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

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Cherrie was last seen getting off of the bus from her elementary school at approximately 4:05 p.m. on February 22, 1985. Three other students got off with her at the stop. She was approximately 100 to 150 yards along a dirt driveway from her family's residence on Cornplanter Road in Cabot, Pennsylvania at the time she disappeared.

When she failed to arrive home, her stepfather went looking for her and called police when he failed to find her. Cherrie has never been heard from again.

A bright blue or green 1976 Dodge van was seen in the area at the time of Cherrie's disappearance and may be connected to her case. The van was following the school bus Cherrie had been riding in. The van had a snow-capped mountain and skier mural painted on both sides of the vehicle. The skier was wearing red and yellow clothing and was skiing down the mountain.

The van has never been located or identified and investigators are still not sure if it was connected to Cherrie's case. A small blue car was also seen near the site of Cherrie's disappearance. It is unknown if the car has anything to do with her case either.

According to her mother, Cherrie was conceived through rape when her mother was sixteen years old. The police did not believe the rape allegation and Cherrie's biological father was never charged. She believes people connected to Cherrie's father were involved in her disappearance. Cherrie's father maintains his innocence in her case.

CHARLEY PROJECT - Cherrie Ann Mahan – The Charley Project

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Media - CHERRIE MAHAN has been missing from Pittsburgh, #PENNSYLVANIA since 22 Feb 1985 - Age 8
 
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Have you seen this child? Cherrie Ann Mahan

Missing From: Cabot, PA. Missing Date: February 22, 1985. Cherrie's photo is shown age-progressed to 44 years. She was last seen getting off the school bus about 100 yards from home. A bright blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a mountain and a skier may be involved in her disappearance...
www.missingkids.org www.missingkids.org

Cherrie's photo is shown age-progressed to 38 years. She was last seen getting off the school bus about 100 yards from home. A bright blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a mountain and a skier may be involved in her disappearance. Cherrie has pierced ears. She was last seen wearing a gray coat, blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, and beige boots.


The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.
www.namus.gov

Cherrie's photo is shown age-progressed to 33 years. Cherrie was last seen exiting the bus from her elementary school approximately 100 yards from her family's home in Cabot, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1985. She has never been seen again. A bright blue or green Dodge van with a mountain and skier mural on both sides of the vehicle may be involved in Mahan's abduction
 
www.nbcnews.com

Pennsylvania child Cherrie Mahan still missing after getting off school bus in 1985

Cherrie Mahan was last seen getting off the school bus 50 feet from her home in Butler County, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1985. The Pennsylvania State Police are investigating her case.
www.nbcnews.com www.nbcnews.com

Pennsylvania child Cherrie Mahan still missing after getting off school bus in 1985

February 22, 1985 began like any other Friday for Cherrie Mahan's family in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Cherrie was just eight years old and was in the third grade at a nearby school, just north of Pittsburgh.

“[Cherrie’s] family last talked to her that morning,” Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Max DeLuca told Dateline. Cherrie went to school that day and, after the final bell that afternoon, she got on the school bus to go home, he added. She got off the school bus around 4:10 p.m. with three other children, Trooper DeLuca said.

Debbie Burk, a mother who lived near Cherrie’s family, told the Associated Press in 1985 that she always sat in her car at the school bus stop, waiting for her own children to come home.

″I sat in the car and watched the kids get off. They played for a while,” Debbie told the AP. “I made sure Cherrie had walked past the car, then I drove away.”

The bus stop was only about 50 feet from Cherrie’s house. But Cherrie never made it home.

“When Cherrie did not arrive home by 4:30 pm her parents began to look for her and place phone [calls] in an attempt to locate her,” Trooper DeLuca said. “When Cherrie could not be located, police were contacted within an hour by her stepfather and mother. Police responded to Cherrie’s residence and her mother and stepfather were present to provide statements.”

