PA-CHERRIE ANN MAHAN Missing: Feb 22, 1985 Cabot

[Richard]

CHERRIE ANN MAHAN Missing: Feb 22, 1985 Cabot, PA

CHERRIE ANN MAHAN
DOB: Aug 14, 1976
Missing: Feb 22, 1985
Age at time: 8
Age Now: 28
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 4'2" (127 cm)
Weight: 68 lbs (31 kg)
She has pierced ears
Missing From: CABOT (near PITTSBURGH), PA, United States
Non-Family Abduction

Cherie was last seen getting off the school bus about 100 yards from home on 22 February 1985. At exactly 4:05 PM she turned and waved good-bye to three school mates who had gotten off the bus with her. They waved back and she circled around the bus so that she could get to her driveway. She never made it up the driveway to her house.
One mother was parked in front of the bus, waiting to pick up her child. She happened to look up and see Cherrie in the rearview mirror. She watched Cherrie take a second to straighten her clothing as she got off the bus.
She adjusted her brown Cabbage Patch earmuffs decorated woth long hair, rearranged her blue book bag, which had two straps with a cream-colored top and a blue and red heart. When Cherrie walked out of view, she was wearing a gray coat over a blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, and ankle high beige boots that her mother had helped her put on that morning.
At that moment, the watching mother got a brief glimpse of a dark green or blue van. On the side of the van was a painting of a large snow-capped mountain. In the middle of the picture was the figure of a skier in a red and yellow ski outfit racing down teh mountain. The mother noticed that the driver of the van was also wearing ski clothes.
Police files indicate that a bright blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a mountain and a skier may be involved in her disappearance.

Pennsylvania State Police - Missing Persons Unit

link:
http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=601805&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

[Trino]

It is so unreal that a young girl could disappear so fast within sight of her parent. She could have had her name changed and could have been raised by someone else, but the fact that a ski/mountain scene was on the van seems more of a guy thing. What about Ted Bundy? Did he ever go after kids? As I recall, he killed many young women, some that he had forgotten about.

It's been nearly 20 years since this child disappeared. Just hope that there is someone out there with a conscience.

[Richard]

Actually the mother who last saw Cherrie was the mother of one of the other children who had ridden the bus with her. Cherrie's own mother was waiting for her at the house, just up the driveway. She heard the bus arrive and then leave, and was expecting Cherrie to walk in the door, but she never did.
Ted Bundy by this time was incarcerated in Florida awaiting a date with the electric chair. Most of his victims were young women in their late teens and early 20's. But his last victim was a little girl named Kimberly Leech, who was only 12 years old.

[goneinasecond]

I was born and raised near where this girl went missing. We are the same age and I still remember this when I was a kid. This still haunts me to this day. I hope she isn't forgotton. Here a bump for Cherrie.

[tuppence]

The van sounds so unusual it seems crazy that it was never identified - of course, I'm sure the owner painted it over. Still someone out there must have been familiar with the van. It seems likely it was from out of town.

[Richard]

February 22nd (a Tuesday) will be the 20th anniversary of this little girl's disappearance. Think of her on that day. I wonder if any newspapers or TV stations will review her story.

[goneinasecond]

February 22nd (a Tuesday) will be the 20th anniversary of this little girl's disappearance. Think of her on that day. I wonder if any newspapers or TV stations will review her story.

If I knew how to bring it to their attention I would gladly do so.

It seems that someone out there in the world would remember such an usual van. I wonder if this case was on the news nationally back then if someone would of seen this van and she would of been found.

She's in my thoughts in prayers.

[Richard]

The van sounds so unusual it seems crazy that it was never identified - of course, I'm sure the owner painted it over. Still someone out there must have been familiar with the van. It seems likely it was from out of town.

The Pennsylvania State Police made composite sketches of the Van seen near the site of Cherrie's disappearance. The van appears to be a 1974-76 Dodge cargo van, dark green or blue in color, which was somewhat "converted" with a small porthole type window in the rear side. A snowy mountain scape was painted on the side. Just forward of the rear tire (left side shown) is a painting of a skiier in red and yellow clothing racing downhill. The watching mother stated that the driver was also wearing ski clothing.

