The Disappearance of Asha Degree

Hi, I'm Holly. And I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Whoa.

Ask yourself, Hailey. What was that? What was that? That was a bunch of people saying, yay!

Or just a bunch of men in the room, because it sounded like, anyway, that is because it is our anniversary. We as October 1st have been on the air three years. That's crazy. Yeah.

Wow. I know. Time has fun. I apologize to everyone in advance.

Yeah. And for the past. Yeah. And the future.

And for what is to come. I'm sorry. And for this episode, 160 episodes. That's crazy.

Yeah. Three years. 160 episodes. I'm three years older.

I was just telling Hailey. I want to see if my insurance will pay for Botox, but I'll call it my grants. Yeah. I do get my grants out.

I do. I do. So it'll make me more youthful. Nice.

Yeah. It's been a crazy couple weeks. Yes. Yes.

We're back. We're back. Hailey was ill, actually. I think I worded it that we were ill.

It was me. No, I thought, so I thought I had the flu. And then... the flu we can't record.

No, because I was dying. Really thought I had the flu and thought well maybe I have COVID because it's going around again. So I took a COVID test. It was negative and I'm like I wish I had at home flu tests and then figured it was probably because I started having a lot of neck pain like stiffness, some light sensitivity and I was like oh my god if I've been bitten by another tick and I've lying again I will die but I think it was just a flare up of it.

How long did it last? Three, four days. But yeah the neck stiffness was wild. Did not feel nearly as bad as I did the first time around with Lyme.

That's good. But I was talking to a friend of mine who actually had Lyme, she had chronic Lyme and I was like does yours flare up and she's like oh yeah she's like anytime the season changes, anytime of stress, like anytime you're sick with something else it can kind of exacerbate it and so I was like well that's awesome. So I just I slept for probably 12 hours a day for like three days. Wow it was wild.

But yeah we're back. We are back. You got last week a Patreon episode which if you notice was slightly out of the mountains it was in California Nevada. Yeah that's a cool story.

It was really cool. That was one of our Patreon subscriber stories because we you know cover stories from everywhere and usually weird ones. So yeah you're like this one feels a little different. They were a little holly and haly after dark.

A little bit. Some of their jokes. Anyway that is why. But yeah sorry I feel like I sound like a pack of a smoker right now.

Just because so I went out drinking drinking with some friends the other night and went to a couple places and just like scream sang some songs into the night in a drag bar. It was really fun but there was some Taylor Swift. There was... You belong with me.

Was it out? No. There's a Whitney going on. It was just really fun.

Let me tell you something. I can tear it up with some Whitney Houston. I'm just saying. I was scream singing jumping up and down.

My feet will never be the same. That was the song. Yeah. I dance with somebody.

Yeah it was my favorite song. I sang that a lot as a kid when it was out and it was popular at the time. Oh yeah. Alright.

Well you want to light up. Sure. Don't. Not in your own.

Or anyone. Yeah. Please don't. Don't start smoking kids.

That's fun. I did recently have a doctor. I went to a doctor visit and they said in the last two weeks since we've seen you have you started a smoking habit. And I was like not that I recall.

Do people do that? Like just be 40 years old and just start smoking. She was like not really. She was like not in a two-week span.

But hey you never know. You just have to ask. Exactly. I'm glad she did.

That's always an awkward thing when you're going with that to ask you the certain questions. I went to a doctor recently and they're like just nonchalantly talking about my blood pressure and like oh how's life and then sliding the question. Have you thought about harming yourself in the past 30 days? I'm like.

No. Didn't you ask me this at the beginning? Like talking about other stuff that can be not about harming others in the last 30 days. I'm like.

Um yeah. No. But no. Yeah.

So. Get out of her assessment. Yeah. No.

They always ask me at my son's pediatrician. They're like anyone in the house smoke and I was like no except for him. But he's trying to quit. And they look at me and I was like it's a joke.

And they're like oh yeah. So funny. Is there like a job? I guess my preschooler is lighting up every day and I'm trying to get him to quit.

