Police: Caller to Indiana family may be daughter who vanished in 1986 at age 6

Police: Caller to Indiana family may be daughter who vanished in 1986 at age 6 By Associated Press, 7/29/2003 10:00 THORNTOWN, Ind. (AP) A woman has contacted the family of a 6-year-old girl who vanished in 1986, saying that she may be the girl, authorities said.

DNA tests planned after woman says she could be long-lost daughter, dad says
By Rick Callahan, Associated Press, 7/30/2003 11:19
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) The parents of a 6-year-old girl who vanished in 1986 while playing hide-and-seek hope DNA tests will confirm a woman's belief that she may be their now-adult daughter.

Police in Virginia said they are helping Indiana authorities investigate the woman's story that she may be Shannon Marie Sherrill.

Shannon disappeared Oct. 5, 1986, as she played outside her mother's home in Thorntown, about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Hundreds of officers and volunteers searched unsuccessfully for the girl, who now would be 22.

William Michael Sherrill, the girl's father, said he was stunned when the woman called him Saturday night after speaking to his ex-wife, Dorothy Sherrill, who still lives in Thorntown.

''I had questions in my mind that I was going to ask her, and when I got her on the phone my mind just went blank,'' said Sherrill, who manages a service station in Tipton.

He said DNA tests were planned to determine if the woman is his daughter. ''We gave blood samples years ago, so they have our DNA and they're waiting on hers,'' he said.

Indiana State Police First Sgt. Dave Bursten declined to discuss the investigation Tuesday.

A lab would need at least two days to complete DNA tests, said Ben Ermini, director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's missing children division.

Police in Virginia Beach, Va., were checking names and addresses the woman gave Indiana authorities, police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said.

He said it was not clear if the woman, who apparently lived in Virginia at some point, still lives in the Virginia Beach area.

If the woman's story is true, her case would be among just a handful in which a missing child resurfaced after more than a decade, Ermini said.

''Missing 17 years and then located it isn't very common, although it does happen. Certainly here at the center we never give up hope,'' he said.

Arrest Warrant Issued in Case of Girl Missing Since 1986 Wednesday, July 30, 2003

LEBANON, Ind. — Police have issued an arrest warrant in the 1986 disappearance of 6-year-old Shannon Marie Sherrill (search), just days after a Virginia woman contacted the girl's parents and said she might be their daughter, Fox News has confirmed.

Boone County Sheriff Dennis Brannon said the warrant remained under seal. "I do believe it's a female, but beyond that I really have no idea," Brannon told Indianapolis television station WRTV.

Indiana State Police scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. CDT Wednesday.

The warrant was issued on Tuesday, according to The Lebanon Reporter.

Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said he could not yet comment on the specifics of the case and that the hearing and the records involved were not open to the public.

Police, meanwhile, are seeking DNA tests (search) to determine whether the woman who called Shannon's parents is, in fact, the little girl who vanished while playing outside her mother's Thorntown home.

Police in Virginia said they were helping in the investigation.

And Sherrill's father, William Michael Sherrill (search), who talked Saturday with the woman, said DNA tests were planned to determine whether she is his child.

He said he was stunned when the woman called him after speaking to his ex-wife, Dorothy Sherrill, who still lives in Thorntown near the area where their daughter vanished about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

"I had questions in my mind that I was going to ask her, and when I got her on the phone, my mind just went blank," said Sherrill, who manages a service station in Tipton.

Sherrill said Thorntown police have told him DNA tests were planned to compare his and his former wife's DNA to that of the caller. "We gave blood samples years ago, so they have our DNA and they're waiting on hers," he said.

Virginia Beach, Va., police, meanwhile, are helping investigate the woman's story by checking out names and addresses she gave Indiana State Police, police spokesman Jimmy Barnes said.

He said it was not clear whether the woman, who apparently lived in Virginia at some point, still lives in the Virginia Beach area.

One of the names Indiana authorities gave Virginia Beach police could be a name the woman was using when she supposedly was taken to Virginia Beach as a child. The other names could be the names of people involved in a possible abduction, Barnes said.

If the woman's account is true and she is Shannon Sherrill, now 22 years old, it would be among just a handful of cases where a missing child resurfaced after more than a decade, said Ben Ermini, director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's (search) missing children division.

"Missing 17 years and then located -- it isn't very common, although it does happen. Certainly here at the center we never give up hope," Ermini said.

In cases of children missing for several years, DNA is almost always used to help determine their biological parents, Ermini said. Sometimes, dental records and fingerprints are used.

The quickest that DNA test results could be completed would be within about two days of submission of blood or tissue samples to a laboratory, Ermini said.

Shannon Sherrill's name is one of about 5,500 active cases dating back to the 1970s that is maintained by Ermini and others at the Alexandria, Va.-based center.

After Shannon Sherrill disappeared in 1986, hundreds of people scoured fields and wooded lots for three days to no avail.

"The whole town was looking for her, everybody," said Shirley Childress, 63, a retired nursing home worker who has lived in Thorntown nearly 20 years.

Childress said the case of the missing girl with a mop of brown hair and angelic face still haunts the town. She would like to believe that the woman is Shannon Sherrill.

"I would be pretty happy if it's true, if it's her, but I don't know. I hope it is," she said

Call in disappearance of Indiana girl called hoax

The Associated Press

THORNTOWN, Ind. -- A woman who authorities said called the parents of a missing girl and claimed to be their long-lost daughter was charged Wednesday with committing a cruel hoax.

"We don't know what her motivation was and it is impossible for us to guess. We live in an age today where people like to receive attention," said state police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten.

Donna L. Walker, 35, of Topeka, Kan., faces a felony charge of identity deception and a misdemeanor charge of false reporting. Her whereabouts were not known on Wednesday, authorities said.

Walker called the parents of Shannon Marie Sherrill and also is believed to have contacted news organizations to spread word about the possible break in the case, Bursten said.

He described her actions as a "cruel hoax."

Six-year-old Shannon vanished Oct. 5, 1986, as she played hide-and-seek outside her mother's mobile home in Thorntown, about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Her father, William Michael Sherrill, broke down in tears during a news conference Wednesday announcing that the call was a hoax.

"I wasn't expecting this at all," said Sherrill, who learned about the hoax about 15 minutes before the news conference. "I thought they were going to bring Shannon in here."

The identity deception charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison, Boone County Prosecutor Todd Meyer said.

"I am very disappointed the case has taken this turn," Meyer said. "The case I want to prosecute was the case of an abductor and the happy ending is the child coming home. Unfortunately that's not the closing argument I get to make.

Authorities had planned DNA tests to determine whether the woman was the child.

Jody Ames, an aunt of the missing girl, said the last several days had been draining on the family.

"It's been a very big roller coaster," she said. "We've been up and down, we've hoped for the best. We still hope for the best. We can only hope and pray."

Bursten said investigators did not know a motive for the hoax. Walker had given three different fictitious names to investigators in recent days, he said.

Topeka police Lt. John Sidwell said officers there were helping in the search for Walker.

"We've had no contact with the suspect," Sidwell said. "We're continuing to look for her."

Bursten said he expected Walker would be arrested soon.

"We know who she is, she can't hide forever," he said. "Now the rest of the country will know what she's accused of and what she's done."

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