Top Charlotte Area Local News Stories
Source: MedleyStory
Investigators think the same man robbed the same Ballantyne bank twice in fewer than two months.
The FBI said the man went in the RBC Bank in Ballantyne Village Tuesday afternoon, "implied" he had a gun, and got away with money.
Investigators distributed surveillance pictures of the suspect: a white man with sunglasses and a toboggan.
Eyewitness News thought the person in the pictures looked just like the man in a cowboy hat who hit this same branch on January 4. So we put the two pictures side by side to compare and showed a bank customer.
Kari Greenwood said, "Looks like the same guy."
We also showed someone who works nearby and asked this person, "Do you think it's the same person?" Wishing to remain anonymous, the person said, "I do....clearly. Same glasses. Shades. Same theme. Different hat."
The FBI thinks it's the same person too.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:48:28 -0500
Charlotte-Mecklenburg school officials want more money for the district's communications department.
Latarzja Henry, the Executive Director of Communications, told board members she's requesting an additional $215,000 in next year's budget for her department.
The money would pay for two new "multimedia employees" and new technology.
"The demand of our taxpayer constituents to get information is higher than it ever has been," Henry said. "So we have an obligation to make sure we provide that information."
The request comes at the same time the district wants nearly $30 million to give teachers raises.
It's unclear if county leaders are willing to give CMS that money, meaning school board members will have to prioritize the needs.
"That's the judgment that every board member has to make," board member Eric Davis said.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:40:35 -0500
Four fire departments were called to the old Watauga High School off Highway 105 Tuesday afternoon when smoke was seen pouring from the building.
Firefighters think the fire may have been arson.
Vandalism is also suspected. Fire investigators said that windows were smashed, some with chairs hanging out of them when they arrived on scene.
Investigators have found at least one point of origin inside the auditorium. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:31:07 -0500
Watauga County Sheriff's detectives arrested Nicholas Jonathan Parks, 29, of Boone on Friday.
Officers purchased more than 3,000 hits of LSD during an undercover operation that started in December of last year. Officers said they bought 1,200 hits in December and another 1,800 hits since the beginning of the year.
Parks is being charged with six counts of trafficking LSD and two counts of maintaining a dwelling for the sale of a controlled substance.
Officers say the investigation is continuing and further arrests are expected.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:05:18 -0500
More than 100 homeowners and business owners are finding out that they don't live or work in the state they always thought they did.
Jeff Langley of York County is one of them. Actually, he's now Jeff Langley of Gaston County, North Carolina.
"The state line moved from the front yard to the back deck, so the house goes from South Carolina to North Carolina," Langley said.
Langley and dozens of other homeowners packed a room at York Technical College Tuesday to get details of a new map of the border between North and South Carolina.
The border between the two states was originally mapped out in 1772, before the United States was even a nation. Surveyors used marks on trees, stakes and large stones to mark the border, from the coast, through Catawba Indian territory, and to the Georgia line. Over the 240 years since, neither state did much to maintain the border. The trees died or were cut down for timber, and many of the other landmarks have disappeared.
In the early nineties, development in York County between Rock Hill and south Charlotte started to boom. Developers often questioned both states as to where the state line was, and state officials couldn't tell them. That led to a new push to trace the border accurately. That work started 18 years ago, and is still ongoing.
Alex Rankin owns the surveying company doing the work.
"We're not trying to move the state line, we're trying to find the state line," Rankin said.
"There are some areas of the state line where we had to do an extensive amount of research to find out where it was."
They used the original plats from the 1772 survey wherever they could, and high tech GPS and GIS mapping systems to figure out the rest.
The result is a state line that puts dozens of homes and businesses in a different state. Some of the areas in question are in Lancaster and York counties.
Letters were sent out to more than 100 families and business owners that are affected by the location of the newly-rediscovered border.
The meeting in Rock Hill Tuesday was to address the concerns of people, and explain the process. Those concerns are changing tax rates, school districts, police and fire protection and differing laws between the two states. There is also a potential loss or gain of tax revenue between states and individual counties.
Some homeowners could see a spike in their property taxes. Norman Anderson is the tax assessor for Lancaster County, which appears to lose several homes to North Carolina.
"The ones that go from South Carolina to North Carolina, there's a huge difference in property taxes," he said.
That's the biggest concern for homeowners such as Langley, who now has a home in North Carolina, and he didn't even have to move.
