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

[chaddylex]

Notice of Privacy

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Blue backpack flagged by private eye as key to solving Cherrie Mahan's disappearance​

https://triblive.com/author/jack-troy/
Jack Troy | Tuesday, May 6, 2025 5:46 p.m.
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Jack Troy | TribLive

Private investigator Steve Ridge (right) comforts Cherrie Mahan’s mother, Janice McKinney (left), at a Tuesday press conference.​

Jack Troy | TribLive

From left, Alyssa Dietz, Janice McKinney, Steve Ridge, Bailey Gizienski and Christina Gizienski at a press conference Tuesday regarding developments in the disappearance of Cherrie Mahan on Tuesday.​

Submitted

Cherrie Mahan’s third grade photo. She was 8 years old at the time of her kidnapping.​

Details
Submit a tip
Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Cherrie Mahan is asked to contact state police at the Butler barracks at 724-284-8100 or call PSP Tips toll free at 1-800-4PA-TIPS. Callers with information that helps find Cherrie or arrest her captor could earn a $5,000 reward.
Tips may also be submitted through a link posted to the Find Cherrie Mahan Facebook page.
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A private investigator claims a blue backpack carried by Cherrie Mahan at the time of her disappearance 40 years ago from a Winfield school bus stop could be key to cracking the case.

“I am convinced through some fairly recent testimony and input that Cherrie’s book bag was very likely submerged in a pond in an area very near her grandmother’s home,” said Iowa-based private eye Steve Ridge at a Tuesday news conference in Summit Township. “That’s one hell of a lead.”

The 8-year-old’s bag has not been a major focus for investigators, at least publicly.

Cherrie’s mother, Janice McKinney, and a team of friends known as Cherrie’s Angles previously identified a 26-acre parcel across from where the girl’s grandmother lived in Clinton Township as an area of interest.

Ridge, who is licensed as a private investigator in other states but not in Pennsylvania, said its possible the bag is no longer in the pond. Rather than looking for the bag themselves, he urged the public to submit tips to him, Cherrie’s Angels or state police, who are leading the official investigation.

State police were invited to but not present at Tuesday’s event.

Cpl. Max DeLuca, the lead investigator in the case, declined to comment on the bag or its significance.

“I’ve looked into a lot of different things,” he said. “I’m not going to comment on specifically what we looked into.”

Since taking the case pro bono almost three months ago, Ridge has pored over public documents (he cannot access police files without a license), visited the site of Cherrie’s disappearance and put up a $100,000 reward for the location and positive identification of the girl’s remains.

In his experience, “a no body, circumstantial evidence case is just very hard to prove,” making the remains crucial to a conviction.

Ridge, who worked as a broadcast news reporter before amassing a small fortune as a media executive, has posted $100,000 and $50,000 rewards in the disappearances of Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit and Kansas mother Angela Green, respectively.

He also has contributed his skills as an investigator. In late March, Ridge and his attorneys persuaded a judge to unseal parts of a 2017 search warrant in the Huisentruit case, including GPS data for vehicles owned by a person of interest, according to a Mason City Globe Gazette news story.

Furthermore, he claims to be the only person who ever got the person of interest to discuss the case.

With help from assistants and interns, Ridge also uses artificial intelligence to extract patterns from interviews and other files, creating something of a digital “cork and yarn” evidence board.

Other technological advancements, like accessible genetic testing and social media, have helped progress dead-end cases in other parts of the country. In California, for instance, an AncestryDNA test led an elderly man to learn he was kidnapped in 1951.

In Cherrie’s case, McKinney and company have repeatedly asserted their belief she was abducted by someone she knew, sexually abused and killed. This theory has been endorsed by Ridge and Ken Mains, another private investigator who recently visited rural Winfield.

Mains has since posted two YouTube videos breaking down the case and directing attention to a blue compact car observed at the bus stop where Cherrie vanished on Feb. 22, 1985. He referred to a van with a mural of a skier, which was also seen in the area, as a “red herring.”

Those close to the case have hinted at knowing who did it.

On Tuesday, Cherrie’s Angels co-leader Bailey Gizienski gave the clearest picture yet of who that might be: a man imprisoned on child molestation charges.

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

“I don’t know how (Ridge has) narrowed his scope to one person,” DeLuca said.

McKinney, 64, who was visibly emotional throughout the news conference, emphasized the toll this case has taken on her over the years, even as recent developments have left her feeling closer to answers than ever.

But, she added, “I have never ever given up hope.”

Jack Troy is a TribLive reporter covering the Freeport Area and Kiski Area school districts and their communities. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in January 2024 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. He can be reached at [email protected].

 

[PGHJW]

Out of nowhere a blue back pack.

I hope the money lures some useful info out. He just sounds like someone who has the money to throw at the wall in the hopes that he can say "I solved this one!" Was the back pack info known to those inside all of this time and he paid to be able to dangle it?

 

[chaddylex]

Out of nowhere a blue back pack.

I hope the money lures some useful info out. He just sounds like someone who has the money to throw at the wall in the hopes that he can say "I solved this one!" Was the back pack info known to those inside all of this time and he paid to be able to dangle it?

This is the first I have EVER heard of the blue backpack also. I mean, they know a lot more than the public does, but why after 40 years is this a main thing?

I just hope whatever happens they just find out what happened to her.
So happy Cherrie has some angels advocating for her after all of these years.

