Cherrie Mahan

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1:59Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.

2:31Today I'm discussing the case of Cherry Mahan. First, have you seen me, child, still lost? That's the 2005 Lancaster New Era newspaper article about 8-year-old Cherry Mahan that really got to me. If you don't know what they mean by the phrase, have you seen me, child, they're referring to the program from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in partnership with media company Vericast and the U.S. Postal Service that features the missing in tiny snippets in newspapers, or more often, adverts now. You probably get them in your mailbox without even noticing them. They're just tiny, one-inch horizontal features, usually on the back page of Red Plum ad booklets.

3:15It typically features a picture of the missing person, key details like their name, height, weight, where they're missing from, and who to contact with information. Oftentimes, that's alongside an age-progressed photo to estimate what they might look like today. It's the only program that helps share information about my missing sister Alyssa in the first few years that she went missing. So, when I saw this article, I knew that I, in part, had cherry to thank for that. Behind most major legislation or programs to help the missing, specifically missing children, there's a child who isn't here today that inspired said program.

3:51Adam Walsh and Code Adam, Amber Hagerman and the Amber Alert, Eitan Pates and National Missing Children's Day, usually very well-known names, and unfortunately, many cases without resolutions. So when I went searching for information about Cherry Mahan, the first Have You Seen Me Child, I was stunned to find out that there was nowhere near as much information about her as Adam, Amber, or really countless cases of other missing children. In fact, if you search Cherry's name on YouTube, it's dominated by a set of psychic sisters determined to find her, alongside a handful of short videos about the case, mostly featuring older interviews of her mom Janice begging for her safe return.

4:35In short, I knew I wanted to help. I knew that this community could help get the word out about Cherry's case, because it's not just me that holds out hope that this can be solved. Law enforcement says that they're prepared to keep searching for Cherry until 2085, literally a hundred years after she went missing in 1985. And I know that may seem overly hopeful to some, but there are some major clues in this case that with just one solid witness or a lead could finally lead to answers for Cherry and her family. It's time to bring the first Have You Seen Me Child home. This is the case of Cherry Mahan.

5:16It's Friday, February 22nd, 1985 in Winfield Township, Pennsylvania, and 8-year-old Cherry Mahan is looking forward to going to her friend Jennifer's 10th birthday party after school. The final bell rings for her 3rd grade class, and Cherry heads to her school bus to get home and get ready for the party. At about 4.10pm, Cherry and three of her classmates get off the bus at their regular stop on Corn Planter Road. This is just around the corner from Cherry's home. A neighbor named Debbie Bark is there too. She's waiting in her car for her two kids and another child she agreed to pick up from the bus stop.

5:51Debbie's there every day, and recognizes Cherry. She sees her get off the bus and kind of play and dawdle with the other kids. Now, normally, Cherry's mother, Janice McKinney, or her stepfather, Leroy McKinney, walk to the bus stop to meet Cherry for the short walk back to their home. While news reports have vastly differed about the distance, the bus stop appears to have been no further than 100 to 150 yards away from Cherry's driveway. Basically, it's just around a slight bend in the road, with a long driveway uphill to the home. Winfield Township is in Butler County, and it's about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh.

6:27It was and still is a rural area with a low crime rate and a population of just a few thousand people. And though snow was on the ground, the weather was good that day, so the McKinneys decide to let Cherry walk the short distance home by herself. And when I say the bus stop is close, I mean it is very close. So close that Janice and Leroy hear it pull up, and hear the kids get off the bus. They figure Cherry will be walking up the driveway in a matter of minutes. But after about 5 or 10 minutes, Cherry still hasn't come home and they start to get worried. They aren't really worried that anything major happened to her at this point, just that maybe she slipped on the snow and fell, got preoccupied playing with friends, or could have been waiting for one of them to come get her like they normally did.

7:11So Leeroy walks down the driveway and around the corner to check. But Cherry isn't there. By 4.30pm, Cherry's parents start looking around the area for her, and making calls to see where she could be. They're definitely concerned, but they're not panicking just yet. They figure maybe Cherry went to a friend's house, or was just enjoying the better weather outside with the kids from the bus stop. Again, very small town, low crime rate, the thought that something terrible could have happened just wasn't top of mind. But within the hour, they realized that something could be very wrong, and at the very least, they're going to need some help to find her.