"Personally, I'm not happy about the financial end. I'm expecting to spend more money on taxes, and changing all kinds of registrations," he said.
It's not clear though what people affected will really have to do. Lawmakers in either state may vote to grandfather them in. It will also be quite some time until local counties have access to the survey, and can determine what's official and what's not. The state line surveying project is still not finished.
Some homeowners who live within a mile of the state line were concerned that even their property would be impacted.
Surveyors told the crowd that the issues were with homes within 50 to 100 feet of the border, not further out.
Ed Jackson learned his land will not switch states, but he felt the whole project was just stirring up trouble.
"I know it's been a problem, but this is causing a whole new set of problems," Jackson said.
Company officials running Tuesday's meeting said they'll gather input from those concerned, and work with local governments to address the issues.
That process will likely take several years.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:30:32 -0500
The Catawba Indian Nation wants to open a huge casino in York County and if they get their way, people could be gambling very soon.
On Tuesday, it was busy on the Catawba Indian Reservation.
Tribal members said leaders of their executive committee, including Chief Bill Harris, were in Washington for an unrelated summit.
But tribal member Troy Canty said he was excited that gambling could come to the reservation soon
"We've been trying to get this here for a long time and I'm just glad to see we'll be able to move on it again," Canty said.
In January, the Catawbas filed a lawsuit against the state to build a giant gaming casino of their land.
The Catawbas argue that language in a settlement from 1993 and recent state laws allow them to have gambling on the reservation.
On Friday, Feb. 10, they filed a memo asking a judge to prevent law enforcement from seizing machines and arresting tribal members while the lawsuit is pending.
The motivation behind that request is in the memo itself, which states that the tribe plans to already have a gambling operation on the reservation by a hearing that Eyewitness News partner The Rock Hill Herald said it slated for Feb. 23.
"This group of people is saying, 'We don't care if it's prohibited or not -- we're going to do it and we challenge you to stop us,'" S.C. State Rep. Gary Simrill said. "I think the gauntlet has been thrown down."
Rep. Simrill, a Republican who represents the Rock Hill area, said he hopes local law enforcement will keep a close eye on the tribe's activities.
"I certainly think it would be wise for them not to institute gaming until the judge has had a chance to look at the case," he said.
The attorney for the Catawba Indian Nation did not return calls Tuesday.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:09:37 -0500
Salt-based brine mixtures are a quick, reliable and relatively cheap fix when cold weather threatens to freeze area roads and bridges. But Eyewitness News has learned that brine has damaged some bridges so badly that repairs will cost approximately $12 million.
"We do need (brine) for the roadways," said Garland Haywood, with North Carolina's Department of Transportation Bridge Safety Division. "But it is detrimental to the structures we have."
Haywood said that brine affects the longevity of a bridge by sinking into cracks, creating corrosion and rust. To ensure the safety of the bridges, NC DOT has been patching bridges and painting them. So far, 15 bridges corroded by brine have been repaired and 25 more need repairs in a five-county span (most of the bridges are in Mecklenburg County).
Repairs on each bridge cost about $300,000.
"I'm certainly not opposed if you can find something that's as effective (as brine) and maybe doesn't have the other side effects -- that would certainly be a worthwhile thing," Haywood said.
Eyewitness News asked NC DOT whether if it knew of any other alternatives or had considered other options. Channel 9 has not yet received a response.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:50:44 -0500
Two uptown hotels will serve as anchors for the Democratic National Convention in September.
Click here to download the list of all 56 hotels where delegates will stay.
The DNC announced that the Westin and the Hilton Center City will be the headquarters for party leaders and the Obama campaign.
North Carolina delegates will stay in the Crowne Plaza Hotel uptown near the arena.
Other delegations will be staying near the airport, in the University area, in the SouthPark area and in Concord. All are just a short drive to the events.
But one hotel on the list is still facing questions about code violations and safety issues. It's the Blake Hotel on McDowell Street.
When the DNC held a news conference to announce which hotels will host state delegations for the convention, the Blake Hotel was on the list. It stood out to Eyewitness News not because it's hosting California but because of a letter that county inspectors sent to the Blake's owner two weeks ago, saying “you have... failed to address exterior veneer structural failure and continue to perform work without the required permits."
So Eyewitness News asked DNCC CEO Steve Kerrigan about it.
“I'm not aware of it but we have safeguards in place for all situations,” Kerrigan said.
For nearly a year, Eyewitness News has told you how county inspectors have found repeated code violations during renovations at the Blake.