[goneinasecond]

bumping for Cherrie

seen her on the news this morning. I hope that my email to the local stations helped in some way.

its been 20 yrs tommorrow

[meggilyweggily]

The Pennsylvania State Police made composite sketches of the Van seen near the site of Cherrie's disappearance.
I have sketches of the van here: http://www.charleyproject.org/images/m/mahanvan.jpg and http://www.charleyproject.org/images/m/mahanvan2.jpg

[Richard]

By JOE MANDAK
The Associated Press
(http://javascript<img%20src=&quot;images/smilies/redface.gif&quot;%20border=&quot;0&quot;%20alt=&quot;&quot;%20title=&quot;Embarr assment&quot;%20smilieid=&quot;3&quot;%20class=&quot;inlineimg&quot;%20/>pen_mw_window_new('http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/showImage.cfm?id=130811', 'ShowImage', 'height=500,width=600,left=100,top=100,screenx=100 ,screeny=100,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes');)

PITTSBURGH - The nation deals with its missing children differently since 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan stepped off a school bus 20 years ago, never to be seen again.

Cherrie was the first of about 1,200 missing children who have been pictured on postcards now mailed to millions of homes with advertising circulars. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, then in its infancy, has since become part of the national crime-fighting establishment. And Amber Alerts are a part of the national vocabulary.

That progress - and the belief that somehow, somewhere, Cherrie is OK - is what keeps Cherri's mother going these days.

"I don't know that I will ever accept it," said Janice McKinney, 44, of her daughter's abduction on Feb. 22, 1985. "It's just that the good Lord gave me enough faith to know that he's protecting her and ... that someday I will know" what happened to her.

State police have few new leads in Cherrie's disappearance from Winfield Township, a rural community about 20 miles north of Pittsburgh.

"We like to try to get the information out, back into the public's mind on the anniversary," said Trooper Jonathan Bayer. "Hopefully, it might jar people's mind about every little bit of information they might think is insignificant, but is not."

In southwestern Pennsylvania, even perfect strangers know the basics of Cherrie's story, which is rehashed every five years or so in newspapers and on TV news.

Cherrie, a third grader, got off her school bus just after 4 p.m. The driver of a car saw her get off the bus and saw a blue or green van with a distinctive paint scheme nearby.

Because it was a nice day, Cherrie's stepfather, LeRoy McKinney, told police he had let her walk a short distance home after he heard the bus. When she didn't show up 10 minutes later, he said he went to the bus stop and saw tire prints - but no Cherrie.

Bayer said the latest lead in the case came from someone who contacted the missing children's center, claiming to know who may have owned a van like that at the time. Police were running down that information Monday; many similar leads in the past have turned into dead ends.

In the meantime, police and other agencies try to keep the case - and Cherrie's face - in the public eye.

Many Americans have never heard of Advo Inc. But they know all about the white postcards the Windsor, Conn.-company sends out along with advertising circulars to some 85 million homes in its partnership with the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Cherrie was the first child pictured on one of the company's "Have You Seen Me?" cards, which have reunited 136 children with their families.

"We were honored by the Smithsonian Institution (at its U.S. Postal Museum) a year ago last October and Cherrie Mahan's mom came because she's so sold on our program," said Advo spokeswoman Mary Lou Dlugolenski. "To have her be there to recognize our program, and yet Cherrie is still out there missing, of course it tugs at the heart strings."

Cherrie's grandmother, Shirley Mahan, 77, is the tax collector in nearby Clinton Township and plans to retire after her current term. She didn't plan to run again before Cherrie disappeared, but is in her seventh term because she says the work has kept her mind off of Cherrie. When she's not collecting taxes, she makes dish towels that she gives away as gifts - also to help keep her mind off Cherrie.

"I would just dearly like to know if she's alive or dead," Mahan said....

February 22, 2005 5:27 AM

Link:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-02222005-453686.html (http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/1-02222005-453686.html)

[shadowangel]

Time to ask for help, 'specially from those of you into internet research. A few years ago, I ran across Cherrie's case on the MPCCN website. When I read the description of the van, the bells and whistles starting going off...At the time, I was checking out a lot of sites dedicated to the "urban exploration" (teens and twenty-somethings who take pictures of old, abandoned buildings) of NJ. On one of those sites, I had seen an abandoned van VERY similar to the one described. It was blue or blue-green, had a mural on the side, and had been abandoned for a while. It was found near an abandoned factory, or warehouse...I strted searching the sites again but never found the pic. By then, MPCCN had shut down and I could not find the young girl's name or story. While checking into missing/unidentified females near I-80 for another thread, I came across Cherrie's story on the Doe Network. If anyone cares to help, the site was similar to sites such as Lost Destinations, or The Unquiet Tomb...There are several sites such as these, and they have a LOT of pics...I would just like to find the pic and put my mind at ease....

[gagesmom314]

The Unquiet Tomb has been checked and nothing was found as far as a van was concerned. Some really cool pictures though!!

