Wendy Hughes is a mother who just wants to help another mother.
Hughes, of Charlotte, launched the online blog,www.findingashadegree.wordpress.com, which began garnering public attention at the beginning of January. She wants nothing more than to help the Degree's find Asha.
"What I want to accomplish is, I want the Six Degrees of Separation theory to come to fruition. I want that person who knows someone, who knows someone, to see the blog and talk themselves into coming forward," Hughes said. "It could be that simple to end 16 years of questions, and good or bad, bring Asha home."
The 55-year-old has no ties to the Degree family but still felt like she needed to do something.
"I felt I had a connection to Asha's mom. I felt her pain — just a smidgen, though — we both had similar circumstances in the same year (2000)," she said. "My son went missing when he was about (Asha's) age. He was only gone 45 minutes, but it could have ended up much different."
Hughes also runs a Facebook page called Finding Asha Degree: Shelby's Sweetheart, where she posts updates on research that she believes could be tied to Asha's disappearance.
The blog lists, in detail, Hughes' opinion on what happened the February morning when Asha disappeared. Hughes first started it as a way to satisfy her curiosity about the incident, but as she dug deeper and deeper into the case, her blog expanded along with her curiosity.
"In my earliest days researching and poking around the web, I was amazed at how many people know and talk about Asha on social media, from crime sleuth forums, Reddit, even mommy-type forums," she said. "People love her, and their heart goes out to the Degree family.
"But there would be tidbits about Asha's case here and then misinformation there. It was then that I decided to dig deep for the correct information - as correct as I could manage - and post it to my blog."
Iquilla Degree, Asha's mother, was upset upon learning about the the blog several weeks ago.
"I was headed to work one day and my brother called me, it was a Sunday evening, and started telling me about (this website)," Degree said.
She, and others in the family, were concerned about what type of information was being posted to the blog, but the family decided to look into it a bit more.
"We figured it was something with (Natioanl Center for Missing and Exploited Children) or the FBI," Degree said.
Degree has looked at the blog and described much of it as "half-truths." She said she has no knowledge of ever meeting or speaking to Hughes about the site, but she is taking it with a grain of salt.
Page 2 of 2 - "Somebody knows something. And if it keeps her story out there…" Degree trailed off, with a shake of her head.
Degree may not be a fan of the blog, but law enforcement doesn't think it's necessarily a negative.
"People wanting to help doesn't burden the case whatsoever," Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman said. "I had a person recently say that they drive a truck, and any time that they see a young person in another truck, they check to see if it matches the description of Asha."
Outsiders doing their own research don't have access to the same information as law enforcement, but the work they do on their own is not always a hindrance, according to Dr. Laura Pettler, vice president of the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases.
"I've seen it go both ways. Families (and people) have helped gather information while maintaining a respectful and good relationship with law enforcement agencies," Pettler said. "I have also seen it go very, very poorly. It really depends on both parties (citizen and law enforcement officers). First and foremost, the integrity of the case must be maintained."
Norman said he encourages people to be as informed as possible about the case, and if they discover anything they think could be relevant, to contact the department.
"Law enforcement officers are only good as the information that they receive from the public," he said. "Any input can be good."
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