But Tuesday, the Blake's owner, George Dfouni, told Eyewitness News from his office in New York that his crews are now on track to correct them.
“As far as I'm concerned, the list if being addressed,” Dfouni said. “We need a few more weeks to finish up that list and we'll be done.”
Code and fire inspectors who first raised questions about safety at the Blake last year now say they believe significant progress has been made at the hotel in the last week.
And the DNC’s Kelsey Larus, who's in charge of the convention's massive housing operation, said she's made clear to the Blake what's on the line.
“They understand the gravity of what's coming to Charlotte and how important the Blake is to our room block and to the state of California, which the Blake will be hosting,” Larus said.
The DNC said it has safeguards in its contracts with hotels and could move the California delegation if necessary.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:37:25 -0500
Channel 9 Eyewitness News uncovers the surprising number of state lawmakers who aren’t showing up for important votes in Raleigh. Anchor Blair Miller reveals which local representatives have the highest number of missed votes and confronts them to find out why. 9 Investigates – asking how these elected leaders can effectively represent their constituents if they aren’t there to decide on the issues. Wednesday starting at 5 on Channel 9 Eyewitness News - Covering the Carolinas.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:24:53 -0500
Investigators think the man who robbed a Ballantyne bank on Tuesday is responsible for a Jan. 4 robbery at the same branch.
Tuesday’s robbery happened at the RBC bank on Ballantyne Village Way around 2:15 p.m.
SLIDESHOW: Surveillance pictures of bank robbery suspect
CHOPPER: Police investigate bank robbery
Investigators said the robber is a white man who was wearing dark sunglasses. He implied he had a gun, officials said.
The same branch was robbed last month. In that case, the robber had on a straw hat and sunglasses when he walked into the bank.
Investigators said it appears from the surveillance photos that the same man is responsible for both robberies.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Charlotte office of the FBI at 704-672-6100 or Charlotte-Mecklenburg Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:37:16 -0500
The Union County Sheriff's Office says it needs more deputies to protect the rapidly growing town of Indian Trail.
Tuesday, the Indian Trail Town Council will decide whether it will hire the two deputies and one investigator that a sheriff's lieutenant said he desperately needs.
"We just want to maintain the level of service, and to maintain we obviously have to grow with that," said Lt. Chase Coble.
Indian Trail sits on about 28 square miles, and has a population of just under 34,000 people. Sixteen sheriff's deputies are tasked with the patrolling that area, and a handful of detectives work a massive felony case load.
The detectives in the Indian Trail satellite office handle, on average, a 25 percent higher volume of cases than the detectives at headquarters in Monroe. In January alone, one Indian Trail investigator was assigned 61 felony cases.
"As the town gets more houses, more projects, more people, certainly we've got to reevaluate law enforcement," said Lt. Coble.
Eyewitness News compared the ratio of police officer per resident in Indian Trail to surrounding cities and towns, and found there are five times fewer deputies in Indian Trail than in Monroe, Marshville and Stallings.
The Town Council will start the discussion at 6:30 p.m.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:32:56 -0500
Eli Roe, 4, is too young to understand he has a 90 percent chance of beating the leukemia that's making him sick.
But his mother does.
“So he is scheduled to complete maintenance in November of this year and so we're obviously very excited about that,” she said.
But in the weeks leading up to his next treatment, the drug methotrexate, which could cure him, could run out.
Dr. Derek Raghavan, the president of the Levine Cancer Institute, said the drug is injected into the spinal fluid and it reduces the relapse rate of leukemia in adults and children.
“It actually makes the difference between life and death,” he said.
He said the shortage could lead to more deaths, so they're preparing for the worst.
With no alternative drug approved by the FDA, he and a team of doctors recently formed a committee to brainstorm some sort of solution. That includes drugs used for other illnesses.
“We're using pathways that we don't normally use and frankly, as advocates for our patients, we not at all happy about it,” Raghavan said.
Raghavan calls the entire situation a national disgrace. He said the executive order issued by President Barack Obama in October hasn't made a difference, and said the pharmaceutical companies that make the drug aren't doing their job.
“My fear is that while trying to do the best we can, we may have patients die,” Raghavan said.
So for Eli, whose family has trusted the drug to save their son -- now they're simply hoping he can get it.
“We pray and we wait and we realize there's a lot of this that is out of our control,” his mother said. “And we hope that by the time March 9 comes -- that's when he gets his next dose -- there is some available for him.”
