PA CHERRIE MAHAN: Missing from Pittsburgh, PA - 22 Feb 1985 - Age 8

She isn't Cherrie. Not a surprise.

Mother of Cherrie Mahan won't give up search 40 years after her disappearance​

It's been 40 years since 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan disappeared after getting off a school bus in Winfield Township, Butler County.

Her mother, Janice McKinney, says a day hasn't passed where she thinks about her daughter.

Hundreds of community members gathered with McKinney at the Saxonburg VFW to mark the day and recommit to finding answers about her disappearance all those years ago.

"Oh, my God, this is just freaking amazing," McKinney said of the crowd.

They are the people who give her strength, all there to support her in her quest to find Cherrie.

"It's not an anniversary, it's just a milestone," McKinney said.

She stopped to mark the exact moment when Cherrie was last seen.

"This is when Cherrie got off the bus and I just want to say a prayer," McKinney said, with her voice sharing the same emotion that only comes from a parent who lost a child.

Her prayer is that the person who took Cherrie comes forward to help bring her closure.

"She deserves to have an answer, she deserves to be laid to rest, she deserves so much more," McKinney said.

What gives McKinney hope after so many years is the belief that someone knows something and that if she keeps sharing their story, someone will come forward to help them.


State police say that finding Cherrie becomes more difficult as time passes, but there is still hope.

Police told KDKA-TV that people are still giving information, but it is often what they have heard before. Even so, they said they will follow up on any information they get.

They are not giving up, and neither is Janice.

New tips prompt new tools to investigate Cherrie Mahan’s disappearance​

The 40th anniversary vigil of a missing Winfield Township girl uncovered new names and a new location for police and advocacy groups to search.

State police received about 40 workable tips into the 1985 disappearance of 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan since the Feb. 22 vigil in Saxonburg. During the event, the community gathered to help find answers for her mother, Janice McKinney.

Corporal Max DeLuca said the tips have yielded some new names, and every tip is being investigated.

Mother of Cherrie Mahan hopes new tip will lead to a conclusion of the case​

The family of Cherrie Mahan is seeking help from the public as they chase a new tip, 40 years after the 8-year-old disappeared when she got off her school bus in Winfield Township.

"I would never wish this upon anybody to have to deal with this. 40 years of not knowing is a killer," said Janice McKinney, Cherrie's mother.


A 26-acre property could hold the key to solving the 40-year-old mystery, one that McKinney can't take her mind off of.

"Not knowing is horrible," she said. "It's excruciating. Every single day, I get killed a little but more than by not knowing."

McKinney hasn't given up hope of finding her daughter, dead or alive.

"I have got to the point in my life where I physically, mentally, just can't do this anymore," she said.

That's why she has gotten help from a group called "Cherrie's Angels," and now they've got a call out for help.

"We're asking for somebody to come with the dogs, with this equipment, and help us," she said.

McKinney said they want to focus on a two-to-three-acre section of the property that she said police never looked at, and it's across the street from where Cherrie's grandparents lived.

"I have got to the point in my life where I physically, mentally, just can't do this anymore," she said.

That's why she has gotten help from a group called "Cherrie's Angels," and now they've got a call out for help.

"We're asking for somebody to come with the dogs, with this equipment, and help us," she said.

McKinney said they want to focus on a two-to-three-acre section of the property that she said police never looked at, and it's across the street from where Cherrie's grandparents lived.

Cherrie Mahan's mom feels closer than ever to finding her daughter's abductor, remains​

Cherrie Mahan’s mother and a team of friends are preparing to search a largely unexamined plot of land where they suspect the girl, who disappeared Feb. 22, 1985, from a school bus stop in Winfield, may be buried.

The area is part of a 26-acre parcel across from where Cherrie’s grandmother lived in Clinton Township.

“My mother, god rest her soul, she always felt that Cherrie was close by,” Cherrie’s mother, Janice McKinney, told TribLive in an exclusive interview.

Her belief is based on a new wave of tips that came in after a February event marking the 40th anniversary of Cherrie’s disappearance.

McKinney and Cherrie’s Angels, a group started last year by Bailey Gizienski and Alyssa Dietz, both of Butler, also have deemed another area in West Winfield as worth another look. It was part of the original 5-mile search radius.

While McKinney wouldn’t disclose her leads, she feels closer than ever to learning how her 8-year-old daughter disappeared about 100 yards from her home and where she ended up.


At the recent commemoration for Cherrie, she told the crowd she knows who abducted her daughter. And just this week, Cherrie’s Angels revealed that the person they suspect is incarcerated.

“It’s kind of a new person,” McKinney elaborated Wednesday. “He probably should have been looked at and just wasn’t because we didn’t have all of the right people to give us the right answers.”

