In the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2000, nine-year-old Asha Degree stepped out of her home in Shelby, North Carolina, and disappeared into the darkness. What could drive a cautious, sheltered child to walk alone down a storm-soaked highway before dawn?

This haunting episode of True Crime: America’s Most Chilling takes you deep into one of the South’s most enduring mysteries — the disappearance that shattered a small town and redefined how America searches for its missing children. Through firsthand accounts, investigative detail, and emotional storytelling, we trace the desperate search, the decades of silence, and the unwavering hope of a family who refused to let the world forget their daughter.

A story of loss, faith, and unanswered questions — this is the mystery of Asha Degree, the girl who walked into the dark and was never seen again.

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