7:47So they finally call the police. Officers from the local police authority, Butler Barracks, responded. and the searches for Cherry began. Local police are joined by Pennsylvania State Police, the FBI, around 250 volunteers, bloodhounds, and helicopters to look for Cherry. Her friend Jennifer's birthday party was even cancelled so parents could join in the search. It's an all-hands-on-deck situation, but there was just no trace of her. The bloodhounds couldn't pick up the trail, and while investigators were able to find tracks from vehicles in the snow, they couldn't find any tracks from Cherry.

8:23So all they can conclude at this point is that it seems like she didn't get very far from the bus stop. Janice has been quoted as saying it was like the earth just opened up and swallowed Cherry. While physical searches for Cherry were not successful, investigators were able to find one major lead after interviewing witnesses at the bus stop, and this lead remains the most critical in this case nearly 40 years later. This episode of Voices for Justice is brought to you by Quince. I love giving gifts, and Quince really does make that so easy. They have something for everyone, from soft Mongolian cashmere sweaters for$50 that look and feel like designer pieces, silk tops and skirts for dressing up, perfectly cut denim for everyday wear, and outerwear that actually keeps you warm.

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10:50Greenlight really does help kids learn how to save, invest, and build confidence with money. This is truly a product that I wish I had growing up. Like I said, I think it would have given me a much better head start in life. Join millions of parents already using Greenlight, the number one family finance and safety app. Start your risk-free Greenlight trial today at greenlight.com slash justice. That's greenlight.com slash justice to get started. Greenlight.com slash justice. In addition to the usual vehicles at the bus stop on the day Cherry went missing, witnesses also report seeing a distinct van there that day.

11:28It's been described as a blue or green 1970s, possibly 1976, Dodge van, with a large mural of a snowy mountain and a skier on the side. According to reporting by Bianca Hillier from NBC News, Cherry's classmates on the bus remember seeing the van following the school bus that day. Debbie Bark, the woman who saw Cherry while she was waiting to pick up other kids, remembers seeing the van in her rearview mirror, as does her son. She told local reporters, quote,

12:11It's worth noting that Cherry was not seen entering this van or speaking with the driver. I've seen some misinformation around this, so I just want to be very clear. Now, aside from the van, witnesses state that there was a blue car seen parked in a driveway near the bus stop, but no further description has been provided. And I wasn't able to find an update on this aside from psychics believing the car may have been involved. I have to assume that the police were able to track down who it was, because as I was researching this case, the car was really just a small side note that was barely ever mentioned.

12:44But that is just speculation. So the million-dollar question is, who was driving the van with the mural on it? Well, despite this van sounding very unique, according to State Trooper at Butler Barracks, Maryland Stackhouse, they found more than 2 ,000 registrations of vehicles with similar murals. Now, I am not a car person, but I have to try to be for this podcast, so I did some digging on these older 1970s vans. And while I couldn't quite find a model with a ski mural that came pre-painted on vans. I do know that painting on your van or getting it painted was not totally uncommon during this time.

13:24In my research, I found vans with all sorts of things painted on them. Names, bad words, murals of horses. I mean, if you can think of it, it's probably been painted on the side of an old van. In fact, Mental Floss has a great piece about this entire phenomenon of custom-painted vans if you're so inclined to go down that rabbit hole. The point is, while it seems like this van would be very unique and easy to find. It just wasn't. Vans matching the description were pulled over all around the state, and a sketch of what it might have looked like was distributed across the country, but they still weren't able to pinpoint the exact vehicle seen on the day Cherry went missing.

14:03Not long after, there were dozens of incidents reported of similar looking vans either stalking or attempting to abduct typically school-age girls. Just about a month after Cherry went missing, on March 27th, 1985, a man described as heavyset and in his 30s with dark hair was reported as likely trying to abduct a 12-year-old from her bus stop. He apparently approached her, asked if she wanted a ride to school, and then panicked and sped away when he saw the school bus approaching. And there was another incident of a man in a van chasing two 12-year-old girls in August of 1985, but no connection to Cherry was ever made.