The new information also has led her to believe Cherrie was sexually abused by her abductor before her abduction. Data cited by Cherrie’s Angels claims 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys were sexually abused in the 1980s, often by someone they knew and trusted.

McKinney was vague about these breakthroughs, not wanting to risk the supposed perpetrator covering their tracks.

“If we make a mistake, we could lose this and we could not get an answer we’re happy with,” she said.

"I deserve to have peace": Cherrie Mahan's mother believes she knows who's responsible for girl's disappearance​

Cherrie Mahan's mother, Janice McKinney, believes she may know who is responsible for her daughter's disappearance 40 years ago.

"I deserve to have peace in my life. I mean, I have said that a lot of times, but I would just allow somebody just to walk in my shoes for one day and know what it's like to not know whatever happened to your 8-year-old daughter. It's heartbreaking," McKinney told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

McKinney said she is not naming the person or people she thinks kidnapped her daughter but now "truly believes" she knows who did it.

McKinney credits many tips sent to the "Find Cherrie Mahan" Facebook page.

"Every tip that we get, we turn it over to the state police. So we're not hiding anything from anybody," McKinney said.

McKinney continues to plead with anyone who knows anything about the case to speak up.

State police told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 they do not have any updates on the investigation to share at this time.

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

Cherrie Mahan's mom feels closer than ever to finding her daughter's abductor, remains

community.triblive.com

Cherrie Mahan's mom feels closer than ever to finding her daughter's abductor, remains​

Cherrie Mahan’s mother and a team of friends are preparing to search a largely unexamined plot of land where they suspect the girl, who disappeared Feb. 22, 1985, from a school bus stop in Winfield, may be buried.

The area is part of a 26-acre parcel across from where Cherrie’s grandmother lived in Clinton Township.

“My mother, god rest her soul, she always felt that Cherrie was close by,” Cherrie’s mother, Janice McKinney, told TribLive in an exclusive interview.

Her belief is based on a new wave of tips that came in after a February event marking the 40th anniversary of Cherrie’s disappearance.

McKinney and Cherrie’s Angels, a group started last year by Bailey Gizienski and Alyssa Dietz, both of Butler, also have deemed another area in West Winfield as worth another look. It was part of the original 5-mile search radius.

While McKinney wouldn’t disclose her leads, she feels closer than ever to learning how her 8-year-old daughter disappeared about 100 yards from her home and where she ended up.


At the recent commemoration for Cherrie, she told the crowd she knows who abducted her daughter. And just this week, Cherrie’s Angels revealed that the person they suspect is incarcerated.

“It’s kind of a new person,” McKinney elaborated Wednesday. “He probably should have been looked at and just wasn’t because we didn’t have all of the right people to give us the right answers.”

The new information also has led her to believe Cherrie was sexually abused by her abductor before her abduction. Data cited by Cherrie’s Angels claims 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys were sexually abused in the 1980s, often by someone they knew and trusted.

McKinney was vague about these breakthroughs, not wanting to risk the supposed perpetrator covering their tracks.

“If we make a mistake, we could lose this and we could not get an answer we’re happy with,” she said.

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I'm sorry but I find that figure ridiculous as to how many boys and girls were SA'ed in the 80s. So she's listening to some statistical garbage? I'm all for the rest of it, and her getting justice, but I don't buy that for a minute. I think it depends a lot more on life and location for that to even be CLOSE to true. Just who in the heck do they survey for some of this stuff? Not a big fan of stats and surveys.

I don't mean that in any way against hoping she DOES know what happened here, finding her daughter and getting justice, just not liking that part and feeling some stat has no meaning at all. You can't use that in court. Oh she might have been 1 of the 4 some survey says? I hope she is watching who she trusts because none of that is useful.

Aside from that, my heart breaks for her and this child. And I pray she gets justice AND finds her.

What an interesting take. To not be a "fan" of statistics? Never heard that before.

• At least one in four girls and one in 20 boys in the United States experience child sexual abuse. 2 3 4
• About 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child or child's family members. 5

Based on self-disclosure data, a 2011 meta-analysis of 217 studies between 1980 and 2008 estimated a global prevalence of 12.7%–18% for girls and 7.6% for boys. The rates of self-disclosed abuse for specific continents were as follows: 203
US/Canada - Girls 20.1% | Boys 8%

Surveys and statistics depend on who and how many.

I am not trying to argue.

I seriously doubt you grew up in these years.

Any statistics can be skewed. How many, what kind of sampling and where.

1,000, 50, 000 or more and again where?

And money given for such things too.

I guess I talk from an older age.

It's like political surveys of who is winning and how often they are so wrong. Well who are they asking?

Did you grow up in this era?

