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

[Gameman]

Gotta admit, I got sucked in and am currently watching the podcast. I got chills, was entertained, and even wondered who could fit this profile.

But psychics don't exist, period. I wish they did. By default, this woman is full of...um...crap. She seems to believe her own bull and means well. It's such an embarrassment that police even spoke to the Vincent sisters at one point. However, this is a fabulous case for psychics because it isn't likely be solved so they can say whatever they want.

Also, we know how invested so many people are in this case. The community really cares about Cherrie. A good many children have gone missing since then, but Cherrie still makes the news while the others no longer do. Even if the abductor was a chief of police, nobody is going to protect a child abductor/molestor/murderer. This idea that someone being active in the church means anything is ridiculous. This got taken by the State Police, where most troopers probably have no connection to the area.

Sorry for the rant; I'm venting. That sketch looked like Waldo with a mustache. I hope Cherrie's mother doesn't see any of this woman's nonsense.

 

[pinballwizard1919]

We are 5 days from the date that Cherrie went missing 37 years ago. Hopefully we see some media coverage on it in the next few days. I know this case seems unsolvable but it's important to keep her memory alive.

 

[Kittybunny]

We are 5 days from the date that Cherrie went missing 37 years ago. Hopefully we see some media coverage on it in the next few days. I know this case seems unsolvable but it's important to keep her memory alive.

The key to solving this case is finding Cherrie. Miracles do happen but after all this time ...

Other ways cold cases get solved is someone finally decides to talk. Kara Nichols in CO finally was cracked because the perpetrator's ex-wife finally went to police. Kara disappeared in 2012, he told his ex in 2014, and they found her body and arrested the guy.

I'm from Butler and was around Cherries age when she disappeared. Would love to see this one solved.

 

[chaddylex]

The key to solving this case is finding Cherrie. Miracles do happen but after all this time ...

Other ways cold cases get solved is someone finally decides to talk. Kara Nichols in CO finally was cracked because the perpetrator's ex-wife finally went to police. Kara disappeared in 2012, he told his ex in 2014, and they found her body and arrested the guy.

I'm from Butler and was around Cherries age when she disappeared. Would love to see this one solved.

I hope this is the year that someone speaks up!

Cherrie's case is what got me interested in missing cases. I have often thought of her since her disappearance (being that little 9 year old girl myself watching it all over our local news)

So many people want to see her case solved and care about Cherrie.

 

[chaddylex]

37 years ago today, Cherrie went missing after she got off her school bus.
Sending out prayers and hugs to her family, friends and everyone who care about her.
Maybe this year we will finally get some answers!

 

[pinballwizard1919]

Only saw one media post today unfortunately. A post on butler radio network's facebook page. Lots of comments.

 

[Glaber]

Only saw one media post today unfortunately. A post on butler radio network's facebook page. Lots of comments.

I was just listening to a Butler radio station & they mentioned yesterday was the anniversary. I should have remembered, a person important in my life was born on the day Cherie Mahan disappeared. I think of her every now and then.

 

[chaddylex]

Mother still praying for the return of missing daughter
Mother still praying for the return of missing daughter

Eddie Trizzino Eagle Staff Writer
February 23, 2022 Last Updated: February 22, 2022 09:23 PM Local News

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 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. She reportedly got off the school bus at Cornplanter Road, which has been confirmed by the bus driver and students who were on the bus at the time. There have been reports that Cherrie was taken into a van painted with a decal of a skier on a mountain.

McKinney and law enforcement refer to Cherrie’s disappearance as a kidnapping, and still are hoping someone will come forward with information about her.

McKinney doesn’t always make a day out of the anniversary or even recognize it, but this year, she said, the date of 2/22/2022, seemed special. She and her loved ones who attended the short prayer vigil Tuesday agreed that the date seemed special.

“It was something there that the Lord laid upon my heart that I needed to step it up,” McKinney said. “I just believe that if everybody knows, if they talk about it, somebody is going to give an answer. Because somebody knows. I don’t know who that somebody is; I just need to know.”

Over the past three-and-a-half decades, McKinney has kept up the search, and has spoken to police, politicians and national media.

Cherrie was declared legally dead in 1998, but the missing person case is still open with state police. McKinney said Tuesday that she has not spoken with investigators in at least a year.

But on Tuesday, McKinney was surrounded by only a few friends who wanted to support her and pray with her. They prayed that Cherrie was somewhere safe and sound, or just to find answers.

“We just want answers that Cherrie is walking around this earth, where she is and if she is OK,” said Trista Smith, one of McKinney’s friends. “Answers that she is in heaven with her stepdad and grandparents and her uncle.”

Some passing cars stopped when they saw the group gathered at the bottom of the driveway, and each driver remembered Cherrie’s case when it was mentioned.

Tracy Haslop, of Cabot, said she had followed Cherrie’s case since she was young, and met McKinney by chance about a year ago at a restaurant. The topic of children came up in conversation, and Haslop realized who she was talking to.

“I broke into tears and told her I had been praying for her my entire life,” Haslop said. “It’s just so weird; it blows my mind still.”

McKinney said coincidences like that give her hope that Cherrie will return.

“I so enjoy my friends just coming and being with me,” McKinney said. “That’s what gives me the strength, just knowing that if I needed anything I could count on them.”