Other children who were on the school bus that day would later tell authorities a blue van had been trailing the bus. “It had a skiing scene – a mountain and a skier – painted on the side,” Trooper DeLuca told Dateline.

“I caught a glimpse of the blue van in the mirror,” Debbie, the neighbor who had picked her own children up from the bus stop that day, said in 1985. “It was right behind me. My son saw the van, too.”

Though nobody ever saw Cherrie enter or stop at the van, Trooper DeLuca says the van has been of concern in Cherrie’s disappearance since day one.
 
www.wpxi.com

Anonymous letter could shed light on decades-old disappearance

<p>Thirty-four years ago, on Feb. 22, 1985, 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan got off the school bus in Cabot but never made it home.</p>
www.wpxi.com www.wpxi.com

Anonymous letter could shed light on decades-old disappearance

Thirty-four years ago, on Feb. 22, 1985, 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan got off the school bus in Cabot but never made it home.

Now, in 2019, her mother told Target 11 Investigator Rick Earle she hopes an anonymous tip will help police crack this cold case.

"I just wish someone would come forth and tell me what happened," Janice McKinney said through tears. "That's all I pray for all the time is just to know."

Last summer, McKinney received a handwritten letter detailing who killed her daughter, why they did it and where her body could be found. The letter, signed by someone calling themselves Pastor Justice, ended: "I pray you find some peace after you find her body."

"I got it around her birthday," McKinney said.

She turned the letter over to police but never heard back. Investigators told Target 11 they are still working on it. They also said another tip led them to search an Armstrong junkyard and an old mine shaft in Butler County within the last year.
 
pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

'It's A Torment': Cherrie Mahan's Mother Still Searching 35 Years After She Disappeared From Butler Co.

On a sunny Feb. 22, 1985, 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan got off her school bus on Cornplanter Road and headed to her driveway and her home.
pittsburgh.cbslocal.com pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

‘It’s A Torment’: Cherrie Mahan’s Mother Still Searching 35 Years After She Disappeared From Butler Co.

On a sunny Feb. 22, 1985, 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan got off her school bus on Cornplanter Road and headed to her driveway and her home.

From that day to today, Janice McKinney has been searching face for her daughter Cherrie who never made it up the hill that day to their home.

“It’s a torment, I’ve been tormented since the day she was taken. Is she alive, is she not alive, is she okay, is she not okay, is she with somebody are they taking care of her, are they not taking care of her?”

“Does she miss me, does she want me, does she know me? These things run in my head every single day of my life.”

Janice and her husband Leroy were in their home at the top of the hill waiting for Cherrie to get home so they could take her to a play date with friends.

“We heard the bus come and after five or tens minutes and Leroy said ‘maybe she fell down, do you want me to go check? And I said ‘go check’ and he went down he checked and she wasn’t there,” she says.

The children on the bus, and the bus driver told Janice and Leroy Cherrie did get off the bus.

Janice says, “It’s just what happened from the time she got off that bus to when she headed towards our driveway.”



Now 35 years later, Pennsylvania State Trooper Jim Long says the phone still rings at the Butler Barracks about Cherrie.

“It’s amazing after all these years we still get a lot of inquiries a lot of information, a lot of tips, sometimes we’ll get a couple a week, other times it may go months and we don’t hear anything,” he says.

Children on the bus that day told police they saw a conversion van with a skier painted on the side. Trp. Long says, “There’s been a lot of vans that we looked at. There’s been a lot of vans we actually processed forensically and unfortunately didn’t lead us anywhere.”

Cherrie’s mom doubts the van was even involved.

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To understand the depth of this mother’s despair you need to know this: “I got raped and had Cherrie when I was 16 years old and she was ‘IT’ for me. Everything! I never left that house without her, we were always together, we grew up together, she was my life.”

Janice believes there is a connection between her rape, Cherrie’s birth, and eight years later her disappearance “I do, I believe that but I can’t prove anything,” she says.

