After 40 years of searching and praying, Cherrie Mahan's mother asks for closure

Cherrie Mahan’s favorite color was purple.

The 8-year-old loved Cabbage Patch dolls, the movie “E.T.” and tuna fish sandwiches. She sang at church on Sundays with her grandma.

It’s the happy details that her mother, Janice McKinney, remembers most about Cherrie. The Winfield Elementary third grader went missing Feb. 22, 1985, near a rural bus stop close to her home along Cornplanter Road.

“She was my life,” McKinney said from a packed event Saturday at the Saxonburg VFW to mark the 40th anniversary of Cherrie’s disappearance. “Somebody knows what happened, and I am asking them to come forward. She deserves closure.”

McKinney, 64, said there hasn’t been a day in four decades that the mystery hasn’t antagonized her.

She is tired but remains hopeful.

“It breaks my heart to the point where I need this to be over,” McKinney said. “Forty years of searching and praying — it sucks the life out of me.”

A group of friends, younger than McKinney and with fresh energy, have taken over the daily grunt work.

Led by Bailey Gizienski and Alyssa Dietz, both of Butler, the group calls itself “Cherrie’s Angels.”

They helped organize Saturday’s fundraiser, which drew hundreds of people for raffles, T-shirt sales and more.

Proceeds will be used to hire a private investigator, Dietz said.

“We want her to have answers,” Gizienski said. “So many of the people that knew about this case are older. We want to get it out to a younger generation in hopes of new leads.”

They created a Facebook page, Find Cherrie Mahan, through which they post details of the case, never-before-seen pictures and ways to get involved.

“Everyone has to remember that before it was national news, Cherrie was a normal little girl.”

At just about 4:10 p.m., McKinney addressed the crowd — and the people she believes are responsible. She didn’t disclose names.

“This is the time that she was getting off the bus,” McKinney said. “I pray that you have enough faith in your heart to let me know after all these years.”

State Trooper Jim Long assured the crowd that the investigation is still active. It is among the few cases that has never idled, police said.

“This shook the community,” Long said. “It was bigger than that. We get calls from around the country.”

Laura Mason Lockard, originally from Allegheny Township, doesn’t know McKinney but was drawn to make a connection with her.

Lockard said she underwent a traumatic rape in 1981 at age 11 and believes evidence from her case could help in Mahan’s search.

“If they are able to determine the DNA from my case, you never know where it could lead,” she said.

Long said investigators acknowledge every tip. They continue to have hope, he said.

“We still have people giving us information all the time,” he said. “We’ll keep working until we have closure, not only for the family, but for the generations of investigators that have worked on this case.”