Cherrie Mahan -- Missing 2/22/85
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Cherrie Mahan -- Missing 2/22/85
by FystyAngel Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:27 pm
January 21, 2011
Cherrie Mahan: Nancy Grace America’s Missing
Posted: 11:40 AM ET
A new tip described as “potentially crucial” could be the key needed to end the near quarter century search for Cherrie Mahan. Just 8 years old when she disappeared after getting off her school bus on February 22, 1985, Mahan would be 34 years old now.
Police say the bus stop was about 50 yards away from her home in Winfield Township in Western Pennsylvania. The bus driver and other children remember seeing Cherrie get off the bus, but after that she was gone. Over the years reports have swirled about a 1976 model van with a painted mural of a snow-capped mountain on the side, but police say there was also a small blue car near the bus. Despite seven boxes filled with evidence and hundreds of tips, none have led to Cherrie.
Tipline: 1-800-THE-LOST
Missing Since: February 22, 1985
Missing From: Winfield Township, PA
Classification: Endangered Missing
Age at Disappearance: 8
Age Now: 34
Date Of Birth: 08/14/1976
Height at Disappearance: 4’2”
Weight at Disappearance: 68 lbs
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
Characteristics: Pierced ears
Clothing:-Gray coat
-Blue denim skirt
-Blue leg warmers & beige boots
8-Year-Old Missing for Over 20 Years
Aired January 21, 2011 - 21:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So many cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still looking.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness had seen the suspect on "Nancy Grace."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a god.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Grace show was out there for us.
NANCY GRACE, CNNHN HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Found alive, 50 people, 50 days, 50 nights. Let`s don`t give up.
MCKINNEY: Cherrie was just, she was a gift. She was just a gift from god.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever since Cherrie was old enough to go to school, Janice said she walked her car to and from the bus stop. She had to go about 200 feet around that bend to get to her driveway, then another 300 feet to her front door.
February 22nd, 1985, Cherrie Mahan went to school and never came home. That day, Janice McKinney went from being the mother of a bubbly eight- year-old who loved rainbows and reading, to a mother of a missing child.
JANICE MCKINNEY, MOTHER OF CHERRIE MAHAN: I think that the last words that I probably told her was, you know, "Have a good day and I do love you." And that was probably as I took her down to the bus stop and she got on the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Janice called state police and tracked down Cherrie`s school bus. She had to be sure Cherrie wasn`t still on it. Children on the bus told Janice and police Cherrie got off at her regular stop with young children. Those young witnesses described a blue van behind the bus with a snow cap mountain and a skier painted on its side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no sign of any tracks or anything. Apparently someone picked her up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators checked out hundreds of leads. No van, no Cherrie.
MCKINNEY: Up until that day I was there. And if I would have been there, she wouldn`t -- I wouldn`t be going through this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After combing through hundreds upon hundreds of tips, police announce someone has provided, quote, "potentially crucial information."
MCKINNEY: As a mother, in my heart I feel and I`ve always felt that she was OK. But not knowing is probably the killer of all things, and guilt, the guilt that I feel for not being there every year just gets a little harder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, CNNHN HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Every day 2,300 people go missing in America. Disappear. Vanish. Their families left waiting, wondering, hoping, but never forgetting. And neither have we -- 50 people, 50 days. For 50 nights we go live, spotlighting America`s missing children, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents. They are gone, but where?
Tonight, eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan steps off a school bus at her bus stop just 150 yards away from her own home. She disappears into thin air. Leads about a mysterious van emerge, a van with a painting of a mountain scene on the side, reported driving, cruising the neighborhood, but that van never found.
Eight-year-old Cherrie, the very first child ever featured on "Have you seen me?" advertising flyers. Years passed. Literally thousands of leads come and go. Now police just announce someone has provided potentially crucial information about Cherrie`s case. What is it? Why now? For the latest, Jean Casarez. Jean Casarez, give me a timeline. What happened?
JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": It was a very normal day. February 22nd, 1985. Cherrie Mahan had gone to school just like all the other little schoolchildren had. She was coming home on the bus. She lived so close to the school, her parents could hear the bus come. It was 100 yards from her doorstep to the bus.
They thought, it`s a nice day, we`ll just let her walk home. Her schoolmates saw her get off the bus. Some parents there to pick up their children saw her. And that was the last time she was ever seen.
To Natisha Lance, "Nancy Grace" producer, there was some vehicles in the area that over the last years have provided much interest to authorities, right?
NATISHA LANCE, "NANCY GRACE" PRODUCER: Right, Jean. There were actually students on the bus who witnessed a dark blue van that was trailing behind the bus. Now, this van was very distinctive. It had a paint of a snow cap mountain with a skier going down the mountain dressed in yellow and red clothing. Now, in addition to that van, Jean, police tell us, today, there was also a small blue car that was in the vicinity of the day Cherrie disappeared.
CASAREZ: To David Lohr, crime reporter, AOLnews.com, joining us tonight from Erie, Pennsylvania. What more can you tell us about the background of this case?
