After 44 years, search for Cheryl Scherer continues

It's been 44 years since Cheryl Anne Scherer disappeared while working the daytime shift at a Scott County gas station, and law enforcement and her family are making their strongest plea for anyone with information to come forward.

An age-progression image of what Cheryl Scherer might look like today.NCMEC

An age-progression image of what Cheryl Scherer might look like today.NCMEC

"It's time for a hero," detective Mike Williams with the Scott County Sheriff's Office said. "We need somebody to come forward and tell us what happened or how to find Cheryl."

On Tuesday, April 17, 1979, Scherer, the 19-year-old daughter of Olevia "Libby" Scherer and the late Ray Scherer, went to work at Rhodes Pump-Ur-Own Station self-service gas station in Scott City like she had done over the last year. Around 11:20 a.m., she spoke with her mother by phone. Scherer and her mother talked about what was for supper and how Scherer was going to do some sewing when she got home.

Sometime between 11:40 a.m. and 11:50 a.m., Scherer was apparently abducted during a possible robbery with $480 taken. Her purse, keys and car were left behind.

Scott County Sheriff's Office along with the state Highway Patrol and FBI assisted on the case. That particular day, very little traffic was coming and going into the Scott City Plaza where the major business was the IGA grocery store. On that Tuesday morning, IGA was closed because of the funeral of the store owner's mother, Katie Uhrhan.

There were no witnesses to Scherer's apparent kidnapping. However, around 11:40 a.m., Scherer's cousin, a school bus driver, drove past the station and thought he saw someone inside, but couldn't tell whether it was Scherer. Five minutes later, another station employee arrived for duty and found the station unattended. Both the cousin and employee have since passed away.

The idea Scherer would have ran off on her own was quickly laid to rest by authorities and those who knew her as Scherer had just paid her automobile insurance before her disappearance.

Scherer, a 1977 graduate of Thomas W. Kelly High School near Benton, Missouri, was last seen wearing a light blue slip-on sweater with white trim, a dark blue windbreaker with a white-trimmed hood and brown corduroy pants. She had on tiny, pierced earrings, a silver ring with a small diamond and yellow-gold necklace with a 1-inch cross. She has red hair, blue eyes and a dime-sized mole between her shoulder blades and a small mole half an inch from her navel.

"Enough time has passed," Williams said. "It's safe for somebody to come forward. It's safe to tell us what they know. There's somebody that knows something. Or it's time to come in and ask for forgiveness for what you've done."

Scott County Sheriff Wes Drury agreed.

"Somebody knows something," Drury said. "There are too many safeguards out there this day and age for them not to be able to come to us."

Current investigation

Williams was recently assigned Scherer's case and has been working on it off and on for about a year, he said. The first step Williams took when he began investigating was to read through everything and make notes, he said.

"Somewhere along the way, we're going to go back and interview everyone," Williams said.

Currently, Williams said, the sheriff's office is working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"They have, in the past, put out a composite of what Cheryl would look like now," Williams said.

He's also reached out to the Center, which has some tools the sheriff's office is going to use. Among those is the Center providing the sheriff's office with an investigator from St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department who has 30-plus years of experience in homicide.

"This investigator will help us go over the case -- not that we don't think we can do it, but we're not naive enough to think we know everything," Williams said. "They gave us an investigator out of St. Louis Metro, and we're going to sit down and go through the whole case and get his input."

Williams said he's also worked with The Doe Network and NamUs Network, or National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

"These networks help law enforcement with people like Cheryl, who are missing," Williams said. "I've combed the NamUs network for (unidentified) females that match the description for Cheryl, sent it off and asked for comparisons."

Williams said he's also asked Scherer's younger siblings to take their DNA and submit it through DNA genetic testing kits such as Ancestry or 23andMe. This could help if, for instance, a body is found and investigators do a traceback of the person's DNA, which can be traced to that person's siblings.

"And that's really exciting for the family because now they're helping with the investigation," Williams said.

Previous investigations

In 2003, submission of DNA samples from Scherer's parents to the FBI's Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, was completed. CODIS blends forensic science and computer technology into an effective tool for solving crimes. Two age progression pictures of Scherer in 2000 and 2017 were created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Serial killers Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole, along with Toole's niece and nephew, have also been investigated regarding Scherer's disappearance. Lucas and Toole claimed they were in Scott City that day. Then-Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell even went to Texas in the early 1980s to interview Lucas, who denied remembering Scherer after being shown her photo. However, according to the "Lucas Report", Toole, Lucas and the niece and nephew were not even in the area that day; they were in Florida.

In 2019, local, state and federal officials spent 12 hours digging in a bean field off Scott County Road 329 in an effort to find evidence in Scherer's case. Drury said they did not find anything of significance.

"The biggest thing we want to do right now is get people to come forward with whatever information they have," Williams said.

Not giving up hope

Throughout the years, Scherer's family has never given up hope as their faith carries them through each passing year of not knowing what happened, her sister Diane Scherer-Morris said.

"We will never give up trying to find Cheryl," Scherer-Morris said as the 44-year mark approached. "If anyone is withholding information, please come forward to law enforcement. We thank all those who have prayed and continue to pray for Cheryl and our family. We thank law enforcement for all they are doing. We thank God for carrying us through this all these years."

Prayer services, balloon releases and remembrance ceremonies have been held in her honor to keep the public aware of her story. In May 2012 the family started a Facebook page in Scherer's name as a platform to reach people and attempt to find answers.

"They just want her back," Williams said of Scherer's family. "They would love to know what happened and justice to happen, but they'd give everything in the world just to get her back."

Scherer-Morris said that after her sister's disappearance, her family waited by the phone, hoping and praying for a call from Scherer herself or law enforcement saying she was found, but that call never came.

"Cheryl isn't just that girl missing from Scott County, but she is a daughter, sister, cousin, friend and classmate. Her family, friends and the community deserve to know what happened as she deserves this, too," Scherer-Morris told the Standard Democrat in December 2020.

Scherer's father passed away in 2005, but her mother and two younger siblings, Scherer-Morris and Anthony Scherer, continue to keep her name out there, pleading with anyone who has any information to come forward.

"It's been 44 years," Williams said. "The 17th of this month is 44 years. That's 44 years of Cheryl's mother praying every day: 'Just bring my daughter home. I don't care for anything else, just bring my daughter home.' ... Let the family have some peace."

Anyone with information may contact Williams at the Scott County Sheriff's Office by phone at (573) 545-3525 or (573) 471-3530, or email at williamsm@scottmo.org.

"Leave a message. It can be anonymous. Just let me know where she's at or give me the tip I need to work on," Williams said.

No tip is to too small, Williams and Drury said.

"You may not think it's something, but it's the littlest things that can lead to something bigger," Drury said, adding the public doesn't know what law enforcement knows, and that's because law enforcement can't disclose everything.

Williams agreed.

"The smallest thread unravels the whole dress," Williams said. "And it's the smallest threads that will open this all up."