McKinney said she was thankful for her friends and everyone who has offered support over the years. She said her hope is that someone will tell her anything they know about Cherrie.

“That’s what I’m praying for, that somebody’s guilt, that they have to tell somebody, that they want to tell somebody,” McKinney said. “I just felt that I needed to be here. That this is where it started, and this is where I need it to end.”

 

[pinballwizard1919]

Thank you for posting the article! A lot of the community facebook groups had posts:

Memories of Cherrie Mahan
You know you're from Evans City When
Cabot News and Community

Honestly, it's encouraging to see that so many people still care.

 

[chaddylex]

Thank you for posting the article! A lot of the community facebook groups had posts:

Memories of Cherrie Mahan
You know you're from Evans City When
Cabot News and Community

Honestly, it's encouraging to see that so many people still care.

I am surprised I haven't seen anything on the Local Pittsburgh News stations, they usually have something during her anniversary.

Hoping her mom gets answers soon... It's been way too long!

 

[pinballwizard1919]

Were the churches in the Cabot area looked into at the time? If you go through the grand jury report in 2018 on the dioceses of PA, a lot of kids were being harmed in the Pittsburgh area during the 80's. Also, lots of kids were taken on trips to 7 Springs and abused there by priests. Just thinking about the van obviously. A bit of a stretch but you never know. Just another angle to look into.

 

[ladylex70]

I saw a late 70s model Dodge van with a mountain scene painted on it near Butler in the mid 90s. I don't remember if it had a skier on it. It was going in the opposite direction I was going, so I didn't get a look at the license plate, nor if it was a man or woman driving.

 

[Gameman]

I saw a late 70s model Dodge van with a mountain scene painted on it near Butler in the mid 90s. I don't remember if it had a skier on it. It was going in the opposite direction I was going, so I didn't get a look at the license plate, nor if it was a man or woman driving.

Apparently, there was a van like it in the northern part of Butler county (Butler, Zelienople, New Castle). It was fully looked into and wasn't THE van, but it was similar enough that the owner could barely drive it after Cherrie's kidnapping without getting pulled over. This is all second hand information.

 

[pinballwizard1919]

I have a newspaper.com subscription and saved all of the Cherrie articles. There was an article on June 10th 1985 in the Pgh Press about a woman that had a green van with a skier on the side. Apparently the van was in Brackenridge when Cherrie went missing and the alibi checks out. She kept getting reported following Cherrie's abduction b/c of the vehicle's description. The lady refused to paint over it b/c she didn't want people to think she had anything to hide.

Those vans were pretty popular back then apparently. In that same article, PSP claimed they looked into over 400 vans. Most of them were looked into multiple times.

 

[chaddylex]

As I posted before, my classmate's grandfather also had a van with the skier on the side. I live about 45 minutes southwest of Cabot.
I was 9 years old when she went missing, but I watched the news with my grandma, so I have always known of Cherrie's case.
I remember telling my parents about my friend's grandfather having a van that looked similar, they blew me off.

 

[ladylex70]

The van I saw in the 90s I saw was bluish green colored. What color was the van your friend's grandfather had? You probably mentioned the color before, sorry I missed the post.

 

[chaddylex]

The van I saw in the 90s I saw was bluish green colored. What color was the van your friend's grandfather had? You probably mentioned the color before, sorry I missed the post.

From what I remember it was the same color. (I was 9 at the time)

 

[chaddylex]

Keystone Cold Cases just released an episode about Cherrie's disappearance.

Listen Now | Keystone Cold Cases

www.kccpod.com

When 8 year old Cherrie Ann Mahan got off the bus in front of her Butler County driveway on February 22, 1985, she likely planned to walk up the weaving path to her home, hug her parents, Janice and Leroy, show off the school pictures she got to bring home that day, and prep for a sleepover with her friend that night. But somebody else had other plans. At some point between stepping off of her bus where another parent had seen her and making it to her front door, Cherrie Mahan was abducted and has never been seen again. Listen as Sarah tells the story and discusses theories with Chelsea and Grace.

 

[passionflower]

From what I remember it was the same color. (I was 9 at the time)

I remember someone said a van with that description was in Kittaning area. I’ll have to read back.

 

[trujac]

I remember someone said a van with that description was in Kittaning area. I’ll have to read back.

Regarding the van having a picture of a mountain and a skier--in 1982 I had a white Ford Econoline van that I used for my janitorial business--I had a very large colorful magnetic sign made by a sign company stuck on the side of my white van. I had the sign company paint a big bright blue house with "Clean House" written in white on the house and below it in green Janitorial Services--and my city and phone number; it looked like it was painted on my van--but I could take it off anytime--it was heavy but it stuck very well to the van--most people didn't realize it was a magnetic sign. This might have been the case with the picture of the mountain and skier on the suspect's van--they simply removed the sign off their van after they left the neighborhood with Cherrie. The 2020 interview with Cherrie's school/neighborhood friends and her mother is heartwarming--so many people still grieving for her...even the detective now assigned to finding what happened to Cherrie started to cry in the video.

Cherrie Mahan — And Then They Were Gone

In 1985, a bright, spunky 8-year-old girl got off the bus in Butler County, Pennsylvania. She chatted with her friends until they all went their separate ways. Cherrie Mahan only had to walk around the corner and go up her 150-foot driveway to make it home where her parents were waiting for her. But

www.andthentheyweregone.com