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

Not sure why PSP isn't doing more. Searching more areas. If the tower Rd property hasn't been searched, that's a huge miss. Although, if you bury a body, I'm sure you aren't going to sell that property. Or you are going to move it so there isn't any evidence. I wonder if they have any hunting camps or anything.
I too am dumbfounded by the lack of efforts from PSP
 
I too am dumbfounded by the lack of efforts from PSP
Same here. If you are genuinely trying to find Cherrie, more needs to be done. With all of the ground penetrating radar technology, it just needs to be prioritized. It's almost like they are "sure" PSP knows who did it, but can't do anything else. But if you just start digging and actually looking for Cherrie, maybe people would get talking and some pressure can actually be put on.
 
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The Pennsylvania State Police are still investigating the case and are offering a $5,000 reward for information. They encourage the public to come forward with any tips that could lead to an arrest or recovery.

In 2000, authorities released an age-progressed photo of Mahan, but no new evidence surfaced. In 2018, a letter surfaced claiming to reveal details about her murder, but its credibility remains uncertain
 
@Bg243987 - I loved seeing all the people that showed up for Cherrie's Vigil. I am hoping that this will get PSP to get moving on the leads that they have received. Thank you so much for doing this for Cherrie and Janice!

Community grapples with 40th anniversary of girl’s disappearance​

Matthew Glover Eagle Staff Writer
February 23, 2025 Last Updated: February 23, 2025 08:41 AM Local News


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Hundreds turned out Saturday evening to Saxonburg VFW for a vigil recognizing 40 years since 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan’s disappearance about 100 yards from her Winfield Township home.

Mahan went missing around 4 p.m. Feb. 22, 1985, after getting off the school bus near Cornplanter Road. Mahan’s mother, Janice McKinney, holds a vigil every year at Cornplanter Road but moved this year’s for the 40-year milestone.


“I decided to do it here because I want to thank everybody,” McKinney said. “It’s not just about looking for Cherrie. It’s about thanking everybody for being there with me for these 40 years.

“If we get one lead, I’ll be happy,” she said.

Corporal Max DeLuca, who had been the lead investigator on the case for about seven years, said he received about five tips in the vigil’s first hour, which have been a mix of verifiable data and random alleged sightings.

“People really feel for this community,” he said. “The idea outcome would be A, that Cherrie is found, and B, that whoever is responsible is brought to justice.”

Tips for the case start to pick up each year around the anniversary. DeLuca said tips have started to come in, but he thinks the volume will increase after the vigil.


It's a good thing he had two other officers who investigated the case at the vigil to work with. Even at the vigil, the officers were taking descriptions and matching them on their phones to vehicle databases.

Glenn Hall had the case from 1985 until his retirement in 1993. He said it got frustrating to see the case file increase to 4,000 pages before it could be solved. Hall said he followed up on too many tips to count working with police departments in multiple states during his time with the case.

Hall, who grew up in Butler County, acknowledged a change in parents since the case opened. He said in the 1980s, parents didn’t take their kids to and from the bus stop like is seen today.

Trooper Christopher Walsh took the case after Hall for two years until he was promoted to corporal. He said police have Mahan’s fingerprints as a young girl, and he received tips of alleged sightings in Pittsburgh and was able to match the fingerprints to conclude the woman wasn’t Mahan.

“Believe it or not, we actually have Cherrie’s fingerprints only because she was fingerprinted in elementary school,” he said.


Police used her fingerprints multiple times last year to debunk Mahan impersonators in Facebook and in voicemails.

“Everyone that has looked at the case, I’m sure they have a little bit different idea of what could have happened and what did happen,” DeLuca said.

Other groups such as psychics and missing persons advocates also attended the vigil and offered tips to police. Angels of Cherrie Mahan, an advocacy group, said it receives tips daily through its “Find Cherrie Mahan” Facebook and Instagram pages and passes each one along to police. Suzanne and Jean Vincent, sisters who claim to be psychic, said they also receive frequent tips and forward them to police with the goal of bringing Janice closure.

“I know Cherrie is going to be found. I just don’t know when.” Janice McKinney




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1740405334850.png
 
@Bg243987 - I loved seeing all the people that showed up for Cherrie's Vigil. I am hoping that this will get PSP to get moving on the leads that they have received. Thank you so much for doing this for Cherrie and Janice!