Police are aware of McKinney’s suspicions and have told her the man is adamant in his denials. The only thing Trp. Long will say about suspects: “Anybody that was implicated, until we find evidence otherwise, they still would be considered a suspect.”

Likewise, the police say until they have evidence to the contrary, they have to assume there is still a chance Cherrie is alive.


“That would be a blessing to me if they would call me and just say it’s over,” she says.

Janice McKinney is holding out hope that after 35 years someone will have an attack of conscience and come forward with the tip police need.

If you have any information on the disappearance of Cherrie Mahan, contact the State Police Butler barracks at 724-284-8100.
 
www.ozy.com

VANISHED: 6 Unsolved and Baffling Disappearances

A lanky stranger in a beach town, with a fake ID and a final departure. A young mother trying to pin a murder on her toddler. Ships that never sailed home, and missing person posters, fluttering in cold, Alaskan air. At first glance, there may seem little to tie these people, places and things...
www.ozy.com www.ozy.com

VANISHED: 6 UNSOLVED AND BAFFLING DISAPPEARANCES​

TRAGEDIES THAT CUT DEEP​

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Cherrie Mahan: Broken Hearts …

Nothing compares to the anguish of a missing child, and for those who knew and loved Pennsylvania third grader Cherrie Mahan, it has been 36 winters of heartbreak. On February 22, 1985, she was dropped off by her school bus, reportedly a mere 50 feet from her home. Cherrie was dressed for the weather in a coat, a denim skirt, a leotard, a pair of blue leg warmers and her Cabbage Patch Kids earmuffs. But waiting inside, little did mother Janice McKinney and stepfather Leroy McKinney know that they would never see her again. Janice has said in interviews that she’d heard the rumble of the bus but when Cherrie failed to show up after 10 minutes, Leroy went out to check.

… And a Turning Point.

By then, there was no trace of their daughter and there hasn’t been since, although false leads and sightings continue to haunt them. What happened to the 8-year-old remains shrouded in speculation and is one of America’s most infamous disappearances. Despite countless search efforts and public campaigns, no person of interest was ever linked closely to the case. However, in her short (known) life, Cherrie contributed to a landmark approach in how the U.S. searches for missing persons: She was the first to be featured on the iconic “Have You Seen Me?” circulars produced by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
 

Mother still praying for the return of missing daughter

WINFIELD TWP — The weather Monday was a lot like the day Janice McKinney last saw her daughter, Cherrie Mahan. McKinney recalled the warm, sunny day 37 years ago on Feb. 22, which led to her decision ...
www.butlereagle.com www.butlereagle.com

Mother still praying for the return of missing daughter​

February 23, 2022

The weather Monday was a lot like the day Janice McKinney last saw her daughter, Cherrie Mahan.

McKinney recalled the warm, sunny day 37 years ago on Feb. 22, which led to her decision not to drive to the road from her long driveway to pick up the 8-year-old Cherrie from the bus stop after school.

On Tuesday, McKinney stood at the bottom of the driveway at 1136 Cornplanter Road, a place she seldom revisits now that she lives in Saxonburg, and prayed with a group of close friends as she watched a school bus drive by the house around 4 p.m.

“She was going to go somewhere; it was a Friday so she would have came running up over the hill, but she didn’t,” McKinney said. “I was always here to pick her up when she got off that bus. But it was a nice day. We were home. I just felt that she would be OK.”

Cherrie Mahan went missing Feb. 22, 1985, at the age of 8.
 
