Police issue update on woman who claimed to be missing 8-year-old girl who vanished 39 years ago

When eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan disappeared 50 feet from her Pennsylvania home in 1985, hope that she would be found safe was strong.

But after 39 years, it began to be clear that the cold case may never be solved.

That was until an anonymous woman came forward online to claim that she was the missing girl, posting to Facebook and also calling the State Police.

However, the Pennsylvania State Police shared an update on the identity of the woman, and it’s heart-breaking.

When Cherrie went missing after being dropped off from school by the bus near her home, nobody could have predicted that tragedy would strike.

Cherrie disappeared from outside her home. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

With no clue other than a blue 1976 Dodge van with a mural of a mountain seen in the area at the time, the case has been dormant for nearly four decades

So, anyone claiming to be the missing girl has the potential to fill the family and investigators with hope that the case can finally be closed on an extraordinarily happy note.

But that hope has been dashed after the US woman who claimed to be Cherrie is likely not her.

According to police, the woman initially posted on a Facebook group with her theory but was promptly removed from the group by the administrators.

Then, she called the police department and left her name in a voicemail but has been silent since then.

The authorities claim that she’s been unreachable on her mobile number since the voice message, which led them to track down her fingerprints, using the name she gave them.

Unfortunately, when comparing the fingerprints to Cherrie’s they weren’t a match.

Police believe the real-life Cherrie would now look like this at age 46. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

Police confirmed in an update to the case: “An initial review of these fingerprints indicate that she is not Cherri Mahan.

“At this point in the investigation, law enforcement has not had in-person contact with the women [sic] claiming to be Cherrie Mahan.

"If the caller decides to make herself available to the Pennsylvania State Police or any other law enforcement agencies, her claim will be investigated.”

But this isn’t a one-off occurrence as four separate women have now claimed to be Cherrie since her disappearance nearly forty years ago.

All proven to be false.

There is even a $5,000 reward is continuing to be offered to the public for providing information which leads to finding Cherrie or someone connected to her disappearance.

Cherrie, who would now be 46, is the daughter of Janice McKinney, who is fed up with false claims.

When the news broke that someone was claiming to be her daughter, she didn’t buy it one bit, but was surprised that the claim wasn’t in February or August as those times in the year tend to see hoax claims in line with the anniversary of Cherrie's disappearance and her birthday.

She told the Butler Eagle: “In February and August, I expect craziness. This just hit me different.

“If you wanted your 15 minutes of fame, you’ve already blown it.

“People are mean, they are cruel, but this affects me really crazy. It’s gonna be 40 years since Cherrie’s been missing.”