Community grapples with 40th anniversary of girl’s disappearance​

Matthew Glover Eagle Staff Writer
February 23, 2025 Last Updated: February 23, 2025 08:41 AM Local News


View attachment 566072
Hundreds turned out Saturday evening to Saxonburg VFW for a vigil recognizing 40 years since 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan’s disappearance about 100 yards from her Winfield Township home.

Mahan went missing around 4 p.m. Feb. 22, 1985, after getting off the school bus near Cornplanter Road. Mahan’s mother, Janice McKinney, holds a vigil every year at Cornplanter Road but moved this year’s for the 40-year milestone.


“I decided to do it here because I want to thank everybody,” McKinney said. “It’s not just about looking for Cherrie. It’s about thanking everybody for being there with me for these 40 years.

“If we get one lead, I’ll be happy,” she said.

Corporal Max DeLuca, who had been the lead investigator on the case for about seven years, said he received about five tips in the vigil’s first hour, which have been a mix of verifiable data and random alleged sightings.

“People really feel for this community,” he said. “The idea outcome would be A, that Cherrie is found, and B, that whoever is responsible is brought to justice.”

Tips for the case start to pick up each year around the anniversary. DeLuca said tips have started to come in, but he thinks the volume will increase after the vigil.


It's a good thing he had two other officers who investigated the case at the vigil to work with. Even at the vigil, the officers were taking descriptions and matching them on their phones to vehicle databases.

Glenn Hall had the case from 1985 until his retirement in 1993. He said it got frustrating to see the case file increase to 4,000 pages before it could be solved. Hall said he followed up on too many tips to count working with police departments in multiple states during his time with the case.

Hall, who grew up in Butler County, acknowledged a change in parents since the case opened. He said in the 1980s, parents didn’t take their kids to and from the bus stop like is seen today.

Trooper Christopher Walsh took the case after Hall for two years until he was promoted to corporal. He said police have Mahan’s fingerprints as a young girl, and he received tips of alleged sightings in Pittsburgh and was able to match the fingerprints to conclude the woman wasn’t Mahan.

“Believe it or not, we actually have Cherrie’s fingerprints only because she was fingerprinted in elementary school,” he said.


Police used her fingerprints multiple times last year to debunk Mahan impersonators in Facebook and in voicemails.

“Everyone that has looked at the case, I’m sure they have a little bit different idea of what could have happened and what did happen,” DeLuca said.

Other groups such as psychics and missing persons advocates also attended the vigil and offered tips to police. Angels of Cherrie Mahan, an advocacy group, said it receives tips daily through its “Find Cherrie Mahan” Facebook and Instagram pages and passes each one along to police. Suzanne and Jean Vincent, sisters who claim to be psychic, said they also receive frequent tips and forward them to police with the goal of bringing Janice closure.

“I know Cherrie is going to be found. I just don’t know when.” Janice McKinney




View attachment 566073

View attachment 566074
It was an incredible event. Here’s to answers for Janice in 2025!
 
Facebook chatter today about needing cadaver dogs and radar to follow up on new tips. Someone is naming KDKA and WPXI both as having stories on it, yet nothing can be found.

The lonely liars club strikes again?
 
Cadaver dogs would definitely be a solid step in the right direction. Even if they don't uncover Cherrie, it's good to keep people talking. Our goal should be to keep Cherrie on people's minds throughout the year. Not just on anniversaries.
 
Facebook chatter today about needing cadaver dogs and radar to follow up on new tips. Someone is naming KDKA and WPXI both as having stories on it, yet nothing can be found.

The lonely liars club strikes again?
One of those was me. I was it on KDKA at noon yesterday. I was so excited to see it on the news, I was clapping and my coworkers just shook their heads at me. A lot of them know how much Cherrie's case means to me, so I do know they deep down understand.
 
One of those was me. I was it on KDKA at noon yesterday. I was so excited to see it on the news, I was clapping and my coworkers just shook their heads at me. A lot of them know how much Cherrie's case means to me, so I do know they deep down understand

One of those was me. I was it on KDKA at noon yesterday. I was so excited to see it on the news, I was clapping and my coworkers just shook their heads at me. A lot of them know how much Cherrie's case means to me, so I do know they deep down understand.
We have received numerous tips since the event. Many in which are pointing us in a direction we believe needs searched.
 

Video at link


The family of Cherrie Mahan is seeking help from the public as they chase a new tip, 40 years after the 8-year-old disappeared when she got off her school bus in Winfield Township.

"I would never wish this upon anybody to have to deal with this. 40 years of not knowing is a killer," said Janice McKinney, Cherrie's mother.

