Poor life. Welcome back. Hello. Hello, Haley.
Hi. So sweet. Intender. I like that.
You're welcome. When I know you're not sleeping. Oh my gosh. I know you.
Yeah. I didn't meet you yesterday. Right. So I've been watching a new show recently.
Actually, it's not new, but it's new to me. What is it? So now that I'm back at school and like working again, being, you know, employed full-time, I have a hard time watching like really heavy, dark things because like I need something at a day to like turn my brain off of that because it's kind of what I deal with all day. So I found this like very trashy reality TV below deck.
It's about these people who, this crew that is a crew on a yacht and they do these like charters for these really rich people like us, like us. And they just like, just the drama of like the crew's lives and like it's very drama films. I guess I didn't realize it would be so drama film. Well, I didn't either.
And it kept popping up on my TikTok like little clips of it or whatever. And I was like, I feel like I could get into this. So I'm on the second season. Oh, wow.
Well, there's so many episodes of season. Oh, okay. But there's so many different versions of it. So I'm watching the Mediterranean one.
So they're like cruising around the Mediterranean. That would be beautiful. It is very pretty. It seems like.
But is it like the stress of like, hurry, the rich people want this kind of thing? Yeah, it's that and it's also like interpersonal drama. Oh, like other people's drama. So I'm like, oh, I can get behind this.
Where they're like so and so yelled at me or so and so said this or they slept with this person and like it gets pretty wild. All right. It seems like they need an HR. Absolutely.
There is no HR on the show board. Not on board. It's a yeah, you kind of just do whatever you want kind of thing free for all in it. Pretty much.
So it's pretty crazy. But I would recommend having a great time watching it. Wow. Because it's one of the things I can turn on and just like totally dissociating on those.
You know, it's funny. So I don't really watch a lot of TV. I don't have a lot of time, but I tend to like to go to sleep with a TV on. So I like to have like background noise, whatever.
And I like to do it to a show that's familiar. Yeah. So I don't it's nothing that would be scary or you know. So I've been having a modern family.
I love modern family. It's very funny. So one episode is that they go to Disneyland and at the time, Lily, who in the show is Cam and Mitchell's adopted daughter. Anyway, she's young and they have a nice little harness on her.
Oh gosh. Oh, she's on a leash. You're like, no, no, no. It's a safety.
And Cam is all about this because he said, you know, she runs away. She's a flight risk and I don't want to lose her. And his husband, Mitchell is like, no, like this is embarrassing. Like people are judging us.
Like we've got to get her off this leash. And you know, basically you understand, honey, like you've got to stay with us and it makes us scared when you run off. So I'm going to take you off of this. Okay.
And she's like, okay. And then she like bolts and they are chasing her through the entire park. It is insane. And then at the end, they realize, okay, yeah.
Yep. Back on this. Yeah. Yeah.
I was a leash kid. Where are you? I think so. I feel like I know that my parents had one.
I feel like I remember the music on my brother, but I also used it on me and like places like, which I totally would. Oh my gosh. Let me tell you, before I had a child, I would judge those parents and I'd be like, oh my gosh, this is not animal. This is a person on a little leash.
Oh my gosh. And I had a child and I get it. I get it 100%. Yeah.
Your kid is one that I could feel like would just and not to like, not like he wouldn't just like start running. It's like wonder off. Yeah. Like, hey, I want to go check this out.
I'm going to go. And just doesn't pay attention. Right. Yeah.
Yeah. And even with conversations of like stay with mommy and if you don't stay with mommy, we're going to have to leave like, you know, like, like, it's just like, see the squirrel and it's gone. Yeah. And it's like, but I had to go see the squirrel and I'm like running after him.
You're scary. Yeah. So I get it now. My brother had a leash.
But in the eighties, the leash was around your wrist. So it was a wrist leash. So whenever my mom pulled him his little arm would go back. And I think about that now.
And I think that probably was not good for his arm. Like, I like the one now that's like a harness and go back back back a little bit. It's kind of cute. Versus like, let me pull your arms.
So the eighties was a fun time. It was a wild time. I think we should invest. And I've told my friends this, so we should invest in one of them for me when I go out drinking.
I agree. You tend to wonder. I am a wanderer. You do.
So I'm not opposed to somebody just like attaching it. So like a belt loop. That's not a bad idea. Or if I need to wear the backpack harness, I can.
Oh, that would be so cute. I would not be, you know, ashamed. What kind of little animal would you like on your backpack harness? I don't know.
What would you keep in it? Like your driver's license? You had to make a little purse. I could pull everybody's like, IDs.
