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

Nice work, Chaddy!

It makes me wonder how many other missing person cases have a kid somewhere saying, "But Mom..." and mother saying it's nothing... Kids do exaggerate and imagine, but they also notice things their parents don't.

And children are looking at the clue and not thinking how Mr. So-and-so is a great guy and couldn't possibly be a child molester.
 
Cherrie Mahan's case is the whole reason why I joined this website... it has haunted me since 1985!!! I hope if my little memory of the guy with the van doesn't pan out that someone else can bring closure to this case!!
 
Thanks Pittsburghgirl for the FB link. THat is very disturbing, wonder why those people that owned the van in Kittanning ever been looked into? Heck Kittanning is much closer to Butler/Cabot than I am.

I am south of Kittanning, a little town called Scottdale.... I wish I knew this guys last name at least. I don't even know if he's alive. I am going to ride up the street he lived on tomorrow after I get off work to see if it jogs my memory any...

Hi chaddylex :wave: Thank you for remembering Cherrie, it's hard to believe it's been 25 years since she went missing. My memory is a little rusty, but in regards to the van, I think LE checked out every van in the area. There was suspicion that it was possibly painted and sold because it stood out like a sore thumb. The police probably did follow up on that tip, it just didn't pan out.
I am local to the area, so if there is anything I might be able to help you with please let me know.
 
Hi Djane,

I figured they probably checked out the guys van that lived near me, but everytime i would see it after her abduction it would freak me out. ( and I think my mom thought I was a freak of nature..lol)

The guy that I spoke with from Namus said he would sumbit the lead and if it was already looked into he would let me know.
 
That's good -- at least you'll know.

Gotta admit, I've always wondered whether the van wasn't a red herring, whether something happened to her when she got home. She has that old-for-her-years hollow-eyed look...
 
There was another well-known case that followed a similar line, the Nicole Bryner case. Her mother reported that she was abducted from the Giant Eagle supermarket, but in fact the live-in boyfriend murdered her.

I always wonder if the parents aren't involved, but there is also the case that many of these dirtbags do follow school buses, looking for opportunities. And as I have said before, here and on the Cold Case thread for Cherrie, the geography is very favorable to an abductor, who could literally be on first, isolated back roads, and then on four-lane highways that link to major interstates, going east-west and north-south. Getaway would have been very easy.

Timothy Widman confessed in 1986 to killing his girlfriend's daughter, Nicole Bryner, on March 9, 1982. With the child's mother, the late Melody Childs, he buried the body in a wooded lot in Brookline, he told police. Police searched unsuccessfully for the body, and without it prosecutors could not pursue the case.
Mrs. Childs insisted from the day of Nicole's disappearance that her daughter had been abducted from a South Side supermarket.
Mrs. Childs was charged with hindering apprehension and lying to police in 1986. Her charges also were dismissed. She died in June 2001 following back surgery in a Texas hospital, her family said.
Until the day she died, Mrs. Childs maintained her daughter was abducted from the Giant Eagle, Mrs. Childs' family said.
[snipped for space]
The new case against Mr. Widman, 51, appears to have been built not on new information, but rather on case law that has changed since Mr. Widman was originally arrested in 1986.
At that time, prosecutors could not charge someone with murder unless a body was found.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06271/725734-53.stm
 
Pittsburgh Girl,

I do remember hearing about the Nicole Bryner case... so scary so close to home...


I don't remember hearing if Cherrie's family was investigated for her disappearance (but then I was only 9 yrs old )... do you know if they were throughly investigated?
 
I don't recall, and none of the more recent newspaper articles mention the mother and stepfather as suspects. They were at home, but the trailer was some distance from the bus stop. I couldn't find mention of a bio father. Back in those days, I wonder if looking at the parents was as automatic as it is today. There's no doubt that she was in school and on the bus ride home.
 
I didn't recall that the parents were ever suspects in her disapperarance, but you know these days when a child is abducted, it seems like the first person they look at are the parents.


I drove by the house on Tuesday where the man that had the skier van lived... (I came to realize that the street only has 4 houses on it)... One house is for sale and I am not sure exactly which house the guy lived in.. I haven't been on that street since I was a kid. So safe in saying, I don't know anymore about who this guy is other than a grandfather to a girl in my girl scout troop or even if he is still alive.
 
I am so hoping something comes of this! I have always wondered about this case.
 
I didn't recall that the parents were ever suspects in her disapperarance, but you know these days when a child is abducted, it seems like the first person they look at are the parents.


