Where is Cherrie Mahan? Woman claims to be missing girl for 39 years

Pennsylvania police are investigating a woman's claim of a girl who disappeared from a bus stop in 1985.

Cherrie Mahan was 8 years old when she disappeared in Winfield Township, Butler County, after being dropped off by the school bus and never reaching her front door.

There has been no sign of Mahan since, but a woman's recent claim on social media that she was the missing child sparked a police response.

The claim would be the fourth to be made public over the years, with officers now working to find the woman, Pennsylvania State Police said. News week Tuesday.

“We are investigating this woman’s claim to be Cherrie Mahan and are currently working with a foreign agency to identify her,” Lt. Adam Reed said in a statement.

“The outside agency has not yet made contact with her based on the contact details she provided. The investigation is ongoing.”

Mahan, who has brown hair and eyes, disappeared after getting off her school bus on Cornplanter Road just after 4 p.m. on February 22, 1985.

Her parents were waiting at their home, just over the hill, to go to a friend's house, but the little girl never showed up.

A blue or green van was seen behind the bus, while a blue sedan was also in the area, but these vehicles were never identified.

The PSP kept the file open for 39 years, the filed file reportedly contains nearly 4,000 pages and several agents working on the investigation.

“His mother would just like to have some closure and some answers after all these years,” Trooper Max DeLuca told NBC Dateline in 2019. “It's one of those cases that really caught the attention of a lot of people. people.

“Some cold cases, you don't get any tips for months or years or a long period of time. It seems like this is a case that has really captured people's attention. So we always get some sort of lead or advice to follow.”

These reports include three other women claiming to have gone missing Mahan, who would now be 47 years old.

On social media pages dedicated to her memory, while hoping that she will be found, followers discussed the most recent allegations, which were deleted by the page's administrators.

“I wish everyone could see how many people over the years have ended up in Janice's inbox claiming to be Cherrie,” Tiffany Howes posted on the Memories of Cherrie Mahan Facebook page.

“It's heartbreaking that people have the audacity to continue to do this to this poor woman. It tears her heart all over again every time it happens because of course she wants to follow every lead and get invested .”

Others said that if the woman truly believed she was Mahan, she could go to the PSP or any police station and take a DNA test to prove it.

Another false trail occurred in 2019, when Mahon's mother received a handwritten letter claiming to know her daughter's fate.

“I just wish someone would come and tell me what happened,” Janice McKinney told Target 11 at the time. “That’s all I pray for all the time, it’s just to know.”

News week has contacted McKinney for comment on this latest development. In a response to Howes' Facebook post, she said her job was to educate people about posts like this.

Earlier this year, on the anniversary of her disappearance, Mahan's childhood friend Amanda Ashbee told CBS that her friend was always on her mind.

“I’m 47 years old and I don’t think there’s been a month in my life that you haven’t heard or read about a story about a missing child,” Ashbee told the outlet. “That’s the first thought that comes to mind.”

When Mahan disappeared, she was wearing a gray coat, a blue denim skirt, blue leggings and beige boots.

There is a $5,000 cash reward for anyone with information leading to an arrest or the search for Cherrie.