Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Abduction of Cherrie Mahan

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“A black hole opened up and she fell in...”
by Robert A. Waters

Twenty-five years. In the span of time, it’s nothing. But to the family of a missing child, it’s a lifetime. On the afternoon of February 22, 1985, eight-year-old Cherrie Ann Mahan stepped off her school bus with several other children. The kids scattered towards home, each going separate ways. When the dust cleared, Cherrie was gone. Vanished. Disappeared into the dark fog of time. The question remains unanswered: who snatched the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl with the beautiful smile?

It was about 4:00 p.m., and Cherrie was slightly more than fifty yards from her family’s mobile home in Winfield, Pennsylvania when she went missing. Due to the cold weather, she wore a gray coat, blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, beige ankle boots, and brown earmuffs bearing the logo of a Cabbage Patch doll.

An article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review outlined the events surrounding the disappearance: “Cherrie's stepfather, Leroy McKinney, usually drove her the 50 yards from the bus stop at Cornplanter and Winfield roads in Winfield to the family's mobile home at the end of a steep, wooded driveway. The home was not visible from the road. But that day, [Leroy and his wife Janice] decided to let Cherrie walk [home].”

Leroy heard the bus pull up and leave. But when Cherrie hadn’t arrived within a few minutes, he drove down to the bus stop to check on her. She was nowhere to be found. Leroy raced back home and Janice called police.

The only real clue in two and a half decades was the sighting of a unique-looking van. After interviewing neighbors and the children on the school bus, investigators determined that a bright blue or green 1976 Dodge van had been seen following the bus. It had an unusual mural painted on it that covered the entirety of both sides of the van. The painting showed a snow-capped mountain with a skier headed down the mountain. The skier was dressed in red and yellow clothing.


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Now it should have been easy to find that van. But alas, the vehicle was never located. As the years drained away, Pennsylvania State Trooper Frank Jedesky continued to work the case. Commenting on the mysterious van, he recently said, “By now it’s probably in a junkyard or somewhere.”

“It's the not knowing that kills you,” a heart-broken Janice McKinney said. “Every day you wonder and you look at some girl who's 33 and you wonder, ‘Is that her?’ I look at little kids and wonder, ‘Is that my grandchild?’”

Janice speaks of her child today as if Cherrie had fallen into a black hole. The pain never leaves, never goes away.

Who took Cherrie Mahan? Why did no one report that unusual van to police? Today, someone might still remember it. If so, please call the Pennsylvania State Police Missing Persons Unit at 1-412-284-8100.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

I have always found this to be spooky.

Unknown said...

I live in Cabot and I always remember this story its so sad and crazy at the same time this is such a small town nothing her by a bar a ice cream shop and a post office can't believe no one knew who had that van i like right around where she went missing and there is nothing here so someone knew something they had to

Bobbie Metevier said...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612968

Are they sure it wasn't a volkswagon?


Bobbie Metevier said...

Can anyone guess the year of the van in my link? I might send it to law enforcement?

Debbie T said...

It was a 1976 Dodge

Tony said...

Debbie said it was a 76 dodge. They have been looking for a 76 dodge for 32 years. Maybe its not a dodge. Seriously do you think other 8 year olds on the bus are going to remember a 76 dodge or do you think they would remember a mountain scene better. Start looking for that Volkswagen. Bobbie is right. This case bothered my since i was 20 years old. I really thought a few years ago they had a lead that looked like this was going to have some type of closure. I cant imagine. This is the reason i dont let my 15 year old go to bus his self at 6:40 in the morning. I pray they find her, and hang the SOB that took her.

Patrick said...

It wasn't the kids who said it was a 1976 Dodge. It was an adult who was in the area.

Unknown said...

true story. my hometown police station, when you paid a parking fine? you had to wait at a window for a officer to take your early pay money and your ticket. while waiting when my parents sent me to pay the parking fine, i would read the bulletin board. They had a 8.5x11 "wanted" of a VAN with an artists rendering of a skiier skiing painted on the side. Very distinctive, it was not "realism" it was a thick line rendering of a "stick figure skiier" with a white circle for a head, sort of thing you would see nowadsys on a road sign, THAT sort of stick figure. this was the 80s. in the 90s? i SAW that exact drawing, on a full size van at a MALL parking lot. Very "sun faded" and lightened over time? but unmistakably the exact same as the drawing. it was UNCANNY. I went back to my hometown police? no one knew anything, and couldnt help me, man... i had the license plate, make model, everything. Only ONE uniformed cop? "vaguely remembered something" about the wanted poster i was talking about tickling his memory. After several years asking around getting nowhere, i gave up. I freaking DREAD looking at that original line drawing of the wanted poster? i just KNOW it will be it. I was watching youtube, and a "ask reddit" story related the story of a "skiier on the wanted van" nd used the girls NAME, which is how i tracked this. googling it the girls name? i was HOPING it would be some far away state, so it wasnt "that van"? but... nope. i lived an hour south of pittsburgh, this was about an hour north of pittsburgh... and i found the van about a half hour south of my hometown. I DREAD if i could see that line drawing? i just know that'd be it. it turns my stomach i couldnt get anyone motivated on it after i found it.

Anonymous said...

to the unknown blogger,

I would like to know more about the information you shared. Such as the license plate and the make and model. If you have anymore information please let me know. I have been trying for many many years to solve this case. I need the information you have so I can re-open the cherrie mahan case.

robert0259 said...

Being that the police were called almost immediately....I'm surprised that roadblocks weren't set up. Another thing...to me this had to be someone who targeted this little girl...it's too far off the beaten path to be an abduction of opportunity. I mean, looking at a map...I don't see any interstate or truck stop nearby.

robert0259 said...

OMT, to me, this reinforces what you should already know...tell your loved ones how much you love them....and never take even the smallest things for granted. Unfortunately, there's evil in the world that would hurt a little girl...I wish I could give her family closure.

robert0259 said...

Was there any event nearby that would've brought strangers into the area...I see that there's a speedway nearby...

Unknown said...

Do you honestly believe she was kidnapped? No she wasn't police need to recheck the home she lived in.

Unknown said...

Back in the 1980s I lived in Phoenix Oregon. We ski at Mt. Ashland. I was sitting at a stop and a van with a very distinct skiing figure on a mountain went by. Saw a missing persons show with that figure described on it years later but wasn't able to get a number to call. I dont think it's the same mural this one the face was looking at you. I've been trying to find out more Ifo on it but it always brings me back to her page.

Unknown said...

I wish they would find her. This has been sad.