[Richard]

Customized Vans were very popular throughout the 1970's and into the early 1980's. There is a magazine dedidcated to Custom Trucks (that might be the title, but I do not recall for certain) which depicted a lot of customized vans from that era. If anyone has access to a collection to that magazine, Perhaps that particular custom paint job - or one like it might be seen.

[CaliKid]

I live in So. California. At the time Cherrie went missing, it seemed every other van on the roads had some kind of mural painted on its side.

[shadowangel]

Cabot is just north of Pittsburgh, and I was born and raised in WV not far from there-a van like that should have stood out. Not all that common (the Bigfoot 4x4 would have been more at home). My first thought after reading the thread on Cherrie was the really popular ski areas in north WV like Canaan Valley and Snowshoe.
I don't know if the van I saw has ANYTHING to do with Cherrie, but when I saw it on the website I thought it was so odd that the van was on a website dedicated to abandoned buildings
Unfortunately, the town is easily accessible by I-79 and I-80, anyone could have hit one of those highways and been far south or in NJ/NY in a matter of hours
I have some of the webmasters of the more popular UE sites looking for me, too

[AeroFanRW]

http://www.insidebutlercounty.com/index.php?t=news_detail&id=16567


Cherie, we are all still thinking of you.

[Usher737]

Have you seen Cherrie Mahan?

Their stories are eerily similar, but only one, so far, has a happy ending.

When Ben Ownby disappeared in Missouri last week, Janice McKinney, a Pennsylvania woman, shed some tears at the thought of what he and his family must have been going through. Janice, after all, can relate. Her daughter, then 8-year-old Cherrie Mahan, was kidnapped more than two decades ago after getting off her school bus, just like Ben Ownby.

Cherrie, who now would be 30 years old, hasn't been seen since.

Like in Ben's case, there was a witness who saw a vehicle. A student from Cherrie's bus described a blue van with a snowcapped mountain and a skier painted on the side of it. Investigators never found the van. Janice McKinney lives with terrible guilt. It was the first time she hadn't picked up her daughter at the bus stop. She had given her permission to walk the 300 feet from the bus to her driveway.

Next month marks the 22nd anniversary of Cherrie's disappearance. She's happy that William Ben Ownby and another young boy, Shawn Hornbeck, were found. Janice told me it gives her hope that one day she'll have her little girl back too. "Twenty-two years later, I'm still searching for any kind of answer," she said.

As it turns out, Cherrie was the little girl who helped put a real face on missing kids. Hers was the first to appear on those "Have you seen me?" fliers you get in your mailbox.

This was posted today on Anderson Cooper Blog on CNN.com

[Richard]

A new photo of Cherrie has been posted on the Doenetwork. It can be seen on the link below the current Doenetwork file text.


-----------------------------------------------
Cherrie Ann Mahan
Missing since February 22, 1985 from Cabot, Butler County, Pennsylvania.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction
Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: August 14, 1976
Age at Time of Disappearance: 8 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 4'2; 68 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; hazel eyes.
Marks, Scars: She has pierced ears. She has a dog bite scar on her left arm. The same arm was previously broken below her left shoulder; the injury had healed by the time of her disappearance.
Clothing: She was last seen wearing a gray coat; denim skirt; blue leg warmers; and beige boots.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Mahan was last seen exiting the bus from her elementary school approximately 100 yards from her family's home in Cabot, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1985. She has never been seen again. A bright blue or green Dodge van with a mountain and skier mural on both sides of the vehicle may be involved in Mahan's abduction.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning Mahan's whereabouts, please contact:
Pennsylvania State Police
Missing Persons Unit
412-284-8100

You may remain anonymous when submitting information to any agency.

NCIC Number: M-147906762
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
Charley Project
Doe Network

LINK:
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/255dfpa.html

[Bobbisangel]

When this little girl disappeared I wonder if LE checked all of the places in that state that did the customized paintings on vans? I would think the person who owned the van had it done in a shop somewhere.

That poor mom still waiting after all of these years and the grandma too. I can't imagine my little girl going missing and never to be seen again. I hope the mom finds out something about her daughter. She has waited way to long.

[XcomSquaddie]

Bumping this one up.


I remember vividly when this happened. I always though they'd solve it, and it's always a surprise when another 5/10 anniversary comes around and you realize that it's been so long.


My personal belief is that the van was a trick. Why on earth would you abduct a child in a with a vivid and unique paint scheme? Unbelievably stupid. Not only would everyone who saw it near the abduction remember it, but the people around where you lived would remember it.

Take a "normal" van. Paint a mural on the side. Do it yourself (takes skill) because a shop will remember. Two things: either use water washable paint (iffy) or paint over it asap. Or sink it in a river. Lord knows there's enough of them in SW PA.

