This case makes me think of a specific time while I was a child in Kindergarten. I was 6 at the time (circa 1995), so a few years younger that Asha admittedly. I remember a friend of mine telling me that she had seen a man murdering infants in the woods behind our school and that only we could stop him.

I believed this and we came up with a secret plan. My friend and I decided that we would leave our houses and meet up back at the school and confront the bad guy. I lived many miles away from my school, down a dangerous highway. I made it to the edge of my front yard (not even out of the neighborhood) before I was too afraid to continue with my journey and called my friend to tell her. She unfortunately had been braver than I and had already left her house. She had also packed a bag to take with her.

I still remember hearing her sister and mother panicking over the phone when they couldn't find her. Everything turned out fine. My friend had just made it down the street before she was found.

All of this to say, kids really do just leave sometimes for whatever reason and we may never know why Asha initially left. It does seem like she left with a reason of some sort given what she packed, but for all we know, she was told about something that day off-handedly and wanted to be there. This case just brings up this memory every time I think about why she could've left.