A 26-acre property could hold the key to solving the 40-year-old mystery, one that McKinney can't take her mind off of.

"Not knowing is horrible," she said. "It's excruciating. Every single day, I get killed a little but more than by not knowing."

McKinney hasn't given up hope of finding her daughter, dead or alive.

I have got to the point in my life where I physically, mentally, just can't do this anymore," she said.

That's why she has gotten help from a group called "Cherrie's Angels," and now they've got a call out for help.

"We're asking for somebody to come with the dogs, with this equipment, and help us," she said.

McKinney said they want to focus on a two-to-three-acre section of the property that she said police never looked at, and it's across the street from where Cherrie's grandparents lived.


"I don't even think that this area was thought about," she said. "Back in the early days when Cherrie was kidnapped, because I don't think these people were on anybody's radar until recently."

She believes that someone molested her daughter and that is related to her disappearance.

"We believe that there are people out there who truly want to help," McKinney said.

She has received a lot of tips over the years, but this one about looking at this property just felt different.

"I am truly hopeful that this could put an end to my not knowing, I'd be happy with a bag of bones because this is just something that people don't understand how hard this is," she said.

They're praying that the property will mark the end of the story.

McKinney said the current property owners are cooperating, and in speaking with the owners, they said they just have to help find Cherrie.
 
I too am dumbfounded by the lack of efforts from PSP
One of my favorite true crime figures, former detective Derrick Levasseur, always says that when authorities have had decades to solve a case and don't, there should be some sort of recourse to have it opened up to be solved through other avenues. They had their chance. Idk what state police know, but the number of people who say they don't even get a call back for a tip tells me they aren't really investigating it unless something huge falls in their laps. I'm sure that, behind the scenes, they've investigated so many leads that look even more promising than this neighbor family, and it's probably good that the public doesn't see that and hop on bandwagons. There is the very real possibility that the brothers and father are terrible people who simply have nothing to do with this. It looks like it's the answer because it's the only option we know of.
 
I'm sure the son has been on the radar of the PSP. I just find it tough to fathom that a 24 year old could pull that off with no help and keep his mouth shut for all of these years. I know people have wondered if the skiier van was even involved. He could have been in the blue car I suppose that was at the scene. Or maybe him and the dad both. Was Cherrie being babysat by this family? I know they lived near Cherrie's grandma.

I never felt like this was done by a local pedo until last year. The newspaper article mentioned that Cherrie felt like she was being watched in the window last anniversary. So, that would obviously lean towards a local pedo. But Cherrie was so young and could have seen things as well at that age. I'm sure we all did.

The bio dad and the people he associated with always seemed more plausible to me. A coordinated effort using a van that they could easily discard. Or the blue car. Or both.
The rumors were that it was he AND his brother, not just him. The brother is dead. I don't see the bio dad of Cherrie being a factor since this was likely a crime of opportunity. After all, Cherrie wasn't regularly alone, and this wasn't the type of road someone would hang out on unnoticed day after day until they got the chance. Honestly, being raped is so traumatic, I wouldn't blame Cherrie's mother for feeling like her rapist was someone who was more powerful than he actually was. He is probably just a 🤬🤬🤬 nobody who had nothing to do with this. It was, however, a possible route back to where her grandmother (and the neighbors) lived.
 
The rumors were that it was he AND his brother, not just him. The brother is dead. I don't see the bio dad of Cherrie being a factor since this was likely a crime of opportunity. After all, Cherrie wasn't regularly alone, and this wasn't the type of road someone would hang out on unnoticed day after day until they got the chance. Honestly, being raped is so traumatic, I wouldn't blame Cherrie's mother for feeling like her rapist was someone who was more powerful than he actually was. He is probably just a 🤬🤬🤬 nobody who had nothing to do with this. It was, however, a possible route back to where her grandmother (and the neighbors) lived.
Yes. I've heard this as well. The new facebook group that was created with Janice's permission is doing great work currently. People are continuing to talk and not just on the anniversary. Here's hoping to continued progress towards bringing justice!
 
Just passing through to say this case has always weighed so heavy on my heart. I’m a local, though I have no personal connection to Cherrie’s family/life. I was born about ten years after her disappearance. I’ve driven past her road/on her road tons of times in my life and every single time I’m in the area I think of her. Hoping some year, some day, answers are found and Cherrie gets the peace she deserves for her sake and her mothers sake as well. I cannot fathom what her mother has been through all these years.
 