I could pull them in the cell phones, the keys, all that. I just keep in the backpack. I really like that idea. Actually, a big H on it for Haley.
Yeah. Maybe your initials, so it won't get lost. Right. Well, you won't be taking it off.
No, I'll be attached. I loved this idea. Yeah. Yeah.
That is not a not actual, not sexual. Like they do. Don't go googling that. Don't.
I mean, unless that's your thing. And then you just go right ahead. And then you just have at it. Maybe not on a swing, but your harness.
I none of those things. Anyway, but I think that's actually a good idea because Haley does tend to wander off. I just get romantic and hands-y. Hand-free for sure.
Super-handsy. Well, I will leave a situation. I've told the story before, but I when I was living in New York City, I was downtown with some friends out of bar and we'd gone to a few different places and I was a little under the influence of alcohol. And I decided that it was time to go home and I couldn't find anybody.
So I just left the location. I don't remember how I got home, but I did. I got back to my apartment on the Upper West Side and was asleep in my apartment safe and sound. Had my phone on vibrate and I decided on my desk or something.
So when I woke up, I had 50 missed calls. Where are you? I was like, we're going to file a missing person's report if you don't like Texas back as we think you're dead. It turns out I was alive.
That's my apartment. Safe and sound. Texted everybody back and was like, I am alive. And in my apartment, thankfully I woke up pretty early in the morning.
I was able to- I can also tell when he was drinking because there was one time where we actually met up downtown and we were separate with separate friends. I was going for somebody's birthday party. I was going for something kind of at the same place. It was before we really knew each other well.
Before I had seen my boobs. Oh, I didn't get to see the boobs until much later. Until recently. What steps were making in deepening our relationship?
This is so wonderful. Anyway, no, this was years ago and I saw her down. And she was like, hey, I remember she came up in a hug. I did and I don't think I've done it since.
No. In context, that was really a weird thing. Don't you think- That's also how you were drinking. Because, hey, we just come up and hug me.
And I remember my friends were like, who is that person? Do you know this car? And I was like, oh, we worked together. At the time, it was.
We were close because we worked together. We weren't like- Show me your boobs close. Like now where we're sleeping in the same draw mattress, we're in a potato sack, racing together. We're showing each other our boobs.
With no weird skin issues. I mean, we're at a deeper level now. But back then I was like, this is weird. And even my friends were like, who is that girl?
I was like, I don't know. She was so like, happy and like, hey, like, not the Haley. I know. I was so taken aback by it.
But it was ironic that we were kind of in the same place at the same time. Well, I think I had been in this like kind of grungy little bar. And you would come out of this kind of fancier like cocktail place. I mean, while we're walking past you too, like a gay bar to go dancing and watch a drag show.
Yeah, because like the drag show started at like 1030 or something. So we're like, yeah, we're going to head over to this other bar and we're going to watch this drag show. And we'll be- I will tell you- Roll on. It's not often really.
Even as much as we talk about music and stuff, but it's not often really that there is huge differences in our age that show. But at that point there was, I was coming out of the classy cocktail lounge that we were like, we need to leave by like 830 because we got a good bed. Like we all have to go to bed. We're tired.
We're old. And Haley was like, I left the crappy club. And now I'm headed down this way to like party all night. Let me hug you.
Okay, but I'm about to go night night because I'm like, oh, it was just like caught me in that was so funny. And that's where it like showed our age because me and my group of friends were like, time for night night. And my group of friends were like, yeah, you know, it was amazing. But nowadays I actually really prep for that kind of activity.
It's hard. Like if I'm going to go out and like go to bars and go out dancing and like that- which I like to do, I have a great time when I do it. But I can only do it like once every like a few months and I have to like really prep like sleep, chug and energy drink. And I still want to be leaving the place or home, preferably I'm already home by midnight.
But get it. My friends took me out for my birthday and we went out and we went to this again, we tended to do it a little classy. I do like it in the class. So we went to this like cocktail lounge that had this gorgeous rooftop.
It was amazing. So much fun. And so we had drinks there. We had dinner at this like really elegant, fancy place that had a piano player.
I mean, it was very fancy. Anyway, and then we came back to my- because all of us were like, let's make sure we're back at the house by nine. So we all come back to my house and my son was with his other personal figure. And so we were back at my house and my one friend was like, whoo, his turn 30.
Like I've got to go home. I've got to get in bed. I'm exhausted. And we're like, okay, sure.
And my other friend said, can I just spend the night? I don't even want to drive home. It's so late. And it was 10 30.