14:40This van was their biggest lead, and it really didn't go anywhere. Since her disappearance, Cherry's case really has become a precedent case. Her pictures printed on Prince Brand spaghetti boxes, truckers helped distribute her flyers alongside the sketch of the van as far and wide as they could, and Cherry becomes the first ever child to be featured in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's now infamous Have You Seen Me program in 1985. Like I mentioned at the top of this episode, even if you aren't familiar with this program, you've probably seen these little ads before. Back in 1985, it was mostly a partnership with the Postal Service to deliver postcards that evolved into newspaper features, and nowadays more often on Red Plum adverts you get in your mailbox.

15:28According to the company that distributes these flyers, Veracast, these typically reach 9 out of 10 households each week, both online and in print. It's a low barrier to entry program that only needs a photo and some information to help spread the word. And it works. I can't tell you how many people over the years have contacted me to let me know that they've seen my sister in one of those ads. And that all started with Cherry. But despite all these efforts, the spaghetti boxes, the flyers, the postcards, the implementation of this entire program, there was very little movement in Cherry's case.

16:06But people were passionate. By April 1985, neighbors helped raise over$39 ,000 to offer as a reward. When you account for inflation, that would be over$100 ,000 today. That is a massive reward. And an additional$10 ,000 was offered by local business American Hardware Supply Co. as well. This offer was good for 18 months, and if Cherry wasn't found by then or her case wasn't resolved, that money would be donated. And unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. By Christmas 1986, Janice and Leroy move. Janice says they basically stayed in her home for a year, waiting for Cherry to come back. And at this point, she just can't go back there.

16:52When you watch Janice's interviews, you can feel her pain. It's clear how much losing Cherry impacted her. She says Cherry was basically her whole world. She had her at just 16 years old, and they basically grew up together. and once Cherry was gone, that world just fell apart. Janice says she began struggling with addiction to the point where she sold most of her possessions to pay for drugs and at her lowest point, she even tried to throw herself in front of a moving vehicle but Leroy held her back. And unfortunately, Cherry's case really does start to slow down. State troopers Marilyn Stackhouse and Lawrence G.

17:31Hall worked her case full-time until the middle of 1987. That's when leads started to taper off, and they got reassigned to work other cases. And as these things unfortunately go sometimes, life just goes on without Cherry. In 1989, her brother Robert was born, and Jana says because of what happened to Cherry, she kept him very close. Five years later, in 1994, Cherry's classmates graduated from high school without her. And in 1998, she was legally declared dead as a technicality to release some funds. Cherry had apparently gotten a settlement from a car accident where she'd broken her arm, about$3 ,500.

18:09There was also some reward fund money tied up under her name. Some of these funds were donated to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and some were put away to be given to Cherry's brother, Robert. It's reported that it took the judge less than 15 minutes to grant the request to have her legally declared dead. The law cited was rooted in colonial times, when men didn't return from war. Basically, after seven years without hearing from the person, they could be legally declared dead. Of course, Jana says this didn't mean anyone was giving up on finding Cherry, but unfortunately, there was very little movement in the case for quite some time after this.

18:47In 2009, she was entered into NamUs, but it wasn't until 2011 that Cherry's name was back in the news, after investigators received new information in her case. Michelle's mother, Lisa McDaniel, has managed to keep her past buried. You said nobody wants to believe there's a monster in their family. You think she's a monster. I don't want to. But I don't know how else you describe somebody who does those things to children. Michelle has lived in the shadow of her family's dark past for decades. But now she's ready to bring it into the light. Neither one of those children were suffering because of a disease.

19:28Season 6 of Nobody Should Believe Me is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

19:382011 marked 26 years since 8-year-old Cherry Mahan went missing after being dropped off by her school bus, just around the corner from her house. And in all those 26 years, they had almost no answers. They hadn't been able to locate the van seen near her that day or identify the driver. It was just like Janice said, it was as if the world opened up and just swallowed Cherry whole. But then her name is back in the news again, when Pennsylvania State Trooper Robert McGraw announced that there was a new lead in Cherry's case. In an interview for CNN, he said, quote, Recently, a person contacted Pennsylvania State Police, and they have the potential to be crucial to the investigation in the future.