DAVID LOHR, CRIME REPORTER, AOLNEWS.COM: Well, you know, I`ve been working in crime and missing persons for about 15 years now and I have to say this is one of the more bizarre cases. It`s like you had said, the child seemed to have disappeared when she didn`t walk up the driveway. The father went looking for her after about ten minutes and didn`t see her anywhere.
And probably one of probably the largest searches that had ever been held in that area was launched. Hundreds of volunteers came out. They searched wooded areas. They went up and down roadways, nothing. Not a sign of the little girl, her book bag, not a single clue. The only thing the father saw was some tire tracks out on the road and that was it. Whether the girl got in that van or another vehicle, it remains unclear.
CASAREZ: We have a very special guest tonight joining us from Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Janice McKinney. She is the mother of Cherrie Mahan. I want to tell you, Janice, I look at the picture of your little girl and it takes my breath away. She is precious, precious. Thank you for joining us. Can you go through with us what happened on that day?
MCKINNEY: Well, she got up, took her down to the bus stop because I was off that day from work. Took her down, she got on the bus, went to school. I went home up over the hill and we were going to go shopping because she had gotten a care bear for Christmas and the dog had chewed its face off, so we were going to go shopping and buy a new one.
So my husband, he works for the post office, and he was at work. He worked four-hour shifts. So he went into work and then he came home. We went shopping, bought the new care bear, came back. And it was getting closer to the time for her to come home, and he had said to me, should we let her walk up? I said, yes.
You know, it was nice. The sun was shining. The snow had melted. And we just felt that she was going to go spend the night with some friends, so you know, she would have came right up over the hill to us. So we didn`t think much of it at the time.
CASAREZ: You know, Janice, I know you have heard this, but I want to talk a law enforcement about this. There is a new lead in your case that just came up, I think about a week ago at least in 2011.
Trooper Robert McGraw is joining us tonight. He is the current lead investigator on this case, from the Pennsylvania state police, joining us from Butler, Pennsylvania, tonight. Thank you, trooper, for joining us. What is the news? You have a new lead on this case, potentially very important?
ROBERT MCGRAW, TROOPER, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: That`s correct, Jean. There`s been an individual that`s come forward to Pennsylvania state police and the information that they have provided has the potential to be crucial to this investigation in the future.
CASAREZ: Did this person walk in to an office in Pennsylvania in person or was it someone that called anonymously on a phone?
MCGRAW: They came to the Pennsylvania state police butler barracks in person, Jean.
CASAREZ: They came in person. Why did they wait 25 years?
MCGRAW: Jean, I`m not going to give the details of that right now. I just know that this person is doing the right thing now?
CASAREZ: So are you currently working this lead and working it hard?
MCGRAW: Absolutely, Jean. The Pennsylvania state police are actively and aggressively pursuing this new information.
CASAREZ: Would you say since 1985 that this is one of the strongest leads you`ve ever had?
MCGRAW: Absolutely, Jean.
CASAREZ: Trooper, is there a chance that Cherrie is alive?
MCGRAW: There is a chance, Jean, and I`ve discussed this with Janice. And she realizes, in my opinion it`s highly unlikely that Cherrie is still alive, but yes, there is a chance.
CASAREZ: To Janice McKinney, who is the mother of beautiful Cherrie you see in the picture. Also you see that age progression right there, what she would look like, may look like today. Janice, what goes on inside of you when you hear about the most important lead in the case that has come since 1985?
MCKINNEY: Well, I just hope that it`s something solid and can put my heart at rest. But not knowing is, it eats away at you day after day after day. The not knowing, I`m telling you, it`s terrible.
CASAREZ: We can`t imagine. We can`t imagine what it would be like to not have the questions answered.
I want to go out to Marc Klaas, president and founder of KlaasKids Foundation joining us tonight. When you hear all of this and you hear this lead that we now know, the trooper from Pennsylvania is telling us, trooper McGraw, that it is the most important lead since 1985 when she went missing. What does that say to you, marc?
MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, remember, just a couple of days ago a case was resolved after 23 years and it was resolved almost in a storybook fashion, very successfully. There`s also the Jaycee Dugard story which has similarities to this story. It involved the school bus. It involved the snatch right in front of the house. It just so happens in that case she was leaving for school and in this case she was coming home from school. So obviously there`s always hope.
But, Jean, I`ve been listening to family members all week of children that have been missing for a very, very long time, and I have to tell you that my heart just goes out for all of them, and I understand where they`re coming from, and I have to tell you that as difficult as it was to hear that my daughter was dead, I`m in a better place knowing where my daughter is than these parents are who are still held up in limbo sometimes after decades, and my heart just goes out to all of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKINNEY: I`ve always felt that she was OK. I just don`t know whether she`s dead or alive. If she was alive, I felt that she was being taken care of and that she`s OK, but if she was dead that god was taking care of her, my dad was taking care of her, my brother was taking care of her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKINNEY: If they were in my shoes, I don`t know that they could stand it. I think whoever knows, I think that, and I hope that the guilt has gotten to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: February 2nd, 1985, Cherrie Mahan got off her school bus and never made it home.