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:27:33 -0500
Whirlpool is facing a class action lawsuit that claims some of its dishwashers have a dangerous defect that can lead to a fire.
Hundreds of people have reported their dishwashers overheating and even catching fire. In many cases, it started after they had set them and gone to bed.
David Lappin said he just happened to walk downstairs late one night, and it was a good thing he did.
“And there was smoke billowing out of the dishwasher,” Lappin said.
He shut everything off and then aired out his south Charlotte home. The next morning, he took the dishwasher door apart, he said.
“This was all pretty well fried,” Lappin said.
The same thing happened to Tracey Galloway at her home in Myers Park.
“We smelled kind of an electrical burning smell,” Galloway said.
She said the wires in her KitchenAid dishwasher started burning. She got it repaired and then filed a complaint with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“I'm wondering if it is truly fixed because the part that he replaced it with is a KitchenAid part,” Galloway said. “And so if the first part had that problem, will this part have the same problem?”
Charles Fax is an attorney in Maryland. He filed a class action lawsuit against Whirlpool and Sears, in relation to some of their KitchenAid and Kenmore brands of dishwashers.
The suit claims those dishwashers contain "a dangerous defect" -- "control boards that spontaneously overheat... emit smoke and fumes... and erupt in flames.”
“The defective circuit boards can combust even when the machine is off,” Fax said. “So you could be out at dinner in a restaurant and come home and find flames in your kitchen. And that has happened.”
Fax said more than 500 people nationwide have reported their Whirlpool-manufactured dishwashers catching fire.
The lawsuit describes incidents in which: "flames erupted from the top of the dishwasher," "smoke and soot filled the entire house" and "the fire burned a hole through kitchen cabinetry."
Fax wants the company to issue a recall.
In Charlotte, Lappin agrees.
“I guess the thing that concerns me is, if they know there's a problem, let people know,” Lappin said.
Lappin is not part of that class action lawsuit.
Neither is Galloway, but she does hope her experience serves as a warning for others.
“I don't run my dishwasher at night like I used to and I certainly would never run the dishwasher when I was leaving the house,” she said.
To read the class action lawsuit filed against Whirlpool and Sears, click here.
According to attorney Charles S. Fax, the following dishwasher models are involved in the investigation.
KitchenAid: KUDM01TJBL0, KUDP0SRBL0, KUDPO1LBL0, KUDC03IVWH2, KUDS30IXSSO, KUDK02CRB80, KUDS01IJBL0, KUDS01ILWH1, KUDI01ILBS3, KUDP01FLBT6, KUDP01FLSS6, KUDS01DLBL2, KUD101TJWH, KUPDPOFLSS2, KUDI01ILWH1, KUDI01ILWH6, KUDS01FLSS5, KUDS02SRSS2, KUD1011LBL5, KUDI01ILBL5, KUDS01FLWH6, KUDP02SRWH-WW, KUDP02CRBL2, KUDSO1DLWH5, KUDI01ILBS2, and KUDSO2SRRSS2.
Whirlpool: GU2400XTPS1, GU1100XTLQ1, DU990QWDB4,
Kenmore (manufactured by Whirlpool): 665.17463300, 665.1677192, 665.16293400, 665.15779990,
Kenmore (manufactured by Frigidaire): 587.1517, 587.15073201
Whirlpool issued this statement on its own internal investigation:
“Whirlpool Corporation builds its dishwashers with, among many other state-of-the-art safety features, components that turn off power to the electronic control board in the extremely unlikely event that the control board begins to overheat. The safety features are designed to limit potential damage to the unit. All dishwashers manufactured by Whirlpool Corporation under all of its brands and trade partner brands including -- Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Inglis, Crawsley and Kennmore (for Sears) -- are manufactured in Findlay Ohio.
Product quality and consumer safety are among Whirlpool Corporation’s top priorities. We are currently investigating incidents that have been brought to our attention and, as always, working closely with the appropriate agencies in doing so. We encourage consumers to contact us if they experience any difficulty with our products at 1-800-422-1230”
The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued this statement:
“We care deeply about the safety of families impacted by dishwasher fire incidents and we have conducted numerous investigations into incidents reported to CPSC in recent years. To date, most of the fire or smoldering incidents were contained inside of the dishwasher, where the lack of oxygen and combustible materials prevented a larger incident from occurring. However, incidents of fire or overheating are a serious concern for CPSC, and will be investigated thoroughly.