Yep. He doesn't like the nicarit gum. What can I say? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. That's nice stuff. All right.

So we are celebrating our anniversary by bringing you a child is missing story. Yes. Yes indeed. Yes.

No. I know right terrible. But we are headed today to February of 2000. Okay.

Since we're reminiscing in honor of our anniversary. I'm going to give you some events of the time period. This is also for Haley to have some contacts. Nina.

She was three years old. I was in 2000? Yeah. I was.

Yeah. Well four. That's on part of 2000. No.

Three. That's three. Yeah. All right.

That's all right. That's all right. That's all right. That's all right.

Oh wow. Sorry. I was home with my toddler and probably a sleep by eight. Oh, he's a preschooler.

Preschooler. No. Yeah. No.

I've got him. Look to him. Yeah. Those were the days.

The number one song was I Knew I Loved You by Savage Garden. I love that song. No. Not a clip.

I Knew I Loved You. I'm sorry. I love it. I always think of my son.

I don't think of your son. Well, it's I Knew I Loved You before I even met you. I don't think of that with like I think that with your children like before you even held them or met them. You knew like you love them.

I don't know. The top two television shows on TV were ER. I loved ER. And who wants to be a millionaire with Regis Billman?

I'm going to worry. Really? I like it. It was a huge thing.

Like you brought ABC back. It was young. The top movie at the box office was Scream 3 starring West Craven and Ned Campbell. Nice.

As you can see, it was a pretty good time. Yeah. Bill Clinton was still in office and would remain there until the 2000 election. Toned to get to me started on the 2000 election and the Hayne Chads.

If you're old enough to remember that it was a thing. And this was 19 months before 9-11. So I was a teenager. This was actually a pretty good time.

I was in three year preschool at the Methodist Church. At the Methodist Church preschool in the basement of the Methodist Church. That's where I was school. You know, not at the Methodist Church.

I was not at the Methodist Church. I'm not Methodist but I went to Methodist preschool. You know, whatever works. Exactly.

So before we get into the story, I want to thank my colleague and friends Sarah for the recommendation. We were having brunch and she mentioned it. She was like, how did you hear that story? And I was like, no, now we have.

Here we go. All right. So it's February 14 2000 Valentine's Day in Shelby, North Carolina. Shelby is a small town that sits about an hour west of Charlotte.

It's nearly three o'clock in the morning when 10-year-old O'Brien degree, so that's his name. O'Brien degree. I kind of like that. O'Brien.

I feel like I hear that more is a last name. O'Brien, but I kind of like that. It's so very Irishy. Come here, O'Brien.

He hears the bed of his nine-year-old sister, Asha, Squeak. So O'Brien and Asha have been sharing a bedroom. Such cute names. I know.

I know. And O'Brien assumes that his sister is just like moving around the bed and he thinks nothing more of it. Kind of like, oh, she just settled down. So he settles back into a blissful sleep.

Unaware of the chaos that is to come that Valentine's morning. The children's mother, Aquila, degree, wakes up another great name. Stake, I love it. She wakes up around 5.45 in the morning and begins her weekday routine.

So this is now a Monday morning. She's waking up for two children to ready them for school as she does every day. The night before the power had gone out. So Aquila decided to wait on giving the kids baths until like the next morning.

So she prepared the water and went to go wake up the kiddos. O'Brien woke up with a yawn, but they noticed that Asha wasn't in her bed. Asha's mother searched the room in the house and even like in the family cars, like maybe she, you know, maybe her brother was annoying her or something. And she went to like sleep in the car or something.

She wasn't there. She woke up her husband. His name was Harold and she had a lot of panicking her voice and she told him, I can't find Asha. Harold was like really calm.

Like, okay, there's probably an explanation for this. She probably just went across the street to grandma's house. His mother lived across the street. So, you know, it was typical that she would go over there.

Not usually in the morning like that, but he was like, it's probably not a big deal. So, Aquila called the house, the grandmother's house. And on the other line was her sister-in-law who said, no, she hasn't been here. Like she is not here.