MCKINNEY: At 4:00, the bus came and we heard it and she just never came up the driveway. I should have been there when Cherrie got of the school bus, and I wasn`t.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She literally vanishes, never seen or heard from again. Police investigate the many leads that come in but remain baffled.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe there`s something I overlooked at the time, but I followed every lead that I thought that night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who preyed on an innocent eight-year-old girl? And is Cherrie Mahan still alive?
MCKINNEY: I`ve always felt that she was OK. I just don`t know whether she was dead or alive. If she was alive, I felt she was being taken care of and that she`s OK, but if she was dead that god was taking care of her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: We are taking your calls live tonight. I`m Jean Casarez. Help us find Cherrie Mahan. She was the first person, the first missing person to be featured on the "Have you seen me?" advertising circulars back in May, 1985.
To Natisha Lance, her photograph, Cherrie Mahan`s photograph was circulated all around this country. Just describe for us some of the ways that people got to see this missing little girl.
LANCE: Jean, it was on bumper stickers, it was through flyers. It was through those postcards that you just mentioned. And what the goal was with those postcards is every person who has a mailbox should be aware of these missing children. To date there have been 170,000 children who have been featured in these missing postcards, 158 of them -- 158,000 of them have been found. And they go out to 100 million homes every week.
CASAREZ: And Cherrie Mahan was the first, the first one. And law enforcement is telling us tonight from the Pennsylvania state police that they currently have a lead they believe is the strongest since this case happened in 1985, to solving it. I want to go out to the callers. Kelly in Oklahoma. Hi, Kelly.
KELLY IN OKLAHOMA: Hi, there, thanks for taking my call. I have one quick question. If the police announced it was someone probably she knew, and if nobody saw her get taken by somebody in the van, were other people considered -- were other family members looked at and cleared?
CASAREZ: All right. To trooper Robert McGraw from the Pennsylvania state police. Initially when this happened in 1985, and really up until this day, but close to when it all began, did you canvass the area going home to home talking and searching at least verbally everything you could from anyone you could find?
MCGRAW: That is correct, Jean. The original investigators and a team of troopers canvassed the area and did numerous, numerous area interviews at the time of Cherrie`s disappearance.
CASAREZ: You did polygraphs, too, right? Who did you do polygraphs on?
MCGRAW: The mother and stepfather were both given polygraph tests.
CASAREZ: All right. What about the birth father?
MCGRAW: Jean, I`m not going to answer that question.
CASAREZ: OK. Let`s go to another caller, Hailey in Arizona. Hi, Hailey.
HALEY IN ARIZONA: Hi. I just want to say I love your show and you and Nancy, and I want to know that when that day when she was abducted, why didn`t the -- why didn`t the bus driver see the little girl, like, and the car, too, because apparently the car that distinctive then the bus driver should notice that that`s a car right there?
And the other thing is that there are other kids, and if they see that she`s walking alone, they should have went and did something and walked with her home. So --
CASAREZ: Some good questions there. Janice McKinney, who is the mother of Cherrie, how do you think that all happened? Obviously a bus has to keep going. They have children, other children on it that they have to get home. Do you think that everyone just sort of drifted off and Cherrie was the last one?
MCKINNEY: Yes. That`s exactly what happened. The kids turned and the other kids that got off the bus, they turned and started to walk up their driveway and Cherrie turned and started to walk back toward our driveway. So they all kind of went in their own separate little directions. So --
CASAREZ: Very quickly, the blue van, everybody`s heard about the blue van for years with the skier on the side. But what about the blue car? Have you heard about that from the beginning?
MCKINNEY: The car was always there. It was just we didn`t -- it was not focused on at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKINNEY: There is somebody out there that knows, and sometimes guilt will eat your way into, you have to tell somebody, and I`m just hoping that maybe this will be the year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a February day in 1985 when eight-year- old Cherrie Mahan got off the school bus to make the 100-yard walk to her front door. She never made it.
MCKINNEY: Caring, I never will stop caring for Cherrie, and the heartache, it gets worse and worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Witnesses reported seeing a light blue van with a painting of a mountain and skier on the side parked right behind the bus stop. Authorities conducted interviews, polygraphed the family, and investigated tips, but were without a clue to lead them to Cherrie.
MCKINNEY: Sometimes guilt will eat you away until you have to tell somebody, and I`m just hoping that maybe this will be the year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: Cherrie Mahan, this was a very rural area in Pennsylvania. It wasn`t a big city. It was Winfield Township, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh, a very small town area, where everybody knew everybody. She got off her school bus, this eight-year-old little girl in 1985, and she was never seen again.
Let`s go out to Yolanda in Georgia. Hi, Yolanda.
YOLANDA IN GEORGIA: Hi.
CASAREZ: Thank you for calling.
YOLANDA: Thank you so much. Jean, I would like to tell you that I really enjoy yours and Nancy and all the others that help with finding the children. These are wonderful programs.
MCKINNEY: You know, Yolanda, this whole week what has struck me is how easily someone can just disappear. And it can be anybody. I think that`s one lesson we are all learning from this. What`s your question tonight?