In the past two decades, we have announced 15 voluntary recalls of dangerous or faulty dishwashers. Consumers are encouraged to check CPSC.gov to see if their dishwasher has ever been recalled. CPSC staff continues to investigate dishwasher incidents, so we encourage consumers who experience a safety problem with their dishwasher to log on to our website SaferProducts.gov and report it to our agency.”
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:02:42 -0500
The state says by the fall of 2015, Highway 321 will look a lot different.
The area will be four lanes, but some nearby businesses think the changes here could hurt their bottom line.
Joe Papa showed Channel 9 where the Highway 321 project will cut through his front parking lot. When it’s done, you won't be able to get in through the front door of his restaurant.
But more than the parking lot, Papa is concerned about the concrete median that he said will cut off access to his business from the northbound traffic.
“It is going to hurt a lot,” Papa said. “You read and you hear about other places where the state comes in and puts their road in and ties you up for four years and puts medians in, and people who have been in business are no longer there.”
Mark Mann can see the construction right outside the front window of Woodlands Barbecue in Blowing Rock. He said the medians will look nice, with flowers and grass, but that they could make it difficult for some drivers to get around.
“(They will) be pretty to look at but tough to negotiate,” Mann said.
Eyewitness News contacted the engineer overseeing the $66 million project by phone. He said there will be breaks in the median to allow turns, but not at every intersection.
The DOT no longer allows the construction of a middle turn lane, deeming them too unsafe for drivers.
Papa hopes it doesn't cost him his business.
“Yes I'm worried, of course,” he said. “You don't know what the impact is going to be.”
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:52:09 -0500
Move over, estrogen. There's a new theory that helps explain why men are more likely than women to get heart disease.
A new study shows that some men may inherit a higher risk for heart disease directly from their fathers.
The finding is significant in the world of genetics because it ties heart disease risk to the male Y chromosome. Previous studies have suggested that the Y chromosome, which carries relatively few genes, has little to do with inheritance beyond conferring male sex characteristics.
“It gives a completely new role for the Y chromosome,” says Lisa Bloomer, MSc, who made the discovery as a third-year PhD student in the department of cardiovascular sciences at the University of Leicester in the U.K. “It changes a lot of how we see genetics and the sex chromosomes and how important they are.”
A Visual Guide to Heart Disease
For the study, which is published in The Lancet, an international team of researchers analyzed DNA from more than 3,000 men in the U.K.
In particular, they looked at 11 regions on the Y chromosome. Because the Y chromosome has not changed much over time, scientists can use these regions to determine a person’s ancestry. In genetics, people with shared ancestry belong to the same haplogroup. There are thought to be about 30 haplogroups worldwide.
Researchers found that men who developed heart disease were more likely to belong to the same haplogroup -- haplogroup I -- compared to men who stayed healthy. In fact, being a member of haplogroup I raised a man’s risk for heart disease by about 50% compared to men of different backgrounds.
That risk remained even after researchers took into account traditional risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, diabetes, and obesity.
Haplogroup I was the third most powerful predictor that men would develop heart disease, behind their HDL, or “good,” cholesterol levels, and whether or not they were taking cholesterol-lowering drugs. Experts estimate that about 20% of men in Europe and 10% of men in the U.S. belong to haplogroup I.
The lineage is more commonly found in northern European countries, like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and it becomes less frequent in southern countries including Spain, France, and Italy.
“You see kind of a gradient in Europe between the North and the South,” Bloomer says. “Many more people in the North have this group than in [the] South, and you have many more people getting coronary artery disease in the North of Europe than in the South.”
Beyond the association between heart disease and haplogroup, researchers went one step further. They looked to see if the activity of certain blood cells was different between ancestral groups. They found that genes related to the development of atherosclerosis -- hardening of the arteries -- were more active in men who belonged to haplogroup I. There were other key differences related to inflammation and immune function.
“The sex chromosomes matter in terms of disease,” says Virginia M. Miller, PhD, a professor of physiology and surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
Miller, who studies sex differences in heart disease, wrote a commentary on the new findings, but she was not involved in the research.
She says the new findings mean that family history may be a stronger predictor of heart disease risk for men than for women.
“You may have a family history, but this paper says it matters if it’s from your father’s side and you’re a man,” she says.
Some heart disease risk calculators, like the widely used Framingham Risk Score, don’t account for family history or whether it comes from the mother’s or father’s side, she says. If further research confirms the findings of this study, Miller thinks they will probably need adjusting.
