Cherrie Mahan was 8 when she vanished near her Winfield Township home in Pennsylvania in 1985. Now, a woman has come forward 39 years later claiming to be Cherrie. She posted in a Facebook group called “Memories of Cherrie Mahan” last month.
A woman has come forward claiming to be Cherrie Mahan, who disappeared at a Pennsylvania bus stop in 1985 when she was eight years old, according to reports.
Cherrie vanished from the bus stop near her Winfield Township home in Butler County in 1985. Now, a woman has come forward 39 years later claiming to be Cherrie. She posted in a Facebook group called “Memories of Cherrie Mahan” last month, USA Today reported. Her comment was then forwarded to police.
"I talked to the police they are investigating this is very hard on me so please be aware I see everything," Cherrie's mother, Janice McKinney, wrote in the group.
The woman has since been banned from the Facebook group and her posts deleted, a group administrator wrote.
This is the fourth woman over the years to come forward claiming to be Cherrie, according to the New York Post.
“I truly believe she thought in her mind that she was Cherrie. It did not look anything like Cherrie at all," McKinney told the Butler Eagle.
Saying that every false claim connected to her daughter hurts her, McKinney said, “If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already blown it. People are mean, they are cruel, but this affects me really crazy. It’s gonna be 40 years since Cherrie’s been missing."
Pennsylvania State Police did not respond to Inside Edition Digital’s request for comment. Agency spokesperson Trooper Bertha Cazy told the Butler Eagle that they're investigating the woman's claim of being Cherrie but "they have not made contact with her from the contact information she provided."
The department is also working with an out-of-state agency to try to find the woman.
Cherrie was last seen getting off the bus at the stop at the bottom of her driveway just after 4 p.m. on Feb. 22, 1985.
Normally her mother would have been at the bus stop to meet Cherrie, but that day the little girl was going to walk the 200 feet to her home by herself. "I should have been there when Cherrie got off the school bus, and I wasn't," McKinney told CNN in 2011. "Four o'clock, the bus came, and we heard it. And she just never came up the driveway."
Though there was snow on the ground the day Cherrie disappeared, there were no footprints leading to her house, which investigators believe indicated she was picked up quickly. Children on Cherrie's school bus described a unique-lookin van parked behind the bus stop at the time, and authorities believe it could be a clue.
"A bright blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a mountain and a skier may be involved in her disappearance," says the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert McGraw told CNN in 2011 that he believed Cherrie was abducted by someone known to her.
"I believe Cherrie was abducted by someone she knows very well," McGraw said. "And I believe this person had the ability to basically lure Cherrie to their vehicle without her giving it a second thought prior to her disappearance."
Cherrie was last seen wearing a gray coat, blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers and beige boots. Anyone with information about Cherrie's case can call police at 724-284-8100, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at missingkids.org, or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS (8477) or p3tips.com.
Related Stories