I'm just saying, and not trying to argue, people need to see through some things and sometimes seriously older people do it better and you will get there too. And every generation hates an older generation seeming to think they might think differently or have seen more.

So time me out.

And if some haven't picked up on the non profit things and help organizations well...

And they aren't money making? And people who need help aren't desperate?

I will leave it at that. Food for thought I hope.

Good Lord what was the last case they were mixing up a Cajun Navy and two of them, the real versus the fake or some such. I'm beyond it in my life. I know my kids see through stuff and it is up to the next generations to do something about some of this stuff. Thank God mine do. I give up.

Yeah they've called the political thing with polls really well too haven't they. Not.

I'm sorry but I am going to add one more thing and I mean it all nicely.

Do you know how grieving families get hit with so much b.s.? And people offering to help?

So you have one here who hasn't gotten anywhere with justice so they grab hold and are citing statistics?? So that means what as far as court? NOTHING.

Psychics too, search teams, yah non profit, uh huh.

GrandmaBear said:

How many, what kind of sampling and where.

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If you read the research studies that were done, you could know that information. Instead of just a blanket disregard for any statistics.
Polls/polling is different than research studies. Do you think they just phoned up random people and said “Hey were you sexually assaulted as a child? Yes? Ok thanks!”

GrandmaBear said:

I'm just saying, and not trying to argue, people need to see through some things and sometimes seriously older people do it better and you will get there too. And every generation hates an older generation seeming to think they might think differently or have seen more.

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And it seems the older generation seems to hate/dismiss the younger generation for apparently thinking differently or seeing “less”. Goes both ways.

GrandmaBear said:

And if some haven't picked up on the non profit things and help organizations well...

And they aren't money making? And people who need help aren't desperate?

I will leave it at that. Food for though

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Who is making money? The group? Cherrie’s Angels?
Actually no. They’re not. It’s a small group of friends dedicated to helping bring awareness and answers to Cherrie’s family. (Cherrie Mahan = Cherrie’s Angels)

GrandmaBear said:

Do you know how grieving families get hit with so much b.s.? And people offering to help?

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Yeah, I do. I’ve worked first hand with families of missing people actually. And had to wade through “offers” of people wanting to search (oh wait, but only for money), and people having “solid information” but only for a price, and so much more.

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

What an interesting take. To not be a "fan" of statistics? Never heard that before.

About Child Sexual Abuse

This page defines child sexual abuse, presents the latest data, and describes associated outcomes.

www.cdc.gov

• At least one in four girls and one in 20 boys in the United States experience child sexual abuse. 2 3 4
• About 90% of child sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the child or child's family members. 5

Child sexual abuse - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Based on self-disclosure data, a 2011 meta-analysis of 217 studies between 1980 and 2008 estimated a global prevalence of 12.7%–18% for girls and 7.6% for boys. The rates of self-disclosed abuse for specific continents were as follows: 203
US/Canada - Girls 20.1% | Boys 8%

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It's not unusual to distrust statistics. Many times I have seen polls only using 1000 people, for instance, and that is very common. It is also common to pay people to take part in many polls and they reuse those pollees several times or even all the time.

From your link.

"AD is more commonly available (e.g. from the literature) and typically represents summary estimates such as odds ratios<a href="Meta-analysis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>50<span>]</span></a> or relative risks.<a href="Meta-analysis - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>51<span>]</span></a> This can be directly synthesized across conceptually similar studies using several approaches. On the other hand, indirect aggregate data measures the effect of two treatments that were each compared against a similar control group in a meta-analysis. For example, if treatment A and treatment B were directly compared vs placebo in separate meta-analyses, we can use these two pooled results to get an estimate of the effects of A vs B in an indirect comparison as effect A vs Placebo minus effect B vs Placebo."

Sounds like BS to me.

GrandmaBear said:

I'm sorry but I find that figure ridiculous as to how many boys and girls were SA'ed in the 80s. So she's listening to some statistical garbage? I'm all for the rest of it, and her getting justice, but I don't buy that for a minute. I think it depends a lot more on life and location for that to even be CLOSE to true. Just who in the heck do they survey for some of this stuff? Not a big fan of stats and surveys.

I don't mean that in any way against hoping she DOES know what happened here, finding her daughter and getting justice, just not liking that part and feeling some stat has no meaning at all. You can't use that in court. Oh she might have been 1 of the 4 some survey says? I hope she is watching who she trusts because none of that is useful.

Aside from that, my heart breaks for her and this child. And I pray she gets justice AND finds her.

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I agree. The 1 in 6 for girls in the 80's could almost be every family. I have also seen figures quoting 1 in 20 boys for example.

I come from a family of 5 kids. None of us were sexually abused. I know nobody who was sexually abused as a kid either.

