MO MO - Cheryl Scherer, 19, Scott City, 17 April 1979

[TheArtfulDetective]

Adding her to the list of similar Missouri disappearances (many of which are within a few hundred miles from Springfield):
MO - MO - Could These Abductions and Murders of Females Be Connected?

*04/17/1979 - Cheryl Anne Scherer abducted from her job at a gas station in Scott City, MO (265 miles from Springfield, MO). (Henry Lee Lucas -suspect)

06/17/1985 - Jackie Johns from Nixa, MO about 15 miles from Springfield was last seen in a convenience store parking lot and her body was found in Lake Springfield. (Death attributed to Gerald Carnahan).

03/11/1987 - Diana Braungardt abducted from a Venture parking lot in Festus, MO 200 miles (3 hours) from Springfield and never found. (No suspects)

08/02/1987 - Debbie L. Hall went missing from Carthage, MO, about 60 miles from Springfield. No info on her case.

01/19/1991 - Trudy Darby was abducted from a convenience store in Mack's Creek and murdered 60 miles from Springfield. (Jessie Rush and Marvin Chaney)

02/27/1991 - Cheryl Ann Kenney abducted from a convenience store in Nevada, MO 95 miles from Springfield and never found. (Jessie Rush and Marvin Chaney - suspects).

04/04/1991 - Angela Hammond was abducted from a parking lot in Clinton, MO and never found. (89 miles from Springfield). (Jessie Rush and Marvin Chaney - suspects).

06/07/1992 - The Springfield three presumably abducted from a house and never found. (Robert Craig Cox - suspect)

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

Anniversary of disappearance today.

 

[alb1on]

Given that she was just over the state boundary from Kentucky you wonder if she has been considered as an early victim of Harry Edward Greenwell - Harry Edward Greenwell - Wikipedia, recently identified as a serial killer in the 80s by forensic genealogy. Whilst he killed hotel clerks it does not seem a great stretch to think he would extend this to other lone females at commercial properties. The area is consistent with his activity and he was certainlyin Kentucky in the very early 80s and probably at the time of Cheryl's disappearance.
He may be unconnected but surely worth a look.

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

43 years later, Scherer family still searching for answers
Friday, April 15, 2022

Forty-three years after a Scott County woman went missing while working a day shift at self-service gas station, her family, law enforcement and community members continue to ask the question: What happened to Cheryl Anne Scherer?

“It’s one of the biggest mysteries in Southeast Missouri,” said Paul Dirnberger with Rhodes who was Scherer’s work supervisor at the time of her disappearance on Tuesday, April 17, 1979. “… It’s a blank for everyone. What could have possibly happened to her?”

On that particular day, Scherer, the 19-year-old daughter of Olevia “Libby” Scherer and the late Ray Scherer, went to work at Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own Station self-service gas station in Scott City, Missouri, like she had done over the last year. Around 11:20 a.m., she spoke with her mother by phone. Scherer and her mother talked about what was for supper and how Scherer was going to do some sewing when she got home.

Sometime shortly between 11:40 a.m. and 11:50 a.m., Scherer was apparently abducted during a possible robbery with $480 taken. Her purse, keys and car were left behind.

Continue reading: 43 years later, Scherer family still searching for answers

 

[chaddylex]

Cheryl's NamUs profile was modified today, 10/20/22.
She currently has 11 rule outs/exclusions

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

UP67534
05/19/1980
Pinal
AZ

UP14540
07/18/1979
Mississippi
MO
UP12683
06/06/2014
Newport News
VA

UP6661
02/03/1991
Stafford
VA

UP6279
12/18/1996
Fairfax
VA

UP4790
04/24/1981
Miami
OH

UP8425
09/30/1990
Washoe
NV

UP8642
03/30/2011
Fulton
GA

UP2512
06/07/1979
San Bernardino
CA

UP46
10/05/1980
Clark
NV

UP1879
11/05/1980
Rapides
LA

 

[IrisCarr]

I found a local newspaper article about Cheryl Anne Scherer's disappearance that lists some details I had never read before about potential killers:

