PA PA - Cherrie Mahan, 8, Cabot, 22 Feb 1985

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CatsNTats said:
Thank you for the amazing recommendation!

Cherrie's case reminds me so much of two that we have covered. First, it reminds me of 10-yr-old Linda Weldy from LaPorte, IN who stepped off the school bus in 1987 and seemingly disappeared into thin air. Her body was recovered more than 5 miles from her home several months later and it remains unsolved. Also, it reminds me of 5 yr-old Lauren Maria Pico Jackson's case who disappeared from Spring City, PA in 1988 and has yet to be found.

I will look into Cherrie's case and see about covering it on the podcast.
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Please cover it. I am a local and have ties to this family. I am begging you - and anyone - to please help.
 
Podcasters who want to cover little Miss Mahan - Cherrie's name is not said like the French name "Cherie". Just as poor little Seana Tapp's first name is not said "See-anna-uh" - she was "Shauna".
 
CatsNTats said:
Thank you for the amazing recommendation!

Cherrie's case reminds me so much of two that we have covered. First, it reminds me of 10-yr-old Linda Weldy from LaPorte, IN who stepped off the school bus in 1987 and seemingly disappeared into thin air. Her body was recovered more than 5 miles from her home several months later and it remains unsolved. Also, it reminds me of 5 yr-old Lauren Maria Pico Jackson's case who disappeared from Spring City, PA in 1988 and has yet to be found.

I will look into Cherrie's case and see about covering it on the podcast.
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@CatsNTats
Yes Please cover Cherrie's case!!! I listen to your Podcasts and really enjoy them. You would be perfect to cover her case!
 
Any theory has a chance at being true. I more so meant that any family of Cherrie’s has probably been looked at extensively and repeatedly, and the police seem to have found nothing so it’s more likely not the case. Some people emphatically point the finger at the parents (mother & stepfather), and I can’t imagine anyone has been investigated more thoroughly than they have.

I really hope this case gets solved in this lifetime.
 
Another thought came to mind here regarding Portersville...

If Cherrie didn't make it out alive, there are indeed places she could have wound up nearby. I sail at Moraine State Park, which is a very large area and has a man-made lake (Lake Arthur) and a few swampy areas surrounding it. The lake goes mostly unused in the winter months. I don't believe it has been drained in my lifetime, either; I've been sailing there since 1990 and don't recall it ever having been drained. I'm not sure of its depth offhand (I've only capsized a Sunfish once there in all those years and can tread water well, so it wasn't a concern; I had the boat righted in under a minute).

The land areas are mostly woods but there's also a very popular bike trail up there.

On the other side of 19 is McConnell's Mill State Park. There are more trails there.

I'd rule the mother out, personally. Whoever did it obviously had been watching for a while, and in a rural area like Portersville, that's very easy to do given the amount of "green space" up there.
 
I track Cherrie's case on NamUs and see it was modified yesterday. I am not sure what they modified but I am guessing they are still actively working on her case. (fingers crossed)
 
MacPlus512 said:
Another thought came to mind here regarding Portersville...

If Cherrie didn't make it out alive, there are indeed places she could have wound up nearby. I sail at Moraine State Park, which is a very large area and has a man-made lake (Lake Arthur) and a few swampy areas surrounding it. The lake goes mostly unused in the winter months. I don't believe it has been drained in my lifetime, either; I've been sailing there since 1990 and don't recall it ever having been drained. I'm not sure of its depth offhand (I've only capsized a Sunfish once there in all those years and can tread water well, so it wasn't a concern; I had the boat righted in under a minute).

The land areas are mostly woods but there's also a very popular bike trail up there.

On the other side of 19 is McConnell's Mill State Park. There are more trails there.

I'd rule the mother out, personally. Whoever did it obviously had been watching for a while, and in a rural area like Portersville, that's very easy to do given the amount of "green space" up there.
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I am wondering if they ever looked in those areas for Cherrie?
 
chaddylex said:
I am wondering if they ever looked in those areas for Cherrie?
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There isn't much chance of finding anything at this point. It would have been difficult enough immediately after the abduction.
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Cherie was probably abducted, sexually assaulted, and murder by a random sexual predator who spotted her and saw an opportunity. Considering how rural the area is, I would have to think the crime was committed by a local. I would suspect a younger perp, probably a teenager. LE should be looking at anyone who might have had sexual contact with young children, even if there was no official report at the time.
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It's impossible to completely rule out the mother (or any male acquaintances of the mother), but barring any additional evidence, a stranger abduction has to be the default theory.
 