Check the house. No, she's not here. So, it was at this point that Aquila began to panic. It wasn't like her daughter to just disappear.

Asha had a fear of dogs. So, she wouldn't just like walk through the neighborhood by herself. Like she was scared that a dog would come out and like attack her. So, this wasn't typical.

And while the family lived in a really safe residential neighborhood, like your mind starts to go to pretty scary places when you think your child is missing. Aquila called her own mother to ask for advice. Like, what do you think I should do? Like, am I overreacting?

And her mother said, you need to call the police. Like, if you can't find her, you know, you know your own child. Like, you need to call the cops. So, by this point, it's 640 in the morning when the first group of police officers arrive on the scene with their dogs.

They were hopeful that they could like pick up on her scent. Like maybe if she just wandered off because remember, she's nine years old. Right. So, police were given a photo of her as well as other identifying information.

Like what she was wearing that day or they thought she might be wearing. So, meanwhile, Aquila couldn't sit idly by. I can't think of what parent could've. Like, I would be out of my mind.

So, she started walking through the neighborhood calling out her daughter's name, thinking like, you know, maybe she'll hear me. Maybe she's, you know, she got lost or something. She'll just sort of pop up and surprise her. Like, surprise.

Something to reassure her that maybe this was just a dream. It was a really terrible dream. Yeah. Aquila screamed her daughter's name with a primal sense of panic and urgency.

By 7 a.m., Aquila had essentially woken up the entire neighborhood. So, once friends and family and neighbors were alerted to her absence, they helped Aquila in the search. They were walking through the community, calling out, Aush's name, you know, looking through bushes and looking everywhere they could. The pastor of their church came to the family's home in order to provide some emotional support.

And he prayed with a family that the child would be found safe and sound. Police dogs were not able to pick up Aush's scent. And the only thing they found was a lone glove that fit a child's hand. Aquila told the police that the glove did not belong to Aush's and that no winter clothing was missing from their house.

So, oddly not hers. Yeah. When the local news caught wind of the case, it became their top news story and it gained a great deal of attention as it should. After seeing the news, two people driving on the road near Aush's home contacted the police.

They each claimed to have seen Aush's or a child that matched her description, walking alone on the road in the wee hours of the morning. One driver reported seeing the young girl and attempted to approach her, which quickly prompted her to run into the woods. I mean, that would cause me to approach the woods too. Man approaches me.

I'm gone. Please, in the opposite direction. Except for Randy the other arch. Except for Randy the arch, I will.

You will let him hang you down. I will. Yeah. Any day.

Oh. This is why he's never conveniently on vacation when you travel. No. Yeah.

So, the driver stated that the young girl was wearing white pants and a long sleeve white t-shirt and was walking south along highway 18, just north of the junction that merged into highway 180. The motorist was pretty alarmed at seeing a young child walking alone at that time in the morning. Yeah. That was really weird.

So, the motorist passed the child and then thought something is not right. Maybe I should ask her if she's okay, because she's clearly very young. Yeah. She's lost.

So, he turned around and kind of did a circle. And then at that point, she like saw him gotten nervous and ran into the woods. So, the motorist claims that it was kind of rainy. Yeah.

And was, he felt like there was a storm raging that was like about to happen. Yeah. Maybe she's like running for cover or something. I don't know.

He just thought it was very weird. So, a truck driver came forward and reported seeing the same girl in a similar ensemble, white top, you know, long sleeve shirt, white jeans between 3.45 and 4.15, which was also startling to him because again, it was odd to see a child that time in the morning walking by themselves along the road. And police felt that this was indeed Aisha based on the description of the child's clothing. So, what are they suggesting that she ran away?

Potentially. Yeah. Cleveland County Sheriff Dan Crawford reported to the media that they were quote, pretty sure it was her because the descriptions they gave are consistent with what we know she was wearing. Okay.

