CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. -- It has been nearly 17 years since Asha Degree left her Cleveland County home. Since then, she yet to be located.
Saturday afternoon family and friends marched to remember and hold onto hope.
"Hope is all I have," said Iquilla Degree, Asha's mother. "My hope is not dead."
With every step and every passing moment, a mother longs for her child and a father worries for his daughter
"Keep her name and keep her on your mind," said Iquilla. "I refuse to let anyone take it away from me."
The years have passed by with no clear suspects and no arrests, but now investigators are tracking new leads.
"We've made strides and heavy strides in the past year," said Allan Norman with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office. "I can assure you that as long as I'm there, this case will not go away."
The night she vanished a couple of drivers say they saw her walking on highway 18 about a mile from home.
Some of her school supplies later showed up in a nearby barn. Then a year and a half later construction crews found her book bag buried nearly 20 miles from home.
"I'm not going to stop until I do have closure one way or the other," said Degree.