“We need to broaden our scope in terms of what is the individual risk and really personalize it for people in terms of managing their own health,” she says.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:02:08 -0500
Charlotte police say a 79-year-old east Charlotte man was carjacked at a grocery store, after he bought ingredients to bake cookies for his church.
Jack Moore walked Eyewitness News through what happened on Saturday around 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the Food Lion on the Plaza in east Charlotte.
Moore said he was planning on going home after one more stop: a store to buy Valentine's Day cards for his family. He said he got in his car and almost closed the door when two men walked up to his car. One pointed a gun at his face.
"He told me, ‘Get out of the car, give me the keys, or I'll blow you away,'" said Moore.
Moore got out and said the suspects drove off.
About 24 hours later, police said an alert neighbor in an east Charlotte apartment complex noticed two men who looked suspicious and called police. Police said they were in Moore's car. Police tracked the suspects down about a block away.
"If she hadn't called, I think we probably would have recovered the vehicle at some point, but we probably never would have recovered the suspects, never apprehended the suspects," said Sgt. Rob Havens with CMPD.
Police arrested Brandon Brooks and Jeffery Boggs. Both are scheduled to be in court next week.
More information:
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:26:50 -0500
A Lincoln County man died after accidentally setting himself on fire in his back yard.
Edward Rowe Sr., 75, a former Marine, was burning grass in his yard on Monday when his clothes somehow caught on fire.
“Trying to figure out for myself exactly what happened, so I can at least have myself some rest,” said Rowe’s son-in-law, Bobby Burgin.
Fire investigators have the same questions as Burgin.
SLIDESHOW: Scene of Lincoln Co. fire
“I wish we had more answers to help them, but at this point in time, we just don’t know what went wrong,” said Fire Marshal Mike Futrell.
Fire officials said Rowe’s wife saw him burning debris and then 20 minutes later she called 911.
“I need an ambulance and I need the fire truck,” she told the 911 operator.
Rowe fought the flames while walking more than 70 yards to the back door. He was trying to reach his wife, officials said.
“Some of the clothes dropping off set other parts of the grass on fire,” said Futrell.
“Oh my God. The whole yard is on fire, and it's heading for the house,” the caller said.
Firefighters put out the grass fire but Rowe’s body suffered severe burns.
Futrell said there was a brisk wind at the time, but nothing strong enough to cause something like this.
“We just don’t know and probably will never know,” Futrell said.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:06:18 -0500
The Charlotte division of the FBI is working to generate new tips in the case of a Shelby girl who disappeared 12 years ago.
Asha Degree was 9 years old when she left her Shelby home in the middle of the night on Feb. 14, 2000, and disappeared.
The girl’s family last saw her asleep in her bedroom around 2:30 a.m. An hour and a half later, she was seen by drivers walking along North Carolina Highway 18 in Shelby. Asha’s parents reported her missing by 6:30 a.m.
SLIDESHOW: Photos of Asha Degree
More than a year later, Asha's book bag was discovered buried along North Carolina 18 in Burke County.
The FBI said a combination of media publicity, digital billboards, online promotion and social media will be used to generate new tips in the case. A photo of Asha as a 9-year-old and an age-progressed photo of what she would look like at the age of 19 will be featured on 14 digital billboards across the Charlotte area and will be sent out on FBI social media platforms, officials said.
The FBI is investigating Asha's disappearance along with the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office and the SBI. The Cleveland County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit will also be reviewing Asha's case in the near future.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call FBI Charlotte at 704-672-6100 or the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office at 704-484-4787.
More information: FBI
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:40:09 -0500
United Way announced Tuesday that it beat its campaign goal by raising $20.9 million.
Its goal was $20.5 million. It's the first time in four years' worth of campaigns that donations are on an upward trend.
Board Chairman John Cannon said this year they saw more companies getting involved and the heads of those companies really encouraging workers to give.
Now, United Way officials start evaluating agencies and in June, the board will vote on how much funding to give them.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:46 -0500
An early morning fire that heavily damaged a home near downtown Hickory is being called suspicious.
Firefighters were called to a vacant home on 2nd Avenue Southeast shortly before 2 a.m.
SLIDESHOW: Scene of Hickory house fire
More than a dozen firefighters worked to bring the fire under control.
On Tuesday morning, an SBI arson investigator and a specially trained accelerant dog were at the home searching for a possible cause.
Published: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:10:09 -0500
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