MacPlus512 said:
Another thought came to mind here regarding Portersville...

If Cherrie didn't make it out alive, there are indeed places she could have wound up nearby. I sail at Moraine State Park, which is a very large area and has a man-made lake (Lake Arthur) and a few swampy areas surrounding it. The lake goes mostly unused in the winter months. I don't believe it has been drained in my lifetime, either; I've been sailing there since 1990 and don't recall it ever having been drained. I'm not sure of its depth offhand (I've only capsized a Sunfish once there in all those years and can tread water well, so it wasn't a concern; I had the boat righted in under a minute).

The land areas are mostly woods but there's also a very popular bike trail up there.

On the other side of 19 is McConnell's Mill State Park. There are more trails there.

I'd rule the mother out, personally. Whoever did it obviously had been watching for a while, and in a rural area like Portersville, that's very easy to do given the amount of "green space" up there.
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Not that it’s worth much, but I would guess Cherrie remains close to home in the Cabot/Saxonburg area. There is so much land here that there really isn’t much reason to seek out Moraine State Park or many other places. They are still a good drive away. It sickens me to say this, but she could have just as easily been disposed of on someone’s private land here and have little chance of ever being uncovered.
 
Debonyx said:
I have been thinking about this case since I was a little girl.I’m from Pittsburgh. I found this picture of a van and thought it looked like the one described. TheSamba.com :: Bay Window Bus - View topic - Where are the Ski Bum Buses at?
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I live in Westmoreland County PA ( about 45 minutes south of where Cherrie went missing from) and I had a guy who lived a few blocks away from me who had a van with a skier painted on the side. He was a grandfather to one of my classmates and my Girl Scout leader's father. I would always get kind of weirded out when I would see that van because I was a 9 year old that watched the news. I turned the tip in years ago to investigators but nothing ever came of it. (I didn't know the grandfather personally, but I found his obituary and he died in the early 2000's.) It was probably just a coincidence of my neighbor having a van with a skier painted on the side, but it has stuck with me all these years.
 
chaddylex said:
I live in Westmoreland County PA ( about 45 minutes south of where Cherrie went missing from) and I had a guy who lived a few blocks away from me who had a van with a skier painted on the side. He was a grandfather to one of my classmates and my Girl Scout leader's father. I would always get kind of weirded out when I would see that van because I was a 9 year old that watched the news. I turned the tip in years ago to investigators but nothing ever came of it. (I didn't know the grandfather personally, but I found his obituary and he died in the early 2000's.) It was probably just a coincidence of my neighbor having a van with a skier painted on the side, but it has stuck with me all these years.
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Did you turn the tip in back in '85 when you were a kid? That would have been the time to turn it in—if the old man was the perp.
 
Ozoner said:
Did you turn the tip in back in '85 when you were a kid? That would have been the time to turn it in—if the old man was the perp.
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No I didn't - I told my parents but heck I was a goofy kid in their eyes - I watched the news and read the obituaries in the newspaper since I learned to read.... I turned it in about 10 years ago or maybe even longer now. I remember Todd Matthews from NamUs called me and he said he was going to submit it. Now I am 45 and her case still haunts me. This is why I am so involved in the missing and unidentified.
 
chaddylex said:
No I didn't - I told my parents but heck I was a goofy kid in their eyes - I watched the news and read the obituaries in the newspaper since I learned to read.... I turned it in about 10 years ago or maybe even longer now. I remember Todd Matthews from NamUs called me and he said he was going to submit it. Now I am 45 and her case still haunts me. This is why I am so involved in the missing and unidentified.
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I wish your parents had taken your concerns seriously. Here you had an adult male who spent quite a bit of time around young girls (the girl scouts in his daughter's troop), and who might have developed some socially unacceptable fantasies. The town where Cherie was abducted was just far enough from your town that someone might have driven that distance in order to perpetrate that kind of crime without being recognized. I'd say he was a very good suspect—if only your parents had turned in that tip!
 
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