YOLANDA: Jean, I would like to know why do they keep showing the cemetery if the girl is missing?
CASAREZ: That`s a very good question and we do have the answer for you. Natisha Lance, something happened and that is why we see a cemetery plot for Cherrie Mahan. Explain that to everybody.
LANCE: Back in 1998 Cherrie`s mother went to a judge and had her legally declared deceased. There`s a reason for this. Before Cherrie went missing, there was a traffic accident and she won a claim from an insurance company for $3,500. Cherrie`s mother felt it was now time to move on, award that money to her son who she did have, the child she still had living. But she still held out hope Cherrie would be found alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKINNEY: Cherrie was just, she was a gift. She was just a gift from god. When people die and they`re gone, you go to a funeral home and you mourn them and you have someplace to go to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Vanished into thin air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look for her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just need to find her.
GRACE: So many cases.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re still looking.
GRACE: So few leads.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
GRACE: Missing person.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s our duty to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness seen the suspect on Nancy Grace.
GRACE: There is a God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Grace show was out there for us.
GRACE: Found. Alive. 50 people, 50 days. 50 nights. Let`s don`t give up.
JANICE MCKINNEY, MOM OF MISSING 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL: Cherrie was just, she was a gift. She was just a gift from God.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever since Cherrie was old enough to go to school, Janice says she walked her daughter to and from the bus stop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She had to go about 200 feet around that bend to get to her driveway then another 300 feet to her front door.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: February 22nd, 1985, Cherrie Mahan went to school and never came home. That day, Janice McKinney went from being a mother of a bubbly 8-year-old who loved rainbows and reading, to the mother of a missing child.
MCKINNEY: I think that the last words that I probably told her was, you know, have a good day and I do love you. And that was probably as I took her down to the bus stop and she got on the bus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Janice called state police and tracked down Cherrie`s school bus. She had to be sure Cherrie wasn`t still on it. Children on the bus told Janice and police Cherrie got of at her regular stop with other children. Those young witnesses described a blue van right behind the bus with a snow cap mountain and a skier painted on its side.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no sign of any tracks or anything. Apparently, someone picked her up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators checked out hundreds of leads, no van, no Cherrie.
MCKINNEY: Up until that day, I was there, and if I would have been there, I wouldn`t be going through this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After combing through hundreds upon hundreds of tips, police announce someone has provided, quote, "potentially crucial information."
MCKINNEY: As a mother, in my heart, I feel and I`ve always felt that she was OK. The not knowing is probably the killer of all things, and guilt, the guilt that I feel for no being there. Every year just gets a little harder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEAN CASAREZ, HOST: I`m Jean Casarez. Help us find Cherrie Mahan. If you know something, do the right thing. This all happened in Pennsylvania, the western part of Pennsylvania. I want to go out to David Lohr, crime reporter for aol.com, joining us tonight from Erie, Pennsylvania. When Cherrie got off of her school bus, we understand there were two vehicles in the vicinity of that school bus, one being a van, but it wasn`t just any van. It was a very unique van. David, describe those vehicles for us.
DAVID LOHR, CRIME REPORTER: Well, the van was very distinct. It was a bluish-green in color and it had a mountain scene painted on the side of it with a skier. And what`s interesting about that is here you have a vehicle with such a unique paint job and nobody`s ever seen it since. You know, they put descriptions of it out there. They had artist renditions, and nobody`s ever came forward and said that they`ve seen the vehicle anywhere. And as far as the car goes, you know, it`s basically just a -- it was a late model vehicle at the time. A blue car, inconspicuous, and whether or not it`s connected to the case, we don`t know.
CASAREZ: To Trooper Robert McGraw, he is the lead investigator from the Pennsylvania State Police on this case now joining us from Butler, Pennsylvania. The blue car, was that in a driveway that was close to where the school bus stopped?
VOICE OF TROOPER ROBERT MCGRAW, PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE: That`s correct, Jean. And if I may clarify, Jean, in regards to your earlier question, I just want you and your viewers to know that Cherrie`s biological father is not a person of interest in this investigation.
CASAREZ: OK. All right. Thank you very much for clarifying that. Trooper McGraw, you had someone walk into your office to talk to you and your associates. And you say this could be a critically important lead in solving this case?
MCGRAW: That`s correct, Jean. On the flip side of that coin, Jean, this could take us to a dead end, but we will actively and aggressively pursue this lead to find out if it`s viable or if this is another dead end, but we are highly optimistic about what we`re working on right now, Jean.
CASAREZ: Now, did this happen in 2011, since the first of the year?
MCGRAW: I won`t answer that, Jean.
CASAREZ: All right. When do you think you`ll have information that you can publicly announce?
MCGRAW: Tough question to answer, Jean. We are actively and aggressively pursuing this lead as we speak, and hopefully, as soon as we can track down some leads in conjunction with the information that`s been provided, hopefully, we can have some answers.
CASAREZ: You know, trooper, just to hear you say that this is a potentially very important lead, I mean, it fills our hearts with hope. And we know you`ve tempered that by saying that it may lead to a dead end, but I hear in your voice that you believe there is a relevancy to the lead that you have found. Let`s go to Elizabeth in Alabama. Hi, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH, ALABAMA: Hi. How are you?
