As North Carolina authorities recently renewed their search for a Cleveland County, N.C. girl reported missing several years ago, an Orangeburg family prays for a resolution.

With the high-profile search for a missing Fallston child being resumed this past week, Orangeburg resident Jo Crews says she recalls the day a small community in southern North Carolina came together when a 9-year-old child went missing four years ago.

"I hope they find her so the family can have some type of closure," Crews said. "I can't imagine what the family is going through, just wondering if she is still alive."

Crews and her family moved to Orangeburg in 1994 from their hometown of Fallston, a rural community about 25 miles north of Shelby. In the sleepy community of about 600, doors were still left unlocked, keys left in cars.

But on Valentine's Day 2000, a child went missing, further galvanizing an already close community.

And last week, Cleveland County authorities started anew their search for Asha Jaquilla Degree after investigators with the sheriff's office received new information. However, Cleveland County Sheriff Raymond Hamrick would not elaborate on what that information is.

Crews is now monitoring news of the renewed search from afar. The Orangeburg Department of Public Safety clerk still has family members in the area where Asha went missing. Crews watches — and prays — for a positive outcome.

"When I first heard it (the news of the current search), I was told she had been found," Crews said. "I was very relieved that she had been found, but I later learned it was just a rumor."

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Asha was last seen by her family sleeping in her bed at around 2:30 a.m. Feb. 14, 2000.

Around 4 a.m., she was seen walking along N.C. Highway 18 near her home by a passing soft drink delivery driver.

"He supposedly saw her walking on (Hwy.) 18," Crews said. "But if he had of seen her a child walking on the road, why wouldn't you turn around and go see if something was wrong?"

That was the last time anyone reported seeing the fourth-grader.

Searchers on horseback and K-9 units scoured the area. Posters with Asha's picture went up. Fliers were handed out and yellow ribbons were tied off on trees. The FBI later joined in the search for the little girl who was described as being "shy and quiet."

"I don't think they had a lot to go on at that particular time," Crews said. "Not long after that, people started calling, calling from different states, saying they'd seen her."

Crews' mother's, Lucille Hartman, was among the number of women who prepared meals for Asha's family and handed out fliers. Hartman supported the family whenever the cancer then racking her body would allow.

Neither Crews nor Hartman knew the Degree family, but that didn't matter. Asha was missing, and that was what mattered. Hartman's neighbor was a school teacher — Asha's school teacher.

"She would always tell us what a nice little girl she was," Crews said.

It was as if the little girl had vanished into thin air. The investigation is being treated as if foul play has occurred. The community has been left stunned that there was the possibly a "big-city" crime that had occurred in their rural area.

"There was one General Store where he sold everything from baby clothes to funeral things," Crews said. "We had one stop light, everyone knew everybody. There was never in crime."

After several months, the Fallston community gradually moved back into their daily routines. But they never forgot Asha, the little girl who belonged not just to her family but also to the community family. The situation remained unsolved as Hartman succumbed to her illness later that same year.

"I just wish that the little girl could of been found before she passed away," Crews said.

In August 2001, Asha's book bag was found in a wooded area along N.C. 18, about 40 miles north of where she had last been seen. And then police received no other information or clues.

Until last week.

On Tuesday, police began digging in the yard of a residence in the nearby town of Lawndale. Investigators have located several bones in that yard but have tentatively identified them as animal bones.

Asha's parents, Harold and Iquilla Degree, and her brother, O'Bryant, still wait for answers as the efforts of police continued into the weekend.

Crews said there was a rumor that someone had turned themselves in to police, saying he had struck the little girl with his car and buried her. But that scenario has not been confirmed, Crews said.

"Somebody knows something about that little girl," Crews said. "I just wish they would come forward so we can find out what happened to her. Having children of my own, I could only imagine what this family is going through having one of their children missing like that. All you can do is pray for them."

A billboard placed near Fallston asking "Have you seen Asha Degree?" still stands on N.C. 18.

Anyone with information about Asha or any other missing child is asked to call the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).

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