O’Bryant Degree, second from right, walks with friends along North Carolina Highway 18 during a walk to commemorate the 25th year of Degree’s younger sister, Asha, disappearing along Fallston Road in Shelby, N.C., on Saturday, Feb. 8. Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez mrodriguez@charlotteobserver.com

Melinda Law, a former WBTV reporter, still has vivid memories from her days covering the disappearance of Asha Degree in Cleveland County. Asha was just nine years old when she left her family home and vanished on Feb.

Asha’s parents sat down with Channel 9 reporter Ken Lemon with a message for the people identified as suspects.

The 25-year anniversary of Asha’s disappearance “didn’t open old wounds,” Iquilla Degree said. “For us, the wounds never closed,” she said, standing next to her husband. Cleveland County Sheriff Alan Norman said the case remains “very fluid” and “very active.” It is not a “cold case,” he told the Observer.

Nine-year-old Asha Degree disappeared on Valentine’s Day 2000. She was seen walking along Highway 18, away from her family’s home in Fallston in the early hours of that morning. Investigators recently said they believe Asha Degree was killed and her body moved by a family from Shelby. But the investigation continues.

Degree’s family described her as a sheltered child who was scared of thunderstorms, and there has been no explanation as to what may have caused her to leave her house and walk down the road in the middle of the night during a storm.