Search continues for woman who vanished in 1979

By Samantha Kluesner and Emily Priddy SEMO News Service EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series on the 1979 disappearance of Cheryl Scherer. SCOTT CITY -- Cheryl Scherer's parents were relieved when her work schedule changed...

standard-democrat.com

 

[IrisCarr]

I found a local newspaper article about Cheryl Anne Scherer's disappearance that lists some details I had never read before about potential killers:

Search continues for woman who vanished in 1979

By Samantha Kluesner and Emily Priddy SEMO News Service EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series on the 1979 disappearance of Cheryl Scherer. SCOTT CITY -- Cheryl Scherer's parents were relieved when her work schedule changed...

standard-democrat.com

Here is another from a local news station with a photo of the station: Mother hopes missing daughter will be found 32 years later

This was more like Walmart's/Murphy's gas station in Jackson MO, where it is so small the worker is in a sort of booth and works a window when customers need to pay up. I grew up in Scott City and thought that calling it a store sounded odd, because I didn't remember it that way. I was living out of state when this happened, but remember it well. The town was so small and so safe, it was horrible to think that could happen. There is a Rhodes store there now, but back in 1979 it was too small to be called a store.

 

[TheArtfulDetective]

Anniversary of disappearance today.

 

[Betty P]

I found a local newspaper article about Cheryl Anne Scherer's disappearance that lists some details I had never read before about potential killers:

Search continues for woman who vanished in 1979

By Samantha Kluesner and Emily Priddy SEMO News Service EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second in a two-part series on the 1979 disappearance of Cheryl Scherer. SCOTT CITY -- Cheryl Scherer's parents were relieved when her work schedule changed...

standard-democrat.com

Some good information there:

• They consider it possible she was taken by someone local, but also think it may have been someone passing through on I- 55.
• The service station where she worked was a half mile from I - 55 and most business was with locals.
• There was an IGA grocery store next door. It was closed for the day due to a funeral. If the kidnapper was local, they would have known that.
• Family has provided DNA to a national database
• Gas station was self-service w/ a small building with a window where customers paid for gas. Customers usually didn't come inside.
• Henry Lee Lucas was interviewed. He was in SEMO at that time and recalled attacking a girl along I-55 between StL and Memphis, but said she didn't have red hair. LE dug at the location where he claimed they buried someone, but found nothing.
• She was working the 6 am to 2 pm shift. An off duty attendant saw her there at 11:30 am. When he returned a few minutes later, she was gone.
• Left her purse, makeup and car. $480 was missing from the cash register.
• Two witnesses driving by about the time Cheryl went missing saw a white compact Ford at the station's pumps. One man was inside the car and 2 men were standing outside it.

Google Maps street view of intersection of I-55 and Main St. The gas station where she worked was about 1/2 mile from there.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Older stories with more details

Unsolved cases: Cheryl Scherer

Scherer, a 19-year-old whose family lived on a farm in old Illmo, Mo., was abducted 30 years ago during an apparent robbery of the Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own-Service station where she worked on Main Street in Scott City. It was late morning on April 17, 1979, when Scherer was working, and had just...

www.semissourian.com

Dig offers no clues for 1979 cold case

Investigators in southeast Missouri dug for evidence last week hoping for clues in an unsolved crime from four decades ago, but once again, they came up empty.

www.arkansasonline.com

 

[Pennysmom1]

Five Girls Who Disappeared in the 1970s in Separate Incidents - HistoricalCrimeDetective.com

Lynne Schulze, Eileen Hynson, Judy Slyvester, Judy Martins, Cheryl Ann Scherer

www.historicalcrimedetective.com

1979 – Cheryl Ann Scherer, 19, – Scott City, Missouri

Nineteen-year-old Cheryl Ann Scherer was last seen working her shift at Rhoades Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own self-service gasoline station in Scott City, Missouri, on April 17, 1979. She disappeared from the station sometime between 11:40 and 11:50 a.m., leaving behind her purse, checkbook, and car with the keys still inside.

