A woman is claiming to be Shelley Mahan, the Pennsylvania girl who went missing after being dropped off by a school bus in February 1985.
Pennsylvania State Police are investigating an unidentified woman’s claim that she was 8-year-old Mahan, who disappeared from a bus stop outside her home in Winfield Township, Butler County, nearly 40 years ago.
The woman posted last month in a Facebook group called “Memories of Shelley Mahan,” claiming to be Shelley, but was reported to state police. The Butler Eagle reported..
According to the missing persons investigation, Cherry was last seen just after 4pm on February 22, 1985, getting off a bus at the bottom of her driveway.
Investigators said a blue 1976 Dodge van painted with a mural of a mountain skier had been seen nearby and may have been connected to her disappearance.
Cherry’s mother, Janice McKinney, said she doesn’t believe the woman claiming to be her daughter, now 46, is really Cherry, according to local news outlets.
“I truly believe that in her mind she thought she was Cherry,” McKinney told the Eagle. “She looked nothing like Cherry.”
She is the fourth woman to claim to be Cherry in the years since her disappearance, and a $5,000 reward has long been offered for anyone providing information leading to her identity or arrest.
The grieving mother said the May post was unexpected, as she was used to receiving information about Cherry around the anniversary of her disappearance and her daughter’s birthday in August.
“I knew in February and August it would be tough. This was a different kind of shock,” she told a local newspaper. “I didn’t even see it. Someone called and told me.”
McKinney said her heart breaks every time someone claims to be her daughter, even if she doesn’t believe them.
“If you were hoping for your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve missed it,” she said. “People are mean and cruel, but this has really affected me badly. It’s been 40 years since Cherry went missing.”
Still, state police are working to identify the woman and are working with out-of-state agencies to try to contact her.
The woman’s post has since been removed from the Facebook group.
McKinney knows the real Cherry is being cared for, dead or alive.
“I always thought my mom was OK,” she says. “If she died, she’d be in heaven with her parents and siblings. If she was alive, someone would be taking care of her. I don’t know why I feel that way.”
But that doesn’t mean the mother has made up her mind.
“we [every investigator who has looked into Cherrie’s case] “We could all get together and sit down and talk,” McKinney said. “Somewhere, someone has missed something, and someone knows something.”
Pennsylvania State Police did not immediately respond to a request for information.