And I was like, oh yeah, I totally hear you. I stayed up talking with her until three o'clock in the morning. That's wild. Yeah.
I threw some of my clothes at her. I gave her a new toothbrush and said, night friend, it was like being in college again. It was actually really cool. It was sweet.
It was really cool. But we were messed up the next day. I'm not messed up drunk. Mess up tired.
Right. Or old. It's hard. It's hard to bounce back from that.
Yeah. Okay. What you got? I have a disappearance.
Ooh. Okay. So today we are headed to February of 1983, excuse me, 85. Ooh.
Four contacts. The number one song was Careless Whisper. Am I a man? I have a gun to dance again.
Yeah. The number one movie at the box office was Beverly Hills Cup starring Eddie Murphy. They have subsequently made two and three and many sequels. In the rest of the world, Iberian Airlines Flight 610 crashes killing 148 people on board.
While China Airlines Flight 006 is involved in a mid-air incident where there are 22 minor injuries and two serious injuries. Fortunately in this incident, no one was killed. So a lot of flight crashes happen in this area. Yeah.
You often wonder like with something going on like, at the spirit. Yeah. Yeah. Very strange.
Anyway. Now we're headed to Butler County, Pennsylvania. Butler County has a population of nearly 200,000 people. So pretty good size area.
It's about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. Okay. Those of you who are curious. I actually didn't know where it was either.
Our story begins on February 22nd, which is a Friday, 1985 on Corn Planter Road. Did there have a lot of corn planters that look there? I would assume. I don't know.
It's there where we land at the home of the McKinney family, which includes mom Janice, stepdad and Vietnam vet, Leroy McKenny, or Leroy. How are you going to pronounce it? I'm going to Leroy. I like that.
And eight year old, Cherry. Cute. I know. Cherry, Meihan was the only child of Janice and her birth was the result of a rape.
Her mother was attacked when she was 15 years old and became pregnant. She subsequently gave birth to Cherry in August of 1976 at the age of 16. Cherry and her mother Janice essentially grew up together. In May of 1982, Janice married Leroy and the family settled on Corn Planter Road towards the end of 1984, so just months before a story takes place.
Cherry was a fun, loving child who was described as friendly and talkative by her mother. That Friday morning in 1985 was like any other. Janice was helping Cherry get ready to meet the school of us. She reminded Cherry that when she got home from school that day, they were going to have a play date with a friend.
Cherry was so excited about this play date and could not wait for the end of the day. Cherry and her mother walked down the hill of their driveway some 50 feet from their house to the bus stop. When the school bus arrived, Cherry and her mother shared a hug and a kiss. They said they loved each other and then Cherry hopped on the bus.
So Cherry goes off to school and normally returned on the school bus. So Cherry and her three friends were seeing exiting the bus around 4-10 in the afternoon. Cherry's three friends got into the car of one of their friends' moms. Her name was Debbie Burke and she followed the bus up the road until it stopped for the girls to get out.
Gotcha. So Cherry's stepfather was in the house and he heard the school bus breaks. You know how it makes it? You know how it makes it?
You know how it makes it? Yeah. You always hear it. So it arrives at the front of their home.
He hears it on Corn Planet Road. So Leroy started to leave the house because he's like, I'm going to go meet her at the driveway, walk her back up. She is still young. And his wife is like, no, you know what?
It's a nice day. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. You know, if you want to see her, she can walk because I hate you.
But after 10 or 15 minutes, Cherry never arrived home. And instantly, Janice and Leroy were like, something is wrong because she was always quickly up the hill. Yeah. This shouldn't be an issue.
Right. So they went outside to look for Cherry, but they couldn't find her. There weren't any footprints in the snow near the house which signaled to her parents that Cherry never made it to the house. They did notice a set of tire impressions in the soil next to their driveway, some 50 feet away from their house.
50 feet. Wow. So this would mean that Cherry made it 100 yards up the driveway before she disappeared. Yeah.
Yours are feet. Huh? Yours are feet. Feet.
Sorry. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha.
Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.
Up the driveway before shoes. So that means that the individual drove up the driveway to get her. Yeah. Scary.
That's really scary. So obviously they call the police to report their daughter missing. Police quickly arrived and were given a description of Cherry. Cherry was four feet, two inches tall with brown hair and hazel eyes.
That day she was wearing a great coat, a white leotard, a blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, sticking out of the top of beige boots. This is very much of this time. Yeah. That's cute.
