Cherrie Ann Mahan was eight years old when she vanished from a rural bus stop on Cornplanter Road in Winfield Township, Pennsylvania, on February 22, 1985. She stepped off her school bus at about 4:10 p.m., about 100 to 150 yards from her home, wearing a gray coat, blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, beige boots and distinctive Cabbage Patch earmuffs. In the minutes it took to walk up the driveway she disappeared; her parents called police after she failed to arrive home.

Early investigation focused on a bright blue or green 1976 Dodge van seen in the area, painted with a snow-capped mountain and a skier on its side and reported to have been following the school bus. Despite extensive searches, thousands of leads and periodic renewed efforts including private investigators, cadaver dogs and tips from inmates, neither Cherrie nor the van has been found. Cherrie was declared legally dead in 1998 at her mother Janice McKinney’s request, but her family has continued to pursue answers.

Does anyone remember seeing a bright blue or green 1976 Dodge van with a mountain-and-skier mural in the Winfield Township area around February 22, 1985?