A woman is claiming to be an 8-year-old girl who vanished after getting off a bus 40 years ago – and police are investigating to see if her assertion is true.
Cherrie Mahan vanished from the stop in front of her home in Winfield Township, Butler County, on February 22, 1985. She has not been seen or heard from since. She was just eight years old, and her parents were waiting inside for their daughter to come home, excited to take her to a friend’s house that day. But they would never get to take her to that friend’s house.
That February afternoon was the last time Cherrie was seen, and her case has yet to be solved. Now, 40 years later, an unnamed woman has come forward claiming to be the missing child.
However, the missing child’s mom said she believes the adult making the claims today is an imposter.
In May, the woman posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the missing girl claiming to be Cherrie. However, Janice McKinney, Cherrie’s mother, told local outlet Butler Eagle the claim was likely fraudulent, and she has since contacted the Pennsylvania State Police about the posts – which have since been removed.
“If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already blown it,” McKinney told the Butler Eagle. “People are mean, they are cruel, but this affects me really crazy. It’s going to be 40 years since Cherrie’s been missing.”
A blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a skier on a mountain was seen nearby where Cherrie went missing in 1985 and may have been involved in her disappearance, according to the outlet. Cherrie had pierced ears and was last seen wearing a gray coat, blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, and beige boots.
Cherrie would now be 47 years old. A computer generated age-progression photo of Cherrie was previously released by investigators, showing what she may look like at age 33.
McKinney told the Butler Eagle several people have impersonated her daughter in the past.
“I truly believe she thought in her mind that she was Cherrie,” McKinney said of the latest woman to come forward. “It did not look anything like Cherrie at all.”
“If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already blown it,” she continued. “People are mean, they are cruel, but this affects me really crazy. It’s gonna be 40 years since Cherrie’s been missing.”
McKinney told the Eagle that tips about her daughter’s whereabouts usually come around the anniversary of her disappearance (February) or on Cherrie’s birthday (August) and so the woman’s claims had caught her off guard.
“In February and August, I expect craziness. This just hit me different,” she told the outlet “I didn’t even see it. Someone called me and told me about it.”
Bertha Cazy with the Pennsylvania State Police told the Butler Eagle police are working with an out-of-state agency to verify the claims.
“We are working with an out-of-state agency to positively identify the female, Cazy wrote. “They have not made contact with her from the contact information she provided. The out-of-state agency is attempting to locate her.”
The woman has since been removed from the page administrator Brock Organ wrote.
“Few are in a position to evaluate the claim, and unfortunately, some people online are unstable and divisive,” Organ wrote on the page. “So, we have removed the member, and I apologize for the unwelcome content. The group members, especially our dear member Janice, should not have to be exposed to such content.”
Organ continued: “Some people say, ‘But what if it was really her?’ This has an easy answer: if it was really her, she could present herself at any police office and arrange for a DNA test without reaching out to people online and making aggressive claims. That is what a reasonable person would do.”
Pennsylvania State Police consider Cherrie’s case active, rather than cold, and have a lead detective investigating her case, KDKA-TV reports.
“Multiple detectives from PSP have looked at this case and worked it over the years,” Pennsylvania State Police told KDKA-TV. “Detectives want to solve all of their unsolved cases, but cases with child victims can weigh more on an investigator, especially cases where the child has not been located.”