disappearance.
Investigators said in their affidavit, “Roy Dedmon and Connie Dedmon are the two common links between the [DNA] profiles of Russell Underhill and [the Dedmons’ daughter] collected and identified from Asha’s undershirt and the garbage bag that contained Asha Degree’s book bag.”
Investigators say they believe they will likely find “personal belongings of Asha Degree, along with other forensic and/or trace evidence related to this investigation” at the North Brook Rest Home.
The affidavit also indicates what investigators may have been looking for on Dedmon’s property on Cherryville Road.
The affidavit states that one of Dedmon’s daughters was questioned and said that when she was 16, she drove an AMC Rambler. Investigators say that’s similar to the car Asha “was seen in when she was dragged” and that a Rambler was parked on Dedmon’s property. That was the car that was towed last week.
“If they’re looking for robust DNA that might be in that vehicle, that’s probably going to be quite a challenge because obviously it can get hot in a vehicle,” said Brittania Bintz, a forensic scientist at Western Carolina University.
The affidavit states that someone told investigators that they saw Roy Dedmon digging a chest-deep hole on the property at 601 Cherryville Road a few years ago. The affidavit also states that a current resident of the home told investigators that three of the rooms had been locked since he moved in, and Dedmon told him that his personal belongings were in them.
Cameras, diaries, a black garbage bag, children’s clothes and a gun were taken from the house.
“If they were able to collect something from the house, there’s good temperature and humidity control, then it’s certainly possible that they could develop a robust genetic profile from that material,” Bintz said.
No human remains were found during last week’s searches, authorities told Channel 9.
This is a developing story. Check back throughout the day for updates.
(VIDEO: Retired FBI agent haunted by Asha Degree case)