The two witnesses had both in the child around the same time in the same area. The two men didn't know each other. So, it wasn't like, you know, they were coming forward together or anything like that. So, there was no connection.

As the sunset on that Valentine's Day, which was actually Aisha's parents 12 wedding anniversary. Oh. Yeah. Oh my God.

How devastating. So, many ways. The family was pretty filled with fear and grief. Yeah.

Like what is happening? Wow. The next day police found empty candy wrappers in a shed next to a local business. The business was off of highway 18 near where the woods were where they she'd last been seen.

So, when police searched the shed further, they discovered a single green marker, a pencil, a yellow hair bow belonging to Aisha and a photograph of a black female around Aisha's age. But it wasn't Aisha. But it wasn't Aisha. That's weird.

Police were never able to identify the girl in the picture, but just knew that it wasn't Aisha. Right. It wasn't. It was so weird.

That is so weird. Like, would she have had this picture? You know what I mean? Like, did she have that with her?

Right. Was it a picture of a friend? When looking for a girl who looked like her and dropped the picture? Was it like a school picture or was it just a random?

It didn't give a lot of details. It just said a picture of a girl. Because when I was in elementary school, like that's something that you did. Like when you got your school pictures, usually you got that little sheet of like the wallet size ones and give them to your friend.

Yeah. Something like stamped over it like cannot use as real pictures. Yeah. And you like give them to your friends or whatever and like you ended up having like, and if you were like, you had tried to give your crush one and if they gave you their picture.

It was like, it's on that. That was like a marriage proposal. And then pretty soon you're at the club with them screaming, I want to die. Yeah.

Well, magical magic. Well, and so I don't know. I mean, based on the things that she had, a lot of them seem like score girl thing. Yeah.

Like a random green marker, a pencil, a yellow like hair bow, you know, but then the odd picture of a girl her age, two things pop in my head. One is like, hey, maybe it's a picture of a school friend gave her or, you know, maybe it was somebody looking for someone who sort of matched that description and they're like, oh, I want her. There's something so weird. Yeah.

So the following day, February 16th, while going through her room, Asha's mom noticed that her favorite pair of blue jeans with a red stripe was missing from a dresser. Her mother also noticed that her backpack was missing. This led police to believe that Asha willingly packed her things and left her house. Or was possibly coerced to leave her house.

Right. I mean, even if it is a runaway situation that's still concerning because she's nine. She's not like she's a teen who's like, I'm not like a 16 year old who, you know, I was like, you're not going to tell me what to do. And yeah, it has a little bit more street smart, you know, right.

Or they think they do at least or they think they do. Yeah. This is like, even if it is a runaway, she's nine. She's nine and how far is she going to get?

Like, honestly, this is just so weird. Yeah. And she's scared of dogs. Most nine year olds are kind of scared of the dark, you know, I'm still scared of the dark.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't be out on a run.

Absolutely. No, I wouldn't do it. You know, I wouldn't do it. I sleep with a lamp on TV.

I can't do the TV light. No, I like it. I have a soft lamp that I laid on. Well, I have the alarm.

We have a gated community. So we're pretty set. Yeah. I still wouldn't be out about.

Oh, absolutely not. The big thing here is like maybe she was meeting somebody. So maybe it was a coercion of like, but who would she have met? You know what I mean?

Right. I mean, there's not really a lot of like, especially could that age aren't really using like chatting? Well, and this wasn't really a thing. Right.

And I'll get into more about her life with her parents and what that looked like. If there was any of those very basic like, well, I mean, there were like chat rooms and stuff and there was like AOL aim and stuff like that. But I'll get into a little bit more of her life. She really wasn't a part of any of that.

Right. Anybody that she would meet would be like school or church or something to that effect. So anyway, but it seemed like it was like a meeting place almost. I don't know.

There's just something so weird about this. So on February 22, eight days after she initially went missing, police called off the search. They had dedicated 9,000 man hours to searching a two to three mile area where she less than seen. Sadly, they had no substantial leads to go on.

