Police provide update on woman who claims missing 8-year-old girl disappeared 39 years ago

Police have released an updated statement from a woman who claimed she was now the great Cherrie Mahan.

Mahan, 8, disappeared on February 22, 1985 when she was dropped off by her school bus at a stop outside her home in Pennsylvania – however, she has not been seen or heard from since.

An investigation was carried out to find the girl, but Mahan was not located.

However, investigators believe a 1976 Dodge pickup truck with a drawing of a skier on a mountain may have something to do with his disappearance.

Pennsylvania State Police have confirmed they are investigating a woman who claimed she was Cherrie in a post to the Facebook group Memories of Cherrie Mahan last month – which has since been deleted by the administrator of the band.

The woman also left a voicemail with state police last month claiming to be Cherrie and provided police with a number and address.

However, police were unable to contact the woman, who has not been publicly identified, by phone or at the address she provided.

To get around this, police obtained fingerprints from the name left by the caller and tested them with Cherrie, which indicated there was no match.

“An initial examination of these fingerprints indicates that she is not Cherri Mahan,” police said in the update.

“At this point in the investigation, law enforcement has not had in-person contact with the women. [sic] pretending to be Cherrie Mahan.

“If the appellant decides to make herself available to the Pennsylvania State Police or any other law enforcement agency, her complaint will be investigated.”

Cherrie's mother, Janice McKinney, has already spoken out following the woman's claim that she was her daughter.

Janice told the Butler Eagle that she thought the woman “thought in her mind she was Cherrie,” however, she said she “looked nothing like Cherrie.”

She added: “If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already wasted it.

“People are mean, they're cruel, but it really affects me in a crazy way. It will be 40 years since Cherrie disappeared.

She also said she had become accustomed to the “craziness” of people pretending to be her daughter over the years.

Before that, three women had claimed to be the missing 8-year-old, with Janice noting that there was often a spike around the anniversary of her disappearance.

“It just hit me differently. I didn't even see it. Someone called me and told me about it.” she says.

UNILAD has already contacted the Pennsylvania State Police Department for comment.

Featured image credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

Topics: News, American News