Today on the podcast, we discussed a mysterious photograph, never identified, that was found in a shed where Asha Degree stopped after she left home in the middle of the night. Listener Leylha J notified us that a Reddit user, SnowflakeBaube22, created an enhanced version of the very blurry picture. Here is the link to the original Reddit discussion and here is the link to the enhanced photo if you want to give it some click love. And below are the two enhanced photos. Hopefully, someone will recognize themselves or their friend in this image.
The Prosecutors Podcast 
Were pen pals still a thing in 2000? I was wondering if Asha had a pen pal. Maybe this is her picture. When I was young, everyone had a pen pal, and it would be common to mail a school picture to each other.
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A couple of things occur to me. First of all I’m not sure this is a photograph of any real child. This might be a mock-up put together to lure Asha. And when you think about it, any pic of a real child could easily refer back to the abductor. Too much of a risk to take. Also the face doesn’t look like it belongs with the outfit or the earrings. The features look more like a little boy than a little girl. Secondly I’d be interested in chatting with the school photographer or any males associated with that personage. These guys travel from school to school. It wouldn’t be the first time someone has used that to gain access to children. And the school photographer could easily mock up something like that pic using bits of other photos. Aysha was not supervised and was allowed to play outside after school. It’s unlikely she was allowed to play with her older brother and his pals. So who did she play with and where did she go? It’s there–in my opinion–that you might find whoever made contact with her. You talk about contact and who could have approached her. All they needed to know was that she had a hidey-hole on someone else’s property. Which she clearly did. So that contact may not have immediately been physical. If someone was watching her. and if that someone knew knew about it, they could easily leave that pic along with a note. It’s possible they said ‘I can’t let my wicked uncle know I’m in touch with you so burn this’ or something like that so there’s nothing left except the pic. Which she kept. I can think of a bunch of stories I could tell a 9-year-old to get her to venture out in the early hours. The only downside to this for the abductor is that it’s storming that night. It’s unlikely he knew that was gonna happen in advance. He must have gone out anyway with his fingers crossed.
So I’d be enhancing not the child’s face. But the clothes she’s wearing. Some little girl wore that outfit and likely those earrings for Picture Day. And I bet she’ll remember it even though she’s now a grown woman. That’s possibly where you’ll find the monster who did this.
And I’d also be asking around–although it’s a very long shot–about men in a wide radius who went out that night in the middle of a storm. It’s a long time ago. And maybe the perp was single or alone on that particular night. But on the other hand someone might remember that their partner/brother/son insisted on going out in the small house. and didn’t come back for a while…
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