It is cute. Police launched an immediate search of the area of the McKinney home, which was searched on foot with bloodhounds and aroly with helicopters. Gotcha. Once Cherry's disappearance made the local news, 250 local community members volunteered to help in the search.
Wow. The community was so invested in Cherry's safe return that they pooled together and were able to post a $39,000 reward for her return. That's pretty impressive for that time. Absolutely.
And a local business in town offered an additional $10,000 if the abductor or abductors were captured and convicted. Gotcha. So a total of almost $50,000. That's crazy.
Investigators interviewed Janice and Leroy along with other family members because you always look at the family first. It quickly cleared these individuals and looked into the possibility of ransom. But again, ruled that out because the McKinney's weren't well free, nor did they have anyone who disliked them. Right.
So that wasn't a possibility. The police reached out to the public via the media and asked for those with any kind of sighting of this bluish green van with the mountain motif to come forward. The police released an artist's rendering of the van. This was a smart play because there were several people who came forward sitting there seeing this van around the New Kensington area, which was a little bit south.
The witness explained that the van was headed in the direction of Mount Pleasant. Another witness stated that they had seen a blue car following this van and that the van had been repainted black one or two weeks after Cherry was abducted. Wow. But I don't really know how would you know it was repainted unless you know what I mean?
Could you see it through that door? Maybe you could see a decal or something or even thicker paint. You could maybe see the outline of it. Maybe.
Something like that. Maybe. It almost was like someone in the know, did they see them repainted this van? I don't know.
That was just very strange. Several eyewitnesses came forward with sightings of the van after three months though. They didn't have any solidly scratched. They heard a lot of things.
They investigated it. They came up. So, please chose to go a different route and printed postcards with a photo and identifying details of Cherry on it. It also included the phrasing, quote, have you seen me?
End quote on it. So, they used a national direct mailing company that sent these postcards throughout the country and it was even included on utility and telephone bills. So somebody would see it. I remember as a kid the milk cartons.
Yeah. That you would see kids on the milk cartons. Yeah. So, wasn't uncommon.
But I'm curious. Like why didn't they search like DMV records? You know what I mean? I don't know if they have the capability back then.
But to pull registration and DMV records, who would have a car this model, this make? It can't be tons of people. Right. But who knows where they came from?
Which DMV are you starting with? That's true. I mean, they could have drove across the country. That's true.
That's true. That is true. That is true. That is true.
That is true. That makes you wonder if the abductor left the state after that fact. So, time marched on with very little to go on. In November of 1998, 13 years after Cherry's abduction, her parents had her declared legally dead.
Though they continued to hope that she was still alive, three months earlier, Janice had donated $50,000 as a reward leading to the safe return of her daughter to the national center for missing and exploited children. Yeah. So, Cherry May Hands Trust Fund was given to her younger brother Robert, whom the family had had had some four years after she disappeared in 1989. So, Janice had stated, when people die, you have a body.
You kiss them upon the face and you put them in the ground and you say goodbye. That's something that I never had. This is not over. We will always look for Cherry.
If nothing else, she'll always be alive at our hearts. I know. Just devastating for these parents. In 2000, the Pennsylvania State Police created a computer generated rendition.
Rendition? Okay. You got it. Of what Cherry might look like at the time.
So, she would have been 24 years old. So, what she would look like at 24. So, they used this likeness and again mailed it out to thousands of households across the country. While the family was hopeful that this would get a response, it failed to create any traction, which, oh, God, that would be so frustrating.
Eleven years later, in January of 2011, the police received a tip they felt was quote, potentially crucial to the investigation in the future. End quote. Investigators declined to release specific details beyond stating that the information came from an individual who knew Cherry. This individual provided information with the potential to lead police to a known specific actor or actors.
Yeah. Weird. Where did that come from? Yeah.
That's bizarre. A spokesman stated the information received had been quote, more specific than any other information investigators had received in many years. Wow. This spokesman declined to further elaborate citing the ongoing investigation.
However, investigators did state this potentially crucial information indicates that Cherry was unlikely to still be alive. Which, I mean, statistically, it seems unlike a person with me. Yeah. Yeah.
Police were very hush-hush regarding this tip, but nothing seemed to come from it again, which was like, ugh. You know, in 2014, investigators received a letter stating that Cherry was alive and living under an assumed name in Michigan. Whoa. The later detail that Cherry was adopted and given a new name.
Investigators went to Michigan and tracked down this young woman who had been adopted as a school-aged child. Wow. They asked her to submit DNA to see if she was Cherry because Cherry's mom had also submitted DNA in the hopes that she would be able to find the daughter, which is smart. One of the most recent lines of inquiry, so what ended up happening for that is that they tested the daughter's name.