Age 44 (circa 2020)

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www.missingkids.org

Have you seen this child? Cherrie Mahan

Missing From: CABOT, PA. Missing Date: Fri, Feb 22 1985. Cherrie's photo is shown age-progressed to 44 years. She was last seen getting off the school bus about 100 yards from home. A bright blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a mountain and a skier may be involved in her disappearance...
www.missingkids.org www.missingkids.org
 
www.cbsnews.com

Police still looking for answers in 1985 cold case disappearance of 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan

Police are still looking for answers in the disappearance of Cherrie Mahan, an 8-year-old girl who was last seen when she got off her school bus nearly 38 years ago.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com

FEBRUARY 17, 2023 / 2:00 PM / CBS PITTSBURGH

WINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - Police are still looking for answers in the disappearance of Cherrie Mahan, an 8-year-old girl who was last seen when she got off her school bus nearly 38 years ago.

Mahan was last seen on Feb. 22, 1985, on Cornplanter Road in Winfield Township, Butler County.

People who saw her get off the bus said a blue or green conversion-style van was seen on Cornplanter Road at that time. Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers said the driver of the van hasn't been found yet and state police would still like to talk to any of its occupants.

Mahan would be 46 years old today. Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers shared age progression photos provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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www.cbsnews.com

Woman claims to be missing child Cherrie Mahan, last seen in Pennsylvania 39 years ago

Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a report of a person claiming to be Cherrie Mahan.
www.cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com

Woman claims to be missing child Cherrie Mahan, last seen in Pennsylvania 39 years ago​

Pennsylvania State Police are investigating a report of a person claiming to be Cherrie Mahan, the 8-year-old girl who went missing from a bus stop in 1985.

Cherrie was last seen in Winfield Township, Butler County, and there's been no sign of her for 39 years.

Now State Police are investigating after a woman posted on social media claiming she is Cherrie Mahan.

Last month, the woman posted her claim in a Facebook group.

The Mahan family says they don't believe her, but State Police are working with an out-of-state agency to positively identify the woman making the claim.

State Police have not made contact with the woman, and the out-of-state agency is trying to find her.


Three other women throughout the years have claimed to be Mahan.

There's still a $5,000 cash reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest, solving the case or finding Mahan.
 
Seems unlikely. So she knew who she as all along (age 8 so possibly) but didn't care to come forward until 47 ears of age? Odd.

It sure isn't for the reward money imo.

Attention? Or is there some odd story that she always felt something wrong or just came to find the case and believe this fits her life and circumstances and unknowns?

Hard to believe that is likely...

But I guess we will see.
 
GrandmaBear said:
Seems unlikely. So she knew who she as all along (age 8 so possibly) but didn't care to come forward until 47 ears of age? Odd.

It sure isn't for the reward money imo.

Attention? Or is there some odd story that she always felt something wrong or just came to find the case and believe this fits her life and circumstances and unknowns?

Hard to believe that is likely...

But I guess we will see.
Click to expand...
DNA will quickly disprove her claims. Heartbreaking that Cherrie's mother has to contend with another scam artist. If this person is really Cherrie, why didn't she come forward years ago when she was 18? 21?

The person made the claim, and now can't be located and apparently has deleted her claim from social media. And if she was really Cherrie, wouldn't she have gone to the police first and told them, rather than posting on social media?
 
Sunburst said:
DNA will quickly disprove her claims. Heartbreaking that Cherrie's mother has to contend with another scam artist. If this person is really Cherrie, why didn't she come forward years ago when she was 18? 21?

The person made the claim, and now can't be located and apparently has deleted her claim from social media. And if she was really Cherrie, wouldn't she have gone to the police first and told them, rather than posting on social media?
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I think if that stuff kept happening, I'd have a stash of simple DNA kits with a postage paid envelope and tell them to prove it and if pay for the processing. Put up our shut up. I think that's the only way I could deal with these people without totally dismissing "just in case".
 
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nypost.com

State police give update on Cherrie Mahan cold case after woman claims to be Pa. girl who vanished in 1985

“If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already blown it,” Cherrie’s mother said. “People are mean, they are cruel, but this affects me really crazy.”
nypost.com nypost.com

Allie Griffin
Published June 6, 2024, 11:48 p.m. ET

Pennsylvania State Police shared an update on the identity of a woman claiming to be missing person Cherrie Mahan, who at 8 years old disappeared from her school bus stop in 1985.