 

[smile22]

bumping may this be the year cherrie is found comes home. it is time someone started talking

 

[PurpleEarth95]

I keep seeing the possible person responsible for her disappearance is person xyz or that people speculate it’s person xyz. Do we know their name, if they’re currently incarcerated or not, or how others have obtained that info? It seems to be a little tight lipped. Just curious.

 

[Brandunfoor4]

William Montgomery is a Registered Sex Offender thought by many in the area to be involved. He is listed on PA Megan’s Law website. He was convicted several different times starting in 1993 and is currently incarcerated.

At one point he lived across from Cherries grandparents on Tower Road - where she lived before the move to Cornplanter Road. His family still lives in the same area where they own several homes and a big piece of land.

Posting this info after reading the rules that state: [When circumstances warrant, such as in the case of a missing child, it is acceptable to research the sex offender registry to locate area RSO's and post their information, along with maps to show how close they live to the victim]

 

[chaddylex]

William Montgomery is a Registered Sex Offender thought by many in the area to be involved. He is listed on PA Megan’s Law website. He was convicted several different times starting in 1993 and is currently incarcerated.

At one point he lived across from Cherries grandparents on Tower Road - where she lived before the move to Cornplanter Road. His family still lives in the same area where they own several homes and a big piece of land.

Posting this info after reading the rules that state: [When circumstances warrant, such as in the case of a missing child, it is acceptable to research the sex offender registry to locate area RSO's and post their information, along with maps to show how close they live to the victim]

Look him up on Criminal Dockets - in Allegheny, Butler, Armstrong and I think Westmoreland Counties.. He has a long history of harming children. I know his name has been "floating" around for years, and I know they are getting closer to the truth.

 

[cyntho]

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.

Notice of Privacy

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.

Meet with WHO?? Will this guy meet with her or kill her??

 

[cyntho]

I think I found him

Found him?? Be careful!!!

 

[cyntho]

Meet with WHO?? Will this guy meet with her or kill her??

If a little girl goes missing and there is a pond in the area and family members are tied to the pond (or even worse - a sex offender), would they not have searched that pond at the immediate time she went missing? Back in 1985??

 

[EphemerallyAya]

Meet with WHO?? Will this guy meet with her or kill her??

It says incarcerated, so i'd assume this is a supervised visit

 

[PGHJW]

Too much Murder, She Wrotein' goin' on up in here.

 

[SassySquatch]

11 Investigates: Private investigator shares new information about Cherrie Mahan’s disappearance

He met with Cherrie’s mom, reviewed some of the evidence and offered a $100,000 reward of his own money for information that leads to her discovery.

www.wpxi.com

 

[pittsburghgirl]

11 Investigates: Private investigator shares new information about Cherrie Mahan’s disappearance

He met with Cherrie’s mom, reviewed some of the evidence and offered a $100,000 reward of his own money for information that leads to her discovery.

www.wpxi.com

I saw this tonight on local news and came to check if someone had added it.

In the other thread there's something written about a blue car. Logic says the kidnapper would use the van, especially if it's a "kidnapper special" without rear windows, but what if this guy used it as a decoy?

I pulled this observation from way earlier in the thread (2009, post #82 I think). Given the renewed interest in a blue car, I think this is an interesting thought. There was a lot of discussion back then about the van potentially being something that distracted from a more local solution. That's interesting because this new PI finds the blue car sighting to more likely be the pertinent vehicle.

 

[Gameman]

There is a local woman who has been desperately pointing the finger at the prisoner and his brother for years. She has made social media posts and claims to have reported it to the police only to be blown off. I imagine her husband is the tipster. It would be a shame if it ended up being the most obvious people and Cherrie's family went without answers, sometimes to their graves, because the police weren't doing the work. I imagine the "relatives" the prisoner is conveniently blaming are his deceased father and deceased brother. Nonetheless, it's wonderful that there is movement and attention on Cherrie outside of the anniversary news stories.

 

[Gameman]

I saw this tonight on local news and came to check if someone had added it.



I pulled this observation from way earlier in the thread (2009, post #82 I think). Given the renewed interest in a blue car, I think this is an interesting thought. There was a lot of discussion back then about the van potentially being something that distracted from a more local solution. That's interesting because this new PI finds the blue car sighting to more likely be the pertinent vehicle.

The woman who always has pointed the finger at the prisoner claimed he painted things like murals on automobiles for work and that his mother had a little blue car at the time. She has always claimed she or her husband confronted the prisoner about his mother having a matching car shortly after Cherrie's disappearance. This could be why the PI feels more certain now. She also recently mentioned these people had threatened her family in the past about all of the Cherrie stuff.

 

[PurpleEarth95]

Just cross posting from Facebook. Saw this posted on the Find Cherrie Mahan page. Thought I’d post it to be seen here as well. Especially for those without Facebook.

 

[chaddylex]

Happy 49th Birthday Cherrie! May this year bring you back to your mom!

 

[chaddylex]

Nebby | A podcast about Pittsburgh's history, mysteries, myths and misanthropes

www.nebbypittsburgh.com

New Podcast about Cherrie's disappearance.

 

[PGHJW]

Odd that she uses the name "Nebby" for her podcast. Rick Sebak used that for a series of half hour shows a few years ago. It definitely fits for a mystery podcast, I just wonder if WQED had anything to say about it.