CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Detectives in Cleveland County continue to investigate the disappearance of Asha Degree, a 9-year-old girl who vanished on Valentine’s Day in 2000.

After searching multiple properties across the county last week, warrants released Monday officially opened the door to a homicide investigation.

According to the warrants, the properties searched by investigators are owned by Roy Lee Dedmon and Connie Elliott Dedmon, including two houses and a rest home.

Over the years, investigators released small bits of information in the case.

In 2001, detectives said they found a bag of items belonging to Degree on the side of the road in Burke County.

And in 2016, the FBI released pictures of the two cars they say were similar to a car witnesses say Degree got into the night she went missing.

During the searches last week, investigators said they took multiple pieces of evidence, including a car.

Investigators were able to narrow down DNA samples found on Degree's bag to two people: Russell Bradley Underhill and Annalee Victoria Dedmon Ramirez.

Ramirez, a daughter of the Dedmons, was 13 at the time of Degree’s disappearance.

Detectives stated in the warrants they were also able to determine through Cleveland County Social Services that Underhill was in the care of the Dedmons' two facilities around the time that Degree disappeared.

The warrants also say that Underhill was found dead in Lincoln County in 2004.

Since the searches began last week, social media has been in a frenzy, especially after the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office towed away an old green car from the house they were searching on Cherryville Road.

The car in question closely fits the description the FBI released in 2016 as a key piece of evidence in the disappearance of Degree.

For the last 24 years, Degree’s family and friends have searched endlessly for answers to no avail.

But last week there was a glimmer of hope as the FBI, SBI and Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office swarmed multiple properties around the county with K-9s and ground-penetrating radar tools, searching for answers. 

It’s a familiar scene for retired Major Chad Moose.

“Well, once you kind of get a lead, it leads to other leads, and it can snowball on you,” Moose said.

For years, while working at the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, Moose was the lead investigator on another missing child case, the disappearance of Erica Parsons.

“We followed up a thousand false leads that you get into it and you realize, you know, this is not a lead, but you got to follow it anyway,” Moose said. “But it could be so you just never know, especially when you know a case like this. You want to make sure you don't leave anything unchecked.”

Moose said these types of investigations are nuanced, and investigators have to walk a fine line. Releasing information too early or public speculations can also damage a case.

“You got to put information out there because you want a public look in and be in your eyes out on the street,” Moose said. “But, you know, you also don't want them to investigate your case and prosecutor for you before you ever get into a courtroom.”

And while every investigation is different, with high profile cases, especially missing children cases, Moose said this scrutiny for investigators can also be a hindrance.  

“You want the public to know and be aware,” Moose said. “It sounds like they’ve been working on it for over 20 years, and that’s really all I would want the public to know. We’re working and working hard on it. And she hasn’t been forgotten.”

The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office said the joint investigation into Degree’s disappearance continues.

The Dedmons were both referred to as suspects in the case.

Last Friday, the Dedmons' lawyer held a news conference where he said their connection to the case is “tenuous at best” and that speculation about the case must end.

At this time, no remains have been recovered and no arrests have been made.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office at 704-484-4756.