CASAREZ: I`m fine. Thank you for calling tonight.
ELIZABETH: I just wanted to say that my heart goes out to this mother who has had this happen to her child, and no one deserves to have this. And I hope that she gets some answers soon so that she can rest, you know, since this has happened to her.
My question is, since this van has some, you know, identifying marks that are unusual, has law enforcement checked with -- I know that they`ve sought out all possible leads as far as no one`s come forward about, you know, the paint job or anything, but have they checked with, you know, finding out about auto body shops, with who has done a paint job on this or have they checked with insurance companies to find out who the vehicle may be registered to or anything that way?
CASAREZ: You know, Elizabeth, you are so right. I mean, this van was so unique and never to be seen. Again, let`s go out to Sheryl McCollum, crime case analyst, director of the cold case squad, Pine Lake PD, joining us tonight from Atlanta. Sheryl, what do you make of this? This is a van that you would remember, but nobody ever saw it again.
SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST: It may not be from the area. And maybe when they put out the alerts, the person has gone back to Colorado. The problem I`m having with the van, sometimes, when I see vehicles like this in an abduction case, it makes me think there could be two perpetrators in that van, one driving and one snatching the child from the side. So, we wouldn`t rule that out.
You know, the blue car, that to me kind of signifies that maybe it`s a person that knew her and said, hey, you know, your mom wanted me to come pick you up and the child just jumps in. So, the tire tracks would be something that I would want to see. What direction were they going? Did they do, you know a u-turn? Was it a k-turn? That`s the kind of thing I would want to see about those tires.
CASAREZ: To Joey Jackson, defense attorney out of New York. Since there is a lead now, someone walked into a Pennsylvania State Troopers office, what are your thoughts? if someone knows information out there, but they are concerned that they may be prosecuted because they`ve held this for so long, what advice do you give them?
JOEY JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. You know what, I think that there`s a lot of bargaining chips here, Jean, because I think in the final analysis, what you want is you want the safe return of this person with her family. And as a result of that, I mean, certainly, there are going to be chips that have to fall, but if ever there`s going to be a negotiation with a prosecutor or what have you, now would be that time because you`re in a strengthen position.
You have the ability after so long to solve this case, and as a result, you contact a lawyer, you negotiate in advance, you go on, and hopefully, things work out well for all parties concerned, Jean.
CASAREZ: John Manuelian, criminal defense attorney joining us out of Los Angeles tonight. Thoughts?
JOHN MANUELIAN, CRIMINAL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I completely agree. A lawyer`s job is to convince this potential client that number one, look, you`re in a lot of trouble. You want to make it easy for yourself. You want to convince the client that the best interest of the child are at stake. Just give the information up and then you want to contact the prosecutor`s office and then make something happen as far as a deal before the arrest of your client.
CASAREZ: And I think you`re so right. If prosecution is in order, prosecution is in order, but the point is to resolve this case and find Cherrie Mahan.
And also tonight, please help us find James Eunice. He`s 17 years old. He disappeared on January 15th, 2011 from Valdosta, Georgia. He is a white male, 6`3", 180 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes. If you have any information, please call 229-671-2950. If your loved one is missing and you need our help, please go to CNN.com/nancygrace. Send us your story. We want to help find your loved ones.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCKINNEY: Caring, I never will stop caring for Cherrie and the heartache, it gets worse and worse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tears have not healed the emotional wounds of Janice McKinney with an 8-year-old daughter, Cherrie Ann Mahan vanished February 22nd, 1985.
MCKINNEY: The not knowing is probably the killer of all things, and the guilt that I feel for not being there. Every year just gets a little harder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Janice and Cherrie`s stepfather, Leroy, were not there when Cherrie got off her school bus about 100 yards from the family`s home. This recreation aired nationally after other children say they saw Cherrie walk to a blue van with the mural of a mountain and a skier.
MCKINNEY: That van fell off the face of the earth. It went into a black hole with her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cherrie`s grandmother, Shirley, who paid psychics over the year to help find clues has now lost hope of ever finding her little angel alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I truly in my heart feel that she is dead. I think that her grandfather and her uncle are watching over her in heaven.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CASAREZ: I`m Jean Casarez. I want to go straight out to Trooper Robert McGraw with the Pennsylvania State Police. And trooper, we want to tell everybody that if anyone knows anything about Cherrie Mahan, you can call 1-800-the-lost or that is 1-800-843-5678. And trooper, if anyone is in Pennsylvania, they can walk into an office just like someone did recently, or if they`re in other parts of the country, they can call this number, right?
MCGRAW: That`s correct.
CASAREZ: I want to ask you about this van. We don`t want to put too much significance on this van, but yet, it was one of two vehicles that was right there that day. At the time, did people, investigators go to body shops in this area to see if anyone had done this work? Because this was specialized work to have this painting on the sides.