20:20We're highly optimistic that this lead has the potential to bring closure to Cherry's family. Now, Trooper McGraw was very vague about this new development. This is basically all we know, and unfortunately, it doesn't seem like much has come of it. Or if it has, the police aren't telling us. That same year, investigators were also hopeful over what I think is another very different tip. Though honestly, given how tight-lipped the police have been, it could be the same tip, just scooped by the local news. Now, let me explain. This tip was that Cherry might still be alive and living in Michigan.

20:56And this appears to have come from a random tipster. Not anyone who knew Cherry or her family directly, but they believed Cherry was alive and well. And investigators were able to connect it to some other tips they'd gotten in the past. Just a few months after Cherry went missing, a woman reports seeing a girl matching her description in a van similar to the one seen at her bus stop at a high school track meet in Michigan. She does call in the tip right away, but she says that no one ever followed up. But now, with this new tip of Cherry living in Michigan, they revisited this woman's claims and worked to identify the woman that the tipster says may be Cherry Mahan.

21:33Now, this woman did deny being Cherry, but of course, authorities didn't leave it at just that. They reviewed a copy of her birth certificate, went to the high school she graduated from, and looked at photos of her dating back to kindergarten. What we don't know is if they actually confirmed this using DNA. There were reports that they wanted DNA, but no reports to say that it was used to confirm that this woman was not Cherry. But police are satisfied and say that this chapter of Cherry's case was officially closed. By this point, Cherry's case file was thousands of pages long and filled more than seven boxes at the Pennsylvania State Police Department.

22:12There were all sorts of tips and sightings about Cherry, that she was working at a Toys R Us in Buffalo, New York, that she was seen alive and well on social media, and there was a CNN feature about Cherry pending. While of course tips did continue to trickle in, the case mostly just sat again for several years. That is until 2018 when, around Cherry's birthday, Janice received a very graphic letter that outlined what happened to Cherry. And like so many things in this case, we don't know much about this letter other than what Cherry's mom Janice has revealed in her interviews. She says it was graphic, and describes who killed Cherry, why, and where her remains can be found.

22:53She also revealed that it was signed, Pastor Justice. Now obviously this is a huge mix of emotions. It's upsetting, but it also sparks some hope that there could finally be answers about what happened to Cherry. Janice turns the letter over to police, but nearly a year later, she says she hadn't heard back from them. When Target 11 News followed up, investigators confirmed that they had the letter and were working on it. They added that they were also working another tip that resulted in them searching a mineshaft in Butler County and a junkyard. But again, it doesn't really seem like anything came of this letter or these searches.

23:32This really is a case with a lot of ups and downs. So many promising leads that just seemed to go nowhere. No suspects, no person of interest, no solid leads beyond that bus stop. Just a lot of pain and anguish for Cherry's loved ones. And it's clear that Cherry has left a hole in the lives of those who knew her. Janice often discusses how Cherry missed meeting her brother, missed her high school graduation, meeting her niece, how her life was just stolen from her. Janice has since invited the work of psychics to assist in finding Cherry, but those efforts have also come up short in closing this case for good.

24:11Now, each year, Janice and Cherry's friends, including Jennifer, the child who Cherry was supposed to celebrate her birthday with the night she went missing, meet for dinner to remember Cherry and honor her memory. But that's pretty much where the case is today. So, what happened to Cherry Mahan? authorities do officially consider Cherry's disappearance an abduction versus a runaway. Despite pulling over countless vans and researching even more, no van or any vehicle for that matter has been seized in connection with Cherry's case. And there's never been a suspect or person of interest named either.

24:48We know her trail didn't stop at Corn Planter Road, but as far as the investigation goes, this does appear to be as far as they've gotten in nearly 40 years. Some have theorized that if someone in that van took Cherry, that maybe the mural on the side wasn't painted on, but just a sticker affixed to the van before the abduction for easy removal afterward. And as I mentioned, Janice has been working with psychics to help get answers in Cherry's case, specifically the Vincent sisters. They theorized that two or three males from the area took her, and both the blue car and van were involved. Janice has also said that she holds out hope that Cherry was taken and kept safe, that she's out there somewhere alive just living her life, now in her late 40s.