Approximately $480 was missing from the cash register. Authorities believe that Scherer was abducted by person(s) unknown after a robbery. There were no witnesses to her apparent kidnapping.

Serial killers Otis Toole and Henry Lee Lucas, who traveled together and separately across the United States in the 1970s and 1980s randomly killing people, told police that they kidnapped and killed a girl in the area around the time Scherer disappeared. Lucas was shown a photograph of Scherer and says she was not the girl he abducted, but police suspect she was because she was the only girl reported missing in the area at that time.

There was never enough evidence to charge Lucas and Toole in connection with Scherer’s case, though it was established that they were indeed in Scott City when she disappeared, along with Toole’s niece and nephew. Both Lucas and Toole have since died in prison. It should be noted that they each had a history of making confessions to crimes they did not commit.

Another suspect considered and then ruled out is confessed serial-killer Timothy Krajcir who was mentioned in this 2009 article.

Scherer was considered an excellent employee; she had been working at the station for about a year prior to her abduction, and always arrived to work on time. She resided in Illmo, Missouri, and was working to put herself through college. She paid her automobile insurance before her disappearance and it is not believed that she staged the robbery in any way. Scherer’s disappearance remains unsolved.

Since her disappearance in 1979, Scherer’s case has not been forgotten and there is frequent news coverage about her disappearance, as well as remembrance ceremonies celebrating her life.

Read More Below Photo:


Rhoades Pump UR Own Gas Station in Scott City, Missouri
Description: Cheryl was also a tiny girl, standing only five-feet, or five-feet one-inch tall, and weighed 100 pounds. She had red hair and blue eyes. She had a mole about one-half inch above her belly button, and a brown birthmark between her should blades.

 

[spartanx]

I have the impression that it is not even known with certainty that she was kidnapped...
That said, I wonder to what extent the closing of the supermarket next door was investigated (on a Tuesday, which is quite strange, Monday would have been more plausible)... Something to do with that would have been more plausible than the passing of a random person... I think Henry Lee Lucas is involved...
either way
rest in peace

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Cheryl Anne Scherer – The Charley Project

 

[SHSASUsleuth23]

Bumping for Cheryl and family. 45th Anniversary of the disappearance is coming up on April 17, 2024, in a remembrance service. I plan on attending it if at all possible.

 

[Pennysmom1]

April 16, 2024

Hope still alive 45 years after Cheryl Anne Scherer’s disappearance

“I think every minute you just kept thinking maybe we would get that phone call,” Diane said.

www.kfvs12.com

April 17, 2024

Keeping hope alive: Siblings remember missing woman 45 years later - KBSI Fox 23 Cape Girardeau News | Paducah News

SCOTT CITY, Mo. (KBSI) – Keeping hope alive: Wednesday, April 17 marks 45 years since Cheryl Anne Scherer vanished from a gas station in Scott City,

www.kbsi23.com

Cheryl Scherer – CUE – Community United Effort

ncmissingpersons.org

July 1, 2024

Missouri state budget sets aside $1.5M for advanced DNA testing of backlog of unidentified bodies

State Rep. Tricia Byrnes said at the time they were pushing for this legislation, there were 120 unidentified bodies and remains in Missouri.

www.ksdk.com

<<Cheryl's story is one that shocked and pushed legislators like State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, (R)-Wentzville, to put $1.5 million in the state budget for advanced DNA testing of unidentified bodies and remains.

“Not only does it create closure for families, but this is also a key to unsolved mysteries that have plagued communities and law enforcement agencies. And it keeps our community safer when we can get some of these perpetrators off the streets.

Byrnes said at the time they were pushing for this legislation, there were 120 unidentified bodies and remains in Missouri.>>

 

[mlhenn]

Cheryl Anne Scherer – The Charley Project

Last updated April 16, 2025; pictures added, details of disappearance updated.

 

[Ssschu]

I had never heard of this case until this new Dateline Cold Case Spotlight story.

Family hopeful to find missing Missouri teen Cheryl Scherer 46 years later, “We just want her”

The 19-year-old vanished during her shift at the Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own gas station on April 17, 1979.

www.nbcnews.com