MCGRAW: They did, Jean. I can assure you, Jean, that the three lead investigators who worked this case before me, they put their heart and soul into this case and they pored over hundreds upon hundreds leads, many involving van sightings and checking on auto body shops and paint jobs and the such. They were -- many leads were tracked down and referenced to that paint job in that van.
CASAREZ: So, do you believe that paint job was done outside of the Western Pennsylvania area?
MCGRAW: Jean, that`s a difficult question to answer. I`m not 100 percent certain that that`s the paint job, Jean. I know that that was the artist`s rendition from two of the children who witnessed the van, but that paint job, it could be slightly different, Jean. We could be looking for a different type of paint job on a van. And Jean, I want your viewers to know there`s also a possibility that that van had absolutely nothing to do with Cherrie`s abduction.
CASAREZ: Right. Right. Good point. Out to Edna in Illinois. Hi, Edna.
EDNA, ILLINOIS: Hi. I heard the mother make a remark that the little girl was going to go for a sleep over. Could anything have been connected to the sleep over? That they came and let her think that they were picking her up early or something?
CASAREZ: Hmm. Hmm. Janice McKinney, mother of Cherrie, joining us tonight from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was going to go for a sleep over that night? What was that?
MCKINNEY: Yes, she was. The people that she was going to go stay with, matter of fact, they probably were at my house within an hour after, you know, Cherrie was -- I figured out that Cherrie was kidnapped. They came, they helped. They were there for hours and days, afterwards. So, no, they had nothing to do with it.
CASAREZ: Right. Janice, what is life like for you now? I mean, just -- I don`t even want to ask you if you`ve moved on. How could you move on? Do you think about Cherrie every day?
MCKINNEY: Yes, there`s not one day that I don`t think about her. On my way to work, on my way home from work, at my desk, I`m constantly praying for her. If she`s not alive, that my mom and my brothers are taking care of her. I just need to know. I want to know what happened to her. I want to know where she is.
CASAREZ: And you may because we had Trooper Robert McGraw tell us tonight that the strongest tip since 1985 has come into the Pennsylvania State Police. So, you may have some answers. I want to go to Carol in Indiana. Hi, Carol.
CAROL, INDIANA: Hello, Jean. Thank you so much for taking my call.
CASAREZ: Thank you for calling.
CAROL: It`s very emotional for me. I`ve been where these people are. My son was missing for 16 years, and from 1993 to 2009, and thanks to a state trooper in Indiana, he was found alive in Mississippi.
CASAREZ: Carol --
CAROL: Go ahead, I`m sorry.
CASAREZ: Carol, what words can you tell Janice McKinney tonight?
CAROL: I feel your pain. I`ve been there. My thoughts go out to you and my prayers. I believe in miracles, because a miracle happened in my life. And I didn`t know where my son was for 16 years, and he was an adult when he left. He was 22, but he just disappeared and was not heard from again for 16 long years. Not a day went by that I didn`t grieve. My heart was broken, but when he was found, my heart was healed.
CASAREZ: Carol in Indiana, thank you so much for calling tonight.
And now to tonight`s "CNN Heroes."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. ROSEANNA MEANS, MEDICAL MARVEL: Every week, I talk to women who are sleeping outside.
It`s only 17 degrees out, so I didn`t want you to get frozen.
There`s so much pain and suffering right on the fringes of our perspective.
Do you need some help, hon?
In Boston, despite all the medical resources for the homeless population, I was seeing very few of the women using the services. For women who are poor, homeless, or battered to deal with a system of health care becomes overwhelming. They don`t have an address, they don`t have a phone. There are lots of emotional issues, psychiatric issues. I just didn`t like the idea that they were falling through the cracks.
I`m Dr. Roseanna Means, and I bring free my quality medical care to women and children in the shelters of Boston.
Good morning.
The women come into the shelters to get warm and to feel safe, and we`re there.
Come on in.
There`s no registration. We`re not charging anything.
If they want to come see us, we`ll use that moment to try to build a relationship.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my safety net right here.
MEANS: Women learn to trust us as ambassadors of the health care system.
God bless.
Over time, we can teach them how to use the system as it was intended, and eventually, they do move forward.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because I knew she really cared, I started wanting to take care of myself.
MEANS: I love these women no matter what.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You did a great job.
MEANS: That starts to get taken inside. That if I matter to somebody else, maybe I matter to myself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: These are the faces of America`s missing. Every 30 seconds another child, sister, brother, father, mother, disappears. Their families left behind wondering, waiting, hoping. We have not forgotten.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Missing tonight, Deniese Hiraman. Deniese was 13 years old when she went missing from her home in Queens, New York, in 1999.
Byron Page was a good student with a bright future until he disappeared in Los Angeles in 1992.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was so devastating for my family and me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, his family spends every day praying for a break in the case.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He`s out there somewhere. I just don`t know where. And my hope that if not in my lifetime, his brother finds him to fill that void in his life as well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I must have arrived home about 5:00, and Byron wasn`t home, which was unusual. When Byron didn`t come home by 6:00, I was alarmed. I called 911. We reported him missing. I guess, I must have spent a month at least passing out posters and doing everything I could. I was just so distraught. I started working a lot of overtime, simply because I didn`t want to come home. Byron loved comic books, writing, and music.