Not a match. Not a match. So that sucks. So yeah, back to the drawing board again.
One of the most recent lines of inquiry came in 2018 when the McKinney family received an anonymous handwritten letter describing in detail who had murdered their daughter, why they had done so, and where her remains were buried. Yeah. Oh. The author of the letter also concluded this correspondence by stating quote, I pray you find peace after you find her body.
Ugh. Ugh. That just makes me feel really gross. But again, nothing really came after that either.
Yeah. So Cherry's mother just stated that, you know, she just wanted whoever did this to be caught. Right. She wanted to find her daughter.
Yeah. Whether she be dead or alive. Right. Just have some closure.
Yeah. So in 2020, it was revealed that she does not believe that, or she believes that Cherry's biological father, so the individual who raped her when she was 15, might be involved in a seduction. Oh. Yeah.
So she believes that the individuals who did this were known to the father and like maybe this was some kind of setup. I mean, maybe. Yeah. Yeah.
It's so weird because they added like, you know, this person would have to kind of know a routine, no schedule, know when the bus arrived. Yeah. Like either had to have been watching or like knew the family already. Yeah.
And that she or her husband always met Cherry in the driveway to walk her up. Yeah. And this individual would have had to have noticed. Right.
This was the day that they didn't. Yeah. And would be pretty gutsy to like come up their driveway. Yeah.
And like try it anyway. Yeah. So in 2019, you know, her mother, Cherry's mother had some ongoing turmoil with a lack of knowledge of her daughter's fate. She really emphasized the belief in this anonymous tip.
She said, I just want closure. Yeah. I pray for it all the time. She says, I think of that as a parent.
Like, you know, how you just want an answer. Right. I mean, you don't know, like just to not know where your good is. So now it's going to June of 2024.
Yeah. Like a couple months ago. Yeah. There is a Facebook page dedicated to Cherry.
Obviously, please find her. That kind of thing. A woman posted on this page claiming that she was in fact, Cherry Man. Oh my gosh.
So Janice, Cherry's mom, does not believe the claim, but supports police in working with the state agency to positively identify the woman since a woman does not live in Pennsylvania. Gotcha. Pennsylvania State Police have not, as of June of 2024, made contact with this woman, but they were able to obtain fingerprints from this individual who had posted this online. Okay.
So I guess she submitted fingerprints or something? Or maybe she'd been arrested before or, I don't know. Who would they be searching for? I think she's.
Yeah. Right. It's very strange. So, um, state police obviously, um, had made contact with whatever state that she's living in.
And so everybody's kind of checking it out. They want to do some initial interviews. Um, but they're, they're not sure. Police didn't provide any details on the fingerprints.
Gotcha. I'm coming for that. Gotta wait and just check it out. Yeah.
So there was a report from USA Today saying the woman who made the claim on Facebook deleted the post since then and was banned from the group. Oh, yeah. And then the editor of the group stated that she had been quote harassing and bullying other members. That's not great.
I mean, it doesn't look good for her. It doesn't look great. Unless, unless she's like trying to shine a light and like seek help, you know, like get attention. Yeah.
Um, state police feel like so much time has gone by that this case is getting more and more difficult to solve. Um, you know, there have been three other women throughout all these years who've claimed to be her and they're still a $5,000 cash reward for anyone who has information that will lead to an arrest or solve the case. Um, so I'll keep you posted, especially about this new woman. Okay.
Think about it hypothetically. What if on a like a crazy chance it is her? That'd be wild. What happened to her all these years?
Like where has she been? Did she escape from somewhere? Was she sold any human trafficking? Like what happened to her?
And then if it's not her, what really did happen to her? Was she killed right after she was taken? Are they going to find a body one day? You know, will someone come forward and like a death bed confession?
Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Uh, I don't like those. Are you just like, like they just disappear and you never?
You don't know anything. I am. I want an oast, huh? I do.
I want to know what love is. So I want you to show me. Okay. Give me a hug downtown.
Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's um... It's intense.
It is. It is. I only bring you intensity. Well, if you'd like to share some intensity with us, go ahead and send us an email.
About mysteries at Appalachian at gmail.com. Find us on our Facebook page at Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. Check us out on our Instagram, Mountain Mysteries. About Appalachian or Appalachia, sorry.
Um, and find us on our Patreon, patreon.com slash Mountain Mysteries. I am going to give a shout out to Starkville, Mississippi. Hey! Yeah!
Nice. Alright, we'll catch you next time. Bye.