He very much lives by the "if you're not a real detective you don't know anything and your opinion doesn't matter" mindset so I can't imagine he's too well liked around here.
 
Lets hope the suspect they have narrowed down does talk! Let 2025 be the year that Cherrie's mother Janice has some answers and closure.



Private investigator to offer $100K reward in Cherrie Mahan case​


A private investigator plans to offer a $100,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the discovery of Cherrie Mahan, who vanished 40 years ago from a school bus stop in Winfield.

Steve Ridge, an Iowa-based private eye, took on Cherrie’s case pro-bono nearly three months ago. Backed by a small fortune from when he was an executive at media research firm Magid, he has posted $100,000 and $50,000 rewards in the disappearances of Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit and Kansas mother Angela Green, respectively.

Now, he’s dangling cash in the search for Cherrie.

Ridge will host a news conference Tuesday in Butler, where he plans to announce a $100,000 reward for the location and positive identification of the girl’s remains.

“I have found that rewards can be a very effective incentive,” Ridge said.

Though no one has ever claimed his rewards, they tend to generate new leads, he said. And Ridge brings more than money to the table. His investigative chops, honed by years as a broadcast news reporter, helped unearth new information in the Huisentruit case.

In late March, Ridge and his attorneys persuaded a judge to partly unseal a 2017 search warrant connected to her disappearance, including GPS data from trackers placed on two vehicles owned by a person of interest, according to a Mason City Globe Gazette news story.

The $100,000 offer in that case will expire June 27. He doesn’t expect anyone to come forward at this point, which is part of why he has decided to get involved in the hunt for Cherrie.

Green’s case is more fluid, in his view.

“I’m still optimistic that somebody is going to claim that reward,” he said.

Remains make a successful prosecution far more likely, according to Ridge. Such discoveries also allow families to have proper funerals, and “perhaps that’s more important than seeing someone go to prison,” he added.

Ridge’s reward offer isn’t the first made in Cherrie’s case, though it is the largest.

State police have long promised $5,000 for information that helps find Cherrie or arrest her captor.

A $50,000 reward funded through private donations also was posted shortly after her vanishing. Cherrie’s mother, Janice McKinney, gave the money to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children after her daughter was declared legally dead in 1998.

“Money was not an issue then, and it didn’t bring anybody out,” McKinney said.

Still, she’s grateful for the help, not just from Ridge.

Cherrie’s Angels, a group started last year by Bailey Gizienski and Alyssa Dietz, both of Butler, has injected energy into the case. They’re working to obtain cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar, and keeping the public informed via Find Cherrie Mahan, a Facebook page run with McKinney’s blessing.

“We’re still looking for that last puzzle piece,” Gizienski said. “We have so much hope.”

The search for answers on how the third grade student at Winfield Elementary School disappeared about 100 yards from her home on Feb. 22, 1985, was further bolstered by a wave of tips that followed an event marking the 40th anniversary.

State police are on the case, too.

Cpl. Max DeLuca, the lead investigator in Cherrie’s case since the 2010s, emphasized law enforcement has no direct role in what Ridge is doing. He added Ridge is not licensed as a private investigator in Pennsylvania, meaning he cannot access case files.

“He would pretty much be acting as a citizen,” DeLuca said.

Like McKinney, DeLuca is skeptical the sum, as staggering as it is, could motivate the right person to speak up.

“I’ve worked on a lot more cases that have been solved through tips and leads that came in that weren’t monetary-based,” he said.

State police do not have a prime suspect or specific areas where they believe Cherrie might be buried.

But after decades of dead ends, McKinney, 64, and a group of friends believe the truth is finally coming into focus.

Their hunches hardened Friday after Ken Mains, another private investigator, met with them in Winfield and came to similar conclusions as them: Cherrie was likely abducted by someone she knew, sexually abused and killed.

“I believe she was targeted,” Mains said in a subsequent YouTube video.

His theory focuses on a blue compact car observed at the bus stop, rather than a van with a mural of a skier that absorbed much investigative energy over the years.

Information that emerged from the anniversary event also led McKinney to believe her daughter was sexually abused by her eventual captor before she was taken.

McKinney has the suspect narrowed down to an incarcerated man who has previously spoken with Cpl. DeLuca.

She recently sent him a letter. He replied that he’s willing to meet and “has a lot to tell” her, according to McKinney.

“I just hope it’s what I want to hear, not what he thinks I should hear,” she said.
 

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