When he was 16, he wanted to play football. I was not happy. But Byron had made up his mind. He joined the football team, and he had a really good season. He really enjoyed it, but I was very relieved when the season was over. I know that there is not a day goes by that we don`t think of Byron. I guess you just have to find the happiness and the peace of mind within yourself, and it`s an ongoing process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: I`m Nancy Grace. See you tomorrow night, 9 o`clock sharp eastern. And until then, we will be looking. Keep the faith, friend.
END
FystyAngel- Admin
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Re: Cherrie Mahan -- Missing 2/22/85
by FystyAngel Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:30 pm
"AC360°" is investigating some of the nation's most notorious cold cases. Watch nightly at 10 ET.
(CNN) -- Cherrie Mahan was 8 years old when she disappeared from her bus stop one day after school in 1985. Now, nearly 26 years after she vanished, the lead investigator says there could be a break in the case.
"Recently, a person contacted Pennsylvania State Police, and they have the potential to be crucial to the investigation in the future," Trooper Robert McGraw said. "We're highly optimistic that this lead has the potential to bring closure to Cherrie's family."
Cherrie was the first child to appear on a "Have You Seen Me?" mailer, soon after she disappeared February 22, 1985.
She was last seen getting off a school bus and was supposed to walk 200 feet to her home in rural Winfield Township in western Pennsylvania. On any other day, her mother would have been there to meet her.
"I should have been there when Cherrie got off the school bus, and I wasn't," Janice McKinney told CNN's Randi Kaye. "Four o'clock, the bus came, and we heard it. And she just never came up the driveway."
Since that moment, Cherrie's mother has been living every parent's nightmare. "I think my guilt started at that point, because up until that day, I was there. And if I would have been there, I wouldn't be going through this," she said.
Children on Cherrie's school bus described a light blue van with a mural of a snowcapped mountain and a skier painted on the side that was parked right behind the bus stop. Investigators believe the van could've been involved in the girl's disappearance.
There was snow on the ground the day Cherrie vanished but no footprints leading to her house, suggesting to investigators that she didn't get far and was picked up quickly.
"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."
After Cherrie's disappearance, her mother didn't want to go through life without a child. Five years later, she had a son named Robert. He's now in his 20s. His mother kept him extremely close during his entire childhood for fear that he too could be taken away from her.
"He's never, ever gone anywhere without somebody," she said in 2005. "I mean, from the time he was able to walk, until this day ... I go to every soccer game. I stand by the door, you know, worried that somebody could come in and take him."
Cherrie's mother just wants to know what happened to her little girl. At the family's cemetery plot, there is a statue of an angel for Cherrie, not a gravestone, because her mother can't bring herself to place one there until she knows the truth.
"I have resigned myself to the fact that Cherrie is OK, whether she is dead or alive. If she's dead, my family is taking care of her. If she's alive, someone else is taking care of her," she said. "All I pray for now is to know one way or the other."
The mystery also weighs heavily on McGraw. Three investigators worked the case before him, all with the goal of solving it before they retired and all leaving the force coming up short. It's never far from his mind.
"I can't imagine if that was my child. I can't imagine the pain her mother must wake up with every day," McGraw said. "It's hard not to be attached" to the case, he said, pausing to fight tears.
With the new lead, McGraw is hopeful that with perseverance and some luck, he can finally solve one of the most notorious cold cases in recent U.S. history.
"I have a picture of her on my desk," he said. "So any second of my workday, when I think that there is nothing on my plate or I have anything to do, that picture reminds me there is always something to do, because we don't know what happened to Cherrie."
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/19/cherrie.mahan.cold.case/index.html
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Re: Cherrie Mahan -- Missing 2/22/85
by FystyAngel Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:33 pm
Police get tip on girl missing for 26 years
Information in 1985 case has potential to be 'crucial'
PITTSBURGH | A new tip about an 8-year-old girl who was the first child featured on the "Have You Seen Me?" direct-mail advertisements leaves little hope that she is still alive after nearly 26 years but provides the best chance yet of determining what happened to her, state police said.
Cherrie Mahan was last seen stepping off a school bus in 1985. Later that year, she was featured on the first "Have You Seen Me?" mailings by Advo Inc., a company since acquired by Valassis Inc. of Livonia, Mich. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, more than half of 2,100 children pictured on the fliers have been found — including 150 directly by tips generated by the fliers.
But not Cherrie.
Trooper Robert McGraw said he's optimistic that's about to change.
Trooper McGraw said new information has come from someone "who would have known Cherrie" and that it "has the potential to lead us to a known specific actor or actors."
Trooper McGraw won't say who walked into the state police barracks in Butler or even when it occurred.
"Their information has the potential to be crucial," he told the Associated Press. "This is more specific information than has been brought to our attention in a long, long time." He said the new information makes it "highly unlikely that she is alive."
What little is known about Cherrie's disappearance has been oft-repeated by newspapers, TV and radio stations.