Everyone who sees the van will concentrate on the mural. Notice, no one described the driver except to say he was wearing "ski clothing". There was also an "unaccounted for blue car in the area".

What kind of blue car? Driver? Passengers? Make/Model/Year? Nothing. Everyone concentrated on the one memory that overrode everything else.

The van was a wash. For years everyone has concentrated on the van and it was probably painted, sunk or burned within hours or even an hour of the abduction.

I also notice that there's not much going on online regarding the case. Search google and the local news sites and you get the poster pages for DOE Network, etc. But no chatter.

Who can say?

[CarpeDiem]

Friday marked 23 years. Cherrie's Mom still lives in the area, about 20 minutes away.

http://www.insidebutlercounty.com/index.php?t=news_detail&id=31342

[meggilyweggily]

My personal belief is that the van was a trick. Why on earth would you abduct a child in a with a vivid and unique paint scheme? Unbelievably stupid. Not only would everyone who saw it near the abduction remember it, but the people around where you lived would remember it.

Take a "normal" van. Paint a mural on the side. Do it yourself (takes skill) because a shop will remember. Two things: either use water washable paint (iffy) or paint over it asap. Or sink it in a river. Lord knows there's enough of them in SW PA.

Everyone who sees the van will concentrate on the mural. Notice, no one described the driver...

That's actually a really clever theory. I had been wondering what the abductors were thinking, using a van like that (assuming it was the abductors driving that van) and your explanation makes a lot of sense. That kind of cunning is chilling. If the kidnappers really did do this, they are (A) very very smart and (B) thought of this long in advance.

I can only think of one car I've seen in my whole life that had a mural painted on it, and it was a garden scene. I just had to stop and stare at it. It was very detailed, with a duck pond and everything.

[CarpeDiem]

This link is from 2005 but there are some interesting thoughts in the comments. One was that it could have been a delivery/work (catering?) van. I too think perhaps the eyewitness account may have been a bit off. I also wondered if a search was ever done at the time at Moraine State Park, which is vast with not much action in February. BIG lake there too and it's not all that far from the abduction scene. There was and still are alot of rural areas in Butler County, PA which is about a half-hour North of Pittsburgh and an hour south of Erie, PA. A half hour to the west is the Ohio border.

http://users.1st.net/mwells/CherrieMahan.htm

I've ALWAYS thought, who could forget that child's eyes? So precious.

[pittsburghgirl]

There are not only rivers and lakes in Western Pa, but many old strip mines that are deep and full of water. It would be very easy to sink a vehicle in one of them. But it takes a local to know where they are.

What is weird about the van is that there were NO sightings of it locally. The pictures of the van were on the news and in the papers; people were actively looking for it. How could you hide such a thing? If you owned it, why wouldn't you come forward? The road involved is not a superhighway or a main thoroughfare, where one might expect lots of non-local traffic.

[pittsburghgirl]

I got to thinking about that last point and went to Google Maps. I couldn't make a link work to what I found, but you can see it if you go to Google Maps and type Cornplanter and Winfield Road Cabot PA.

There is a short and direct access to the north to Rt 422, which connects directly to I-79 North to Erie or I-79 South to West Virginia. You can also continue and access the Pa and Ohio turnpikes. There is also a direct route south to Rt 28, which has an exit that is 2 miles away from the the Allegheny Valley exit on the PA turnpike (I-76) , from which point a van could go west or east. No EZ Pass or cameras to see the van in those days. You could also go east on 422 and through the mountains up into the Allegheny National Forest and into southern New York, where there are several ski areas. That would take about 3 hours but much of it is very rural and soon enough it would have been getting dark and people would be home and inside. Ski areas to the north, the east (Seven Springs) and the south.

Weirdly, the spot where is almost a perfect spot from which to kidnap a child; if you are pretty sure you can get an hour's jump, you can be in Ohio or the PA mountains or halfway to Erie before anyone starts to look.

You can best see what I mean if you put the little focus thingy halfway down in order to see the intersection in relation to other WPA road. I've lived here all my life and always thought of Cabot as so rural, and such a weird spot for a kidnapping. But I'm sure the state troopers that handled the case thought about this location long ago.

[CarpeDiem]

You're totally right about the area pittsburghgirl. By the time the cops got to the scene it was too late. No internet yet then or Cable News, though it wouldn't be long. Cherrie was the first child pictured in those cards we all get in the mail of Missing Children.

That van probably sat in a garage for many years. By the time it came out, it wasn't recognizable.

It really gets me how this was the only time Cherrie had been allowed to walk up the driveway herself, and she never made it.

I hope we find out what happened someday, soon:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&caseNum=601805&orgPrefix=NCMC&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US