That's such a weird and interesting case!

I remember reading about it years ago and thinking that she very likely went out expecting to meet with someone she trusted. I can't see a nine-year-old child getting out in the dark and the cold rain (it was February!) without a plan to be picked up by someone. It's true the family didn't have a computer, but she might have met someone at a game, or in school or during the time her parents were at work and she and her brother were out playing.

About the content of the backpack, her parents claim it was not Asha's: but how sure can they be? I'm not sure my parents knew the exact content of my wardrobe when I was a kid, because apart from the clothes they bought me and my brothers, we also had lots of hand-me-down stuff from my older cousins.

I mean, they might not have purchased the t-shirt for her, but maybe it was something she borrowed from a friend, or was gifted to her - she had attended a slumber party at her cousin Catina's home a few days before her disappearance: maybe she swapped clothes with another young girl there.

What is slightly off is that the band in question was not particularly popular with young kids in the early 2000s: their last hit album before the date Asha disappeared was from 1994, then the group split. That makes me think the shirt was an old one: maybe it was given to her so she could do something messy (like cooking or painting) that might have stained or ruined her clothes, and then she forgot to return it.

Still strange she would take it with her, though.

As for the book, it was from her school library and I can see her borrowing it and forgetting about telling her parents about it.

What I find interesting is that the bag was not thrown away, but carefully put into two sturdy plastic bags to protect the content: either Asha herself did it, or her kidnapper did, but what for? If I planned to abduct a child or kill her I wouldn't be too careful about keeping her things clean. And if I was running away (from home or from my abductor) a backpack would be valuable and I would not leave it behind.

One thing I always found odd (not suspicious per se, just odd) is that Asha's father checked twice on the kids during the night. Maybe it was a habit, something he regularly did just to make sure they were sleeping well. But I wonder if there was a reason for it, like Asha having acted weird the days before she disappeared. Did he suspect something wasn't right, even subconsciously?

Overall it is a very unusual missing person case, given her being such a young and apparently happy little girl.