That just God, that has to be so frustrating. I know. I mean, I get it like having to call off a search because if you haven't found her in that area with that many people looking, the likelihood is probably going to be a goal at that point. Like I've been taken off.

Yeah. You're not going to find her wandering the woods eight days later in that small grid. Exactly with so many people and neighbors and friends. Flyers have been posted throughout the community and there were upwards of 300 leads that police chased down, including tips that she was dumped in a well or sane at an abandoned house.

But all of these leads proved futile. While police scaled back their search efforts, they encouraged the public media to continue to keep the story going. Due to the publicity of the case, the FBI and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation got involved. The FBI felt that due to Asha's packing her clothing that she had been preparing to leave for several days, leading up to her departure.

So this had been thought out. One of the FBI agents felt that Asha was quote, not your typical runaway. Obviously we talked about nine years old. So this was in large part due to her age and that most children or teens who run away are in and around a 12 or up.

Usually 12 years older up. Asha had a good family life. She had a loving parents. She had a loving older brother, even though they probably fought from time to time.

She was very close with her whole family. She loved going to school. She was the point guard on her fourth grade basketball team. I know.

She went to church every Sunday and computers were not allowed in their home. So that theory is out the window. Asha's parents were very, very leery and rightfully so of the internet. I get it 100%.

Even now what it looks like two days, which is vastly different than... I mean, we had to carry her. We had to dial up. And I would constantly, Mom, stop answering the phone.

You got me off the dial up. You know, the old school. So the only couple of things to note here on her family was that she and her brother came home from school to an empty house. Both of her parents worked until late afternoon.

So O'Brien and Asha kind of cared for themselves. So they're latchkey kids. They did have family across the street, so it wasn't like they were totally on their own if they needed something. But do note that.

The Friday before Asha went missing, her school was closed. So she and her brother spent the whole day with her aunt, who lived in the same neighborhood. Asha went to basketball practice that evening and everything seemed normal. The next day, Saturday, Asha's parents went to her basketball game.

And they noted that she was upset when she found out how the game and the team ended up losing. So they were called that she and her teammates were crying, but she was able to calm down and she proudly cheered on her brother when his team played. So there was nothing that seemed unusual to her parents or anything that was out of the norm. Investigators believe that Asha let her home of her own accord while walking down the road and was potentially abducted.

The case stopped there until August 3, 2001. This is 18 months after she disappeared. A construction team was working on widening a road along Highway 18 in Morgantown. So this is about 50 miles from our Asha last scene.

When they discovered a backpack wrapped in a plastic bag, one worker examined the door in the backpack and found a name and address on the inside. The backpack was that of Asha degree. Fifty miles away. Fifty miles away 18 months later.

In Morgantown. In Morgantown. Okay. It was quickly recovered by the police and examined for DNA evidence.

The results of those tests have never been made public. Wow. Twenty plus years later, never. The items in the bag however were released and included a new kids on the block t-shirt and a book from Asha's elementary library.

The book was Dr. Seuss's McEliot's pool. McEliot's pool. It was determined that neither belonged to Asha.

So it came from her elementary school but it didn't actually. It was her. Yeah. Yeah.

And let's just talk about this new kids on the block thing. Okay. Okay. At that point in time, the band wasn't popular.

She wasn't even probably born by the time the band was popular. Late 80s, early 90s. Like maybe she, you know, if she was born in 91 or 90, I mean they were popular when she was born like not at that time. By 2000, she would have been into like Backstreet Boys in sync.

That kind of thing. Why was this found in her bag? And like her parents even said like that doesn't belong to her. Right.

There are so many things here that don't make sense. Why were things found in her bag that didn't belong to her? Like the picture of the young girl. And why was it wrapped in plastic?

Why was it wrapped in a plastic bag? It seems like somebody wanted to preserve it in some way. Something doesn't make sense. No, that's weird.

So in 2004, there was an inmate at the Cleveland County Jail within Shelby who claimed to know where Asha's body was buried. Yeah. Police were led to an intersection in an area of Londale but only found animal bones. In 2008, Asha's parents set up a scholarship fund in her memory to help support deserving students.

