In the year 2000, Asha and her family lived in a house on Oakcrest Street in Shelby, North Carolina. She was last seen in her house around 2:30 in the morning. the 14th of February, 2000. Asha’s father went to sleep at that time and told the police that when he checked on his daughter, she was sleeping in her bed.

Asha’s older brother shared a room with her. He said that he heard sounds in the early morning and thought that his sister was tossing and turning in her sleep. Around 6:30 a.m., Asha’s mother went into her room. when she went to wake up her kids for school, she found Asha wasn’t in her bed. The family called the police right away, and they started a thorough search of the area, but they didn’t find anything. No one has ever heard from Asha again.

Between 3:30 and 4:15 a.m., two truck drivers said they saw her walking south on Highway 18 north of Shelby. Asha was probably near the Highway 180 intersection at the time, which was about a mile from her home. At this point, she got off the highway and walked off into the dark. It was the last time the child was seen for sure.

On the night she was last seen, Asha may have been seen getting into a dark green car from the early 1970s. The car probably was either a Lincoln Mark IV or a Ford Thunderbird, based on the rust around the wheel wells. There are pictures of cars that look like the ones in this case summary.

Investigators think that Asha left her home on her own. She is said to be a quiet, shy person who is good at school and has a happy home life. It’s not clear why she’s leaving. The day before Asha went missing, her basketball team lost their first game of the season. Her family said that she was sad about the loss at first, but that she felt better after a few hours.

In February 2000, Asha’s fourth-grade class at Fallston Elementary School read Sid Fleischman’s book The Whipping Boy. The main story of the book is about a prince and a commoner child who takes the punishment for the prince. The children then run away, and the book tells about what they do. At the end of the story, both boys make it back to the kingdom safely. No one knows if the book had anything to do with Asha going missing.

Asha’s black book bag and black Tweety Bird purse were missing from her room after she went missing, as were a pair of blue jeans with a red stripe, black sneakers, a long-sleeved white shirt with purple lettering, a red vest with black trim, black overalls with Tweety Bird on them, and a long-sleeved black and white shirt. All of the house’s doors were locked, and Asha’s house key was in her bookbag.

On February 17, 2000, three days after Asha went missing, her pencil, marker, and Mickey Mouse hair bow were found on the ground in the doorway of a tool shed at Turner’s Upholstery on Highway 18. Her things were found close to the part of the road where Asha was seen walking early on February 14. The area was searched, but no new evidence was found. The things were found more than a mile away from Asha’s house.

In August 2001, 18 months after Asha was last seen, a contractor found her book bag buried off Highway 18. It had her name and phone number written on it. The item was double-wrapped in black trash bags and was found more than 26 miles from her family’s home and in a different direction from where she’d been walking. Animal bones and a pair of khaki pants for men were found nearby.

The bag was sent to a federal lab for testing, but the results were never made public because an investigation was still going on. Unconfirmed reports say that the bag had clothes, a pencil case, and a piece of paper with Asha’s name on it. In October of that year, a trash bag was found that looked like the one Asha’s bag was wrapped in. The bag was taken to a police lab so it could be looked at.

After the bookbag was found, investigators said they thought Asha’s disappearance was a crime and that foul play was likely to blame. After that, the area was thoroughly searched, but no new evidence was found, according to reports. With this case summary, there is a picture of some of Asha’s personal things.

Investigating Agency

• Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office 704-484-4822