State Police: Michigan Woman is Not Long-Missing Cherrie Mahan

State police today said officials have determined that a Michigan woman thought to be Cherrie Mahan is not the long-missing girl who disappeared after stepping off a school bus in Winfield Township more than 25 years ago.

Eight-year-old Cherrie was last seen on Feb. 22, 1985 less than 100 yards from her rural home on Cornplanter Drive in the vicinity of a blue van with mural of a skier on a mountain painted on the side. Her family never saw her again, and her disappearance was well-publicized in Western Pennsylvania and later around the country.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which opened in 1984, featured Cherrie on the first of their on their mass-mailed "Have You Seen Me?" search cards. Cherrie, who would now be in her early 30s, also was featured CNN earlier this year during a special series on cold cases.

Her disappearance gained renewed attention last week when a tipster told WPXI-TV’s Rick Earle that Cherrie, now grown, was alive and living in Michigan.

Pennsylvania State Police began investigating the claim. Earle, who traveled to Michigan to interview the tipster, also made contact with the woman the tipster thought could be Cherrie. That woman, whose name has not been released, denied she was the missing girl.

Working with the Antrim County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan, state police said they used interviews, photographs, records and documents from the Michigan Department of Vital Statistics to determine the woman is not Cherrie Mahan.

 That lead is no longer considered active, according to state police.

At the time she disappeared, Cherrie had pierced ears and was wearing a gray coat, blue denim sirt, blue leg warmers and beige boots. She was 4 feet, 2 inches tall, weighed 68 pounds, had  brown hair and hazel eyes.