And they post a walkathon every year to raise awareness. The goal is to keep Asha's memory alive. The walkathon was also always hosted on February 14th but the family decided to change it to a week before Valentine's Day because they didn't want like a day of love to be a somber affair for those participating. In 2013, Asha's mom did an interview with Jet Magazine where she explained that she felt her daughter's case hadn't gotten much attention or at least as much attention as it deserved.

She said, and I quote, missing white children get more attention. I don't understand why. I know if you ask them they will say it's not racial. Really she said, I'm not going to argue because I have common sense.

End quote. In 2015, the FBI reopened the case and interviewed past witnesses. They offered $25,000 in a reward for whoever had information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the disappearance. An additional $20,000 was raised by a community group to make that reward $45,000.

In May of 2016, the FBI announced a new lead. An early 1970s model green colored Lincoln Continental or possibly Ford Thunderbird was spotted with a girl who matched Asha's description getting into the passenger side door. This was along Highway 18 where there had been the last known sighting of Asha. The car was said to have rusty wheel wells and not been in the best shape.

So kind of a clunker. Yeah. In September of 2017, the FBI also announced that its child abduction rapid deployment team, otherwise known as CART, the ARD, was working in Cleveland County to assist in an investigation and quote, provide on the ground investigative technical, behavioral analysis and analytical support to find more about what happened to Asha. CART worked alongside the FBI Charlotte employees, Cleveland County Sheriff's Department and other investigators from the FBI.

They worked for 10 days and they also met several times a month after that to talk about the investigation. So it had gone cold, but it seemed like it picked up a lot of steam. So since September of 2017, local agents and investigators have conducted approximately 300 interviews. In October of 2018, the Cleveland County Sheriff Department detectives appealed for information from the public about two items of interest that were found in degrees backpack.

The book, the McElleates Pool by Dr. Seuss, which was borrowed from the Falston Elementary School Library in early 2000 and a new kids on the block concert t-shirt. An investigator said these items are really vital clues and very important to the case. In November of 2020, an inmate named Marcus Mellon, who was convicted of sex crimes against children in 2014, wrote a letter to the local newspaper, the Shelby Star, claiming that degree was murdered and he knows where to find her.

In February of 2021, Cleveland County Sheriff announced that Mellon's claims had once again led to another dead end. I say, oh, I just hate that. Why would you do that to these parents? I don't like to be wrong with you.

A lot. Yeah, because these are real sick. Asha's parents have been missing their daughter for over 23 years. They are hopeful that she is alive and out there somewhere and just needs to get word out about her case so that the community can help find her somehow, whether it's at this point a body or that she's out there somewhere.

A billboard continues to line Route 18, where she was last seen in the hopes that she will be found alive. This is actually the billboard that my colleague mentioned to me. Let's see. Her mother says, quote, I don't believe she's dead.

I've never believed it from day one. I'm not going to believe it. Even if they say, okay, we're pretty sure this is her and the case is closed. It will never be closed for me, end quote.

Investigators also recently searched a Shelby farm hoping for clues. I know there's a quote saying, I know it's been very disturbing for the community as well as my family says, John Klein, a Shelby resident. They searched our farm looking for any ditch ravine, old, well, anything for possible clues and quote, investigators didn't find anything on the farm. Twenty years later, a local news team ran a story about it and they talked to a local convenience store worker near highway 18 just saying, we're so worried about this case.

We still think about it. Like residents in the community really think about it. It's on our mind. And the sheriff, Alan Norman says, quote, this is a solvable case.

Yeah. Her mother, a Quilla degree, said, quote, we've done everything in our power to find our child and bring her home. Even though she is 30 now, she is still our child and still that nine year old girl who left, quote, this is worse than a death because at least with death, you have closure. You can go to a grave site.

You have an earn at home, but for us, we can't mourn. We can't give up. The only thing we have is hope, end quote. The FBI is still continuing to investigate her disappearance.