I drove by the house on Tuesday where the man that had the skier van lived... (I came to realize that the street only has 4 houses on it)... One house is for sale and I am not sure exactly which house the guy lived in.. I haven't been on that street since I was a kid. So safe in saying, I don't know anymore about who this guy is other than a grandfather to a girl in my girl scout troop or even if he is still alive.

The police have access to a lot more historic records -- they can look up everybody who lived on the street at the time.

Do you remember your scout leader's name? That might be helpful information for them.
 
I do remember the girls name and I googled her mom's name.. and got her maiden name (I think the grandfather was the girl's maternal grandfather) so when I get home tonight I am going to look up that last name for a property search in our County and then an obituary.. (not sure if he's still alive or not) Will post if I find out anything...

One a side notethe girl that I went to school with and was in girl scouts with, was adopted. She was biracial and her parents were white. Her parents seemed a little odd and the girl got into trouble and was sent away. Her parents eventually divorced and her mom died in a house fire back in 1991. (the mom was only 41 when she died). I googled the girl too and she is living half way across the country from me and from what I have read, she seems sucessful today! (I know it is the same girl, it listed her parents)
 
Hey, Chattylex...I haven't read the posts here in the last 2 months or so, but I saw your string on Scottdale and the guy from your street. If the van story is indeed real, you're on to something. Knowing western PA roads very well, there's a country road that many take from Freeport to Westmoreland County, and it would have been easy for the van to drive from Cornplanter Rd to Scottdale. It's PA Route 128 to Freeport, then PA Route 356 to PA Route 66, which turns into US 119 by Scottdale. I've driven the 356 to 119 route many times down to West Virginia and I-68/I-79. It's actually a half hour shorter than trying to drive down PA Rt 28 and around downtown Pittsburgh to I-79. The shortcut would have been the way a grandfather type like you described in the 1980s would have driven between the two points, with the newer expressways just opening in 1985.

Do not be discouraged, and continue to pursue who that person is and what happened to him, and you may have the clue that solves this. Good luck!
 
Hi Local Pgh Guy,

I sent in the tip over a month ago and haven't heard another word. I did figure out the grandfathers last name, he passed away in I Think 2000. (I did an obituary search in the newspaper)When I talked to the gentleman at Namus, I gave him the street address of where the grandfather lived in 1985... You would think that maybe they have in the system (maybe in the Dept of Motor Vehicles) somewhere a list of people who owned that type of van then...

I just hope this will be solved... Her disappearance has haunted me since she went missing...
 
Very good.

I imagine it will take quite a while to investigate leads as old as that, with many people probably dead or moved away. *fingers crossed*
 
New Trooper Assigned To 25-Year-Old Missing Girl Case

It’s one of our areas most baffling mysteries. What happened to 8-year old Cherrie Mahan?

It was February 22,1985 when a school bus dropped Mahan off at her stop on Cornplanter Road in Winfield Township, Butler County. That was that last time she was seen. Her mother and stepfather were waiting for her at the family home just on top of the hill. She never made it.

Investigators continue to receive information about Mahan’s whereabouts, but nothing has lead them to her.

“It’s like she vanished in thin air,” said Pennsylvania State Trooper Frank Jendesky.

Jendesky has been searching for Mahan for the past 15 years, but his search will soon come to an end. Jendesky is retiring this month. The case will be assigned to another investigator, the fourth to work the case.

More: http://www.wpxi.com/news/24158527/detail.html
 
New Trooper Assigned To 25-Year-Old Missing Girl Case

It’s one of our areas most baffling mysteries. What happened to 8-year old Cherrie Mahan?

It was February 22,1985 when a school bus dropped Mahan off at her stop on Cornplanter Road in Winfield Township, Butler County. That was that last time she was seen. Her mother and stepfather were waiting for her at the family home just on top of the hill. She never made it.

Investigators continue to receive information about Mahan’s whereabouts, but nothing has lead them to her.

“It’s like she vanished in thin air,” said Pennsylvania State Trooper Frank Jendesky.

Jendesky has been searching for Mahan for the past 15 years, but his search will soon come to an end. Jendesky is retiring this month. The case will be assigned to another investigator, the fourth to work the case.

More: http://www.wpxi.com/news/24158527/detail.html

Thanks for the update, I usually don't watch WPXI news, I watch WTAE Pittsburgh, so probably would have never heard about this.


Maybe fresh eyes to the case will open the case wide open and they will be able to see things that they overlooked before....

This is why i joined this site and became interested in finding missing people, all because of Cherie Mahan!!
 
I'm not sure if it was as soon as she was supposed to have gotten off the bus or not....

Cherie needs to be found! I can't believe it's been 25 years. Just seems like yesterday I was sitting on my couch seeing the news report of her missing...
 

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