A motorist saw her get off the bus on Feb. 22, 1985, near a bluish-green van with a skier painted on the side. As the bus stopped to allow traffic to pass, the van disappeared, and so did Cherrie. Her stepfather found only tire prints at the stop 50 yards from their home in Winfield Township, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Through the years, most leads have involving alleged sightings of the "skier van" or of Cherrie herself — some fueled by age-enhanced drawings that police have issued periodically. Trooper McGraw said the latest information "is not like another sighting of Cherrie or another tip about the van."
Cherrie's mother, Janice McKinney, keeps Cherrie's 2010 age-enhanced likeness on her desk at a Pittsburgh-area retirement community where she heads the housekeeping department.
Mrs. McKinney was a single mother when Cherrie disappeared. Now 50, Mrs. McKinney believes what psychics told her a couple of years ago: that Cherrie was kidnapped by someone she knew.
Mrs. McKinney told the AP that the psychics told her the kidnapper was "not like somebody that was her best friend or anything, but like somebody Cherrie had talked to once or had seen once. My daughter wasn't shy. She was friendly. … She would talk to you if you talked to her."
Trooper McGraw has told Mrs. McKinney that her daughter is unlikely to be alive. Mrs. McKinney has come to terms with that idea, intellectually at least.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/16/police-get-tip-on-girl-missing-for-26-years/?page=2
Information in 1985 case has potential to be 'crucial'
PITTSBURGH | A new tip about an 8-year-old girl who was the first child featured on the "Have You Seen Me?" direct-mail advertisements leaves little hope that she is still alive after nearly 26 years but provides the best chance yet of determining what happened to her, state police said.
Cherrie Mahan was last seen stepping off a school bus in 1985. Later that year, she was featured on the first "Have You Seen Me?" mailings by Advo Inc., a company since acquired by Valassis Inc. of Livonia, Mich. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, more than half of 2,100 children pictured on the fliers have been found — including 150 directly by tips generated by the fliers.
But not Cherrie.
Trooper Robert McGraw said he's optimistic that's about to change.
Trooper McGraw said new information has come from someone "who would have known Cherrie" and that it "has the potential to lead us to a known specific actor or actors."
Trooper McGraw won't say who walked into the state police barracks in Butler or even when it occurred.
"Their information has the potential to be crucial," he told the Associated Press. "This is more specific information than has been brought to our attention in a long, long time." He said the new information makes it "highly unlikely that she is alive."
What little is known about Cherrie's disappearance has been oft-repeated by newspapers, TV and radio stations.
A motorist saw her get off the bus on Feb. 22, 1985, near a bluish-green van with a skier painted on the side. As the bus stopped to allow traffic to pass, the van disappeared, and so did Cherrie. Her stepfather found only tire prints at the stop 50 yards from their home in Winfield Township, about 25 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Through the years, most leads have involving alleged sightings of the "skier van" or of Cherrie herself — some fueled by age-enhanced drawings that police have issued periodically. Trooper McGraw said the latest information "is not like another sighting of Cherrie or another tip about the van."
Cherrie's mother, Janice McKinney, keeps Cherrie's 2010 age-enhanced likeness on her desk at a Pittsburgh-area retirement community where she heads the housekeeping department.
Mrs. McKinney was a single mother when Cherrie disappeared. Now 50, Mrs. McKinney believes what psychics told her a couple of years ago: that Cherrie was kidnapped by someone she knew.
Mrs. McKinney told the AP that the psychics told her the kidnapper was "not like somebody that was her best friend or anything, but like somebody Cherrie had talked to once or had seen once. My daughter wasn't shy. She was friendly. … She would talk to you if you talked to her."
Trooper McGraw has told Mrs. McKinney that her daughter is unlikely to be alive. Mrs. McKinney has come to terms with that idea, intellectually at least.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/16/police-get-tip-on-girl-missing-for-26-years/?page=2
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Re: Cherrie Mahan -- Missing 2/22/85
by FystyAngel Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:40 pm
I remember when this case happened. I was living in Pa with my three small children, just one County over. It was a time when things like this just didn't happen. Or at least they didn't happen in rural Pa. Everyone was in total shock. Everyone heard about it. Everyone was on the lookout for the van with the painted scene of a snowy mountain & skier.
Throughout the years, I have often wondered what happened to Cherri. I had moved away from that area about a year later, so I figured that surely, they must have found her. I was quite surprised when I saw her precious face on Nancy Grace last week. My head is still reeling. I pray that this family finally gets closure & that Cherrie, if not alive, will finally be put to rest.
Throughout the years, I have often wondered what happened to Cherri. I had moved away from that area about a year later, so I figured that surely, they must have found her. I was quite surprised when I saw her precious face on Nancy Grace last week. My head is still reeling. I pray that this family finally gets closure & that Cherrie, if not alive, will finally be put to rest.
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Re: Cherrie Mahan -- Missing 2/22/85
by Piper Tue Jan 25, 2011 9:01 am
It haunts me to see the pictures of a young child from so long ago, that disappeared without a trace. I remember those vans with the murals vividly from that time. I hope her mother will someday have some answers.
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