So I want to say if any of you have any information about the disappearance of Asha degree in February of 2000, please reach out to the Cleveland County Sheriff's Department at area code 704-484-4888. As a heavy one for our three year anniversary story. But a good one. A really good one in large part because I just want this family to have closure.

If we can keep the story alive and keep it going for Asha's sake or memory, let's do it because this family wants to find her daughter. Oh, no, there's a part of me as we were telling that. I bet you still left. Her mom feels like.

Her mom feels like out there. Mom, mom, no. Yeah. You just kind of have that sense.

I just, I can see this being a case of what was the girl's name, J.C.? Do Guard? Yeah. Like that just kept popping in your brain.

Popping in my brain the whole time you're telling this story. I mean, I hope that, you know, maybe best case scenario, she ran off and had a head injury and has amnesia and is living a fabulous life somewhere. But I don't think that's the case. I have this weird sense that just based on the things they found in the backpack.

Someone lost a child around her age, maybe in the early 90s, when Nuke is on the block was popular and all these things. And somehow lord her, you know, maybe he met her through school or somehow met her or followed her and maybe encouraged her, hey, why don't you come maybe here or something? And it happened and then she was abducted. And I feel like this person was trying to replace the child they had lost.

And you know, maybe, you know, kept her, I don't know, at a site or like kept her in another state or somewhere where like, you know, after years of being there, you know, you eventually start to, you know, have that syndrome where you sort of align with your captors and you're dependent on them. I don't know. Maybe I'm just talking out of my booty here, but I, there's some kind of weird thing going on with this t-shirt and the stuff that they found that didn't belong with her in the picture of the child that wasn't her. But it looked like her.

But it looked like her. There's just something so odd. It's really odd. Yeah.

So I feel like this is a solvable case. Yeah, something's definitely not over. No. And I pray that we hear more and that they are able to solve it for her parents, you know.

Yeah. And if she's out there still, you know, you know, getting her home. Yeah. Absolutely.

And I feel like God, we're just like DNA tests away. You know what I mean? Like it takes her to like have the ability to freedom to like put in a DNA test just to like find her genealogy. Right.

And then here it is, you know, or you know, I mean, or then to test whatever DNA is on that backpack. Yeah. Or like whatever's on it. Like the results of it.

Yeah. What's going on with that? That's weird. I know.

And it's not been released. Right. That feels like they have something and they just want to hold on to it and they're not going to get that. Yeah.

Like it's, they're not sharing all the stuff. Yeah. And you want to hold on to something, you know, that you can, you know, process or use later. So anyway, yeah, that's where we're at.

That's that. Wow. I don't even want to go back up on a real low point. Okay.

But have the anniversary. Happy anniversary. Oh my gosh. We've made it three years together together together forever and ever with you.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a great. Well, we've known each other for what?

Going on six years. Yeah. Going on six years. Yeah.

Five and a half years. Seven and a half. June of 2018. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. You're like, I'm like, I'm like, that's that's amazing. I know. I know.

Okay. So special. All right. Well, this was really fun.

Let me tell you how you can email us. And if you know anything, you know, definitely call Cleveland County Sheriff's Department. But even if you've heard of this case and you're in the community and you just want to share more, that would be wonderful. You can reach out to us via email at mountain mysteries.applelatchin at gmail.com.

You can find us on Facebook at mountain mysteries.tales from Appalachia. You can find us on Instagram at mountain mysteries.applelatchin for real good time. Patreon. Patreon.com slash mountain mysteries.

That's where you get bonus content and Holly and Haley after dark. Haley, do you have a shout out today? Yes, I do. Please hold.

We're always holding. I had to log back in and it was a whole thing. At this point, just make something up to say. Just like when I talk to Haley's hometown, you know who you are.

Let's go. St. Cloud, Minnesota. Oh, I love Minnesota.

Never been. Cold. Very cold. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. That's it. All right. Well, until next time.

See you. Bye. Bye.