The woman, who hasn’t been publicly identified, claimed to be Cherrie in both a post to a Facebook group and a voicemail left with state police last month.

But the post was promptly removed by the group administrators and investigators haven’t been able to reach her at the phone number or address that she provided in the voicemail, state police said.

With no way to reach her, cops went another route.

State police were able to obtain fingerprints for the name left by the caller and tested them against Cherrie’s. There was no match.

“An initial review of these fingerprints indicate that she is not Cherri Mahan,” cops said in the update.

“At this point in the investigation, law enforcement has not had in-person contact with the women [sic] claiming to be Cherrie Mahan. If the caller decides to make herself available to the Pennsylvania State Police or any other law enforcement agencies, her claim will be investigated.”

The real Cherrie was last seen being dropped off from her school bus near her Windfield Township home on Feb. 22, 1985.

She never made it through the front door.

In the nearly four decades since she vanished, four women — including the latest — have claimed to be Cherrie.

A $5,000 reward is still being offered to anyone who provides information that leads to finding Cherrie, who would be 46 today, or an arrest.
 
Summer_Breeze said:
nypost.com

State police give update on Cherrie Mahan cold case after woman claims to be Pa. girl who vanished in 1985

“If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already blown it,” Cherrie’s mother said. “People are mean, they are cruel, but this affects me really crazy.”
nypost.com nypost.com

Allie Griffin
Published June 6, 2024, 11:48 p.m. ET

Pennsylvania State Police shared an update on the identity of a woman claiming to be missing person Cherrie Mahan, who at 8 years old disappeared from her school bus stop in 1985.

The woman, who hasn’t been publicly identified, claimed to be Cherrie in both a post to a Facebook group and a voicemail left with state police last month.

But the post was promptly removed by the group administrators and investigators haven’t been able to reach her at the phone number or address that she provided in the voicemail, state police said.

With no way to reach her, cops went another route.

State police were able to obtain fingerprints for the name left by the caller and tested them against Cherrie’s. There was no match.

“An initial review of these fingerprints indicate that she is not Cherri Mahan,” cops said in the update.

“At this point in the investigation, law enforcement has not had in-person contact with the women [sic] claiming to be Cherrie Mahan. If the caller decides to make herself available to the Pennsylvania State Police or any other law enforcement agencies, her claim will be investigated.”

The real Cherrie was last seen being dropped off from her school bus near her Windfield Township home on Feb. 22, 1985.

She never made it through the front door.

In the nearly four decades since she vanished, four women — including the latest — have claimed to be Cherrie.

A $5,000 reward is still being offered to anyone who provides information that leads to finding Cherrie, who would be 46 today, or an arrest.
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Just curious as to why an 8 year old would have fingerprints on file to match to🤔
 
Guess Who said:
Just curious as to why an 8 year old would have fingerprints on file to match to🤔
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The 1980s were "stranger danger" hysteria. Many schools and communities had free ID events and kits for children, where the kids' fingerprints could be included in a free little booklet, along with the child's current school picture and info such as height, eye and hair color, etc. Just in case. " Here sweetie, we need to get your fingerprints just in case."
Sounds like the imposter may have had fingerprints on file with police records already.
 
Sunburst said:
The 1980s were "stranger danger" hysteria. Many schools and communities had free ID events and kits for children, where the kids' fingerprints could be included in a free little booklet, along with the child's current school picture and info such as height, eye and hair color, etc. Just in case. " Here sweetie, we need to get your fingerprints just in case."
The imposter may have had fingerprints on file with police records already.
Click to expand...
The cards I was given when my kids were in school didn't have fingerprints on them. It was a bit after those days though, but that makes sense. I get why an adult, especially one that might be committing possible Identity theft at that very moment, might possibly have hers on file.
 
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