In this particular circumstance, I don't think it's the numbers that are of significance but the "by someone they knew and trusted" part.

Regina said:

In this particular circumstance, I don't think it's the numbers that are of significance but the "by someone they knew and trusted" part.

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You are right there. Often a family member or relative too.

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

If you read the research studies that were done, you could know that information. Instead of just a blanket disregard for any statistics.
Polls/polling is different than research studies. Do you think they just phoned up random people and said “Hey were you sexually assaulted as a child? Yes? Ok thanks!”


And it seems the older generation seems to hate/dismiss the younger generation for apparently thinking differently or seeing “less”. Goes both ways.


Who is making money? The group? Cherrie’s Angels?
Actually no. They’re not. It’s a small group of friends dedicated to helping bring awareness and answers to Cherrie’s family. (Cherrie Mahan = Cherrie’s Angels)


Yeah, I do. I’ve worked first hand with families of missing people actually. And had to wade through “offers” of people wanting to search (oh wait, but only for money), and people having “solid information” but only for a price, and so much more.

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I'll respond later, daughter coming and can't derail my day. We don't have to agree and I definitely don't.

Have a Happy Easter, I'm not in the mood to go t it on Easter either, maybe later. Haven't even read the rest of the posts. Hope all enjoy their day.

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

"I deserve to have peace": Cherrie Mahan's mother believes she knows who's responsible for girl's disappearance

On February 22, 1985, Cherrie Mahan stepped off her school bus in Cabot, Butler County, but never arrived home.

www.wtae.com

"I deserve to have peace": Cherrie Mahan's mother believes she knows who's responsible for girl's disappearance​

Cherrie Mahan's mother, Janice McKinney, believes she may know who is responsible for her daughter's disappearance 40 years ago.

"I deserve to have peace in my life. I mean, I have said that a lot of times, but I would just allow somebody just to walk in my shoes for one day and know what it's like to not know whatever happened to your 8-year-old daughter. It's heartbreaking," McKinney told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

McKinney said she is not naming the person or people she thinks kidnapped her daughter but now "truly believes" she knows who did it.

McKinney credits many tips sent to the "Find Cherrie Mahan" Facebook page.

"Every tip that we get, we turn it over to the state police. So we're not hiding anything from anybody," McKinney said.

McKinney continues to plead with anyone who knows anything about the case to speak up.

State police told Pittsburgh's Action News 4 they do not have any updates on the investigation to share at this time.

Click to expand...

Do LE know the person that McKinney suspects? What do they think?

SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:

If you read the research studies that were done, you could know that information. Instead of just a blanket disregard for any statistics.
Polls/polling is different than research studies. Do you think they just phoned up random people and said “Hey were you sexually assaulted as a child? Yes? Ok thanks!”


And it seems the older generation seems to hate/dismiss the younger generation for apparently thinking differently or seeing “less”. Goes both ways.


Who is making money? The group? Cherrie’s Angels?
Actually no. They’re not. It’s a small group of friends dedicated to helping bring awareness and answers to Cherrie’s family. (Cherrie Mahan = Cherrie’s Angels)


Yeah, I do. I’ve worked first hand with families of missing people actually. And had to wade through “offers” of people wanting to search (oh wait, but only for money), and people having “solid information” but only for a price, and so much more.

Click to expand...

You know, I have said this very thing on various threads through the years how I feel about such. It certainly was not directed at anyone, it is just my opinion and the only thing I said to begin with is I found the stats hard to believe and I don't put a lot of store in such things.

I don't know if poll, survey, stats, I seriously doubt they have that many charges they went by. I don't know a thing about this particular group and my initial post wasn't about them.

Worked myself into some anxiety today over a few things and it is Easter so not going to debate this, it is simply my opinion and I've said it many a time. After you responded is when I mentioned non profits and things. I am responding to nothing but new posts on threads, and that's it.

I honestly did not read any of your links either. I find those numbers hard to believe and that's simpy it. I know I wasn't SA'ed nor anyone I know. Now if they are talking date rape or counting adults even maybe but I still probably wouldn't think it likely.

And I do worry about victims being taken advantage of. I think it is very clear in many, many posts how I feel about victims and their families.

It's not very clear why she even thinks she was SA'ed and of course the person isn't named that she thinks it was. So going by the "statistics" of 1 in 4 is not enough reason for me, if that's even accurate.

It simply was more of my era I'd guess than yours was my point. Maybe 1 in every 4 in Pittsburgh was who the heck knows. I don't have any interest in looking into it. I don't now a lot about any of it and this thread is short.

That number seems insanely high to me is also the point. I'm done with it but probably will say similar things in other things in the future as I have in the past.

I'm done with it. I was stating an opinion and not looking to more.

And I meant my Happy Easter.