Sherry Lynn Marler, a 12-year-old girl, vanished from Greenville, Alabama, on June 6, 1984, while running errands with her stepfather.
Sherry and her stepfather went to First National Bank in downtown Greenville to do some errands.
While there, her stepfather handed her a dollar to go across the street to a gas station and buy a soda from a vending machine. She left the bank, went to the gas station, and disappeared.
Sherry's stepfather waited for about 15 minutes before going to the gas station, but Sherry was nowhere to be found.
He reported her disappearance to the authorities, and an investigation commenced.
Sherry was last seen wearing a red, long-sleeved flannel work shirt, faded jeans, new gray sneakers with velcro fastenings, and a watch with a black band.
She had a two-inch scar on her abdomen and a wide one-inch scar on her upper back near her shoulder.
The Investigation
Initially, suspicion fell on Sherry's stepfather, but he was cleared of any involvement after cooperating and passing a polygraph test.
The police received several tips and leads, including a report of a man seen with Sherry after she vanished.
The man was described as about 50 years old, 5'8" tall, with a husky build and a weathered complexion.
Throughout the years, there have been three separate sightings of Sherry, each time with the same unidentified man.
These sightings were reported by different individuals and occurred in different locations.
Here are the details of each sighting:
Sighting 1
Date: Later in June 1984
Location: St. Stephen, Alabama
Witness: An unnamed witness reported seeing Sherry with a man described as about 50 years old, 5'8" tall, with a husky build and a weathered complexion. The witness claimed Sherry appeared visibly upset and disheveled.
Sighting 2
Date: Later in June 1984
Location: Conley, Georgia
Witness: Another witness reported seeing Sherry at a truck stop with the same man described in the first sighting. This witness also noted that Sherry appeared visibly upset and disheveled.
Sighting 3
Date: Later in 1984
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
Witness: The third sighting was reported by a witness who claimed to have seen Sherry with the same man at a mall in New Orleans. This witness also described Sherry as visibly upset and disheveled.
These sightings have sparked various theories about her disappearance, including the possibility of a pedophile ring operating in the area.
However, the credibility of the witnesses who reported seeing Sherry Lynn Marler remains uncertain with no clear confirmation from authorities.
Recent developments
In recent years, efforts to solve the case have been renewed.
In 2018, the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office received a tip that Sherry Lynn Marler had stayed with her step-sister and her husband in the area where she disappeared one year prior to her disappearance in 1984.
This tip was released in 2018, but it did not lead to any concrete evidence or new leads in Sherry's disappearance case.
In 2019, a woman named Ryan Welch Anderson posted on the Sherry Lynn Marler Still Missing Facebook Page, claiming to have found evidence linking Sherry's disappearance to a hog farm in Butler County.
Ryan Welch Anderson has been privately investigating the disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler.
She has been searching for human remains and clues on her own, along with other friends of Sherry's family.
In 2019, she shared the results of her private investigation.
Anderson's investigation led her to a 10.2-acre farm in Butler County that was home to a pig farm in the 1980s.
She believed the pig farm was associated with Sherry Lynn Marler's abduction and probable murder.
This is because of the following factors:
Location: The farm was located in Butler County, Alabama, where Sherry was last seen and the farm was functional in 1984.
Cadaver Dog Hits: Two separate cadaver dog teams confirmed hits on human remains in the area.
This led to the excavation of the site by her team, where fabric was found and sent for DNA testing.
Anderson claims to have found what appeared to be the remains of a child's size pants with blood stains, which were sent to the Butler County Sheriff's Department but did not reveal any new information.
Although no DNA evidence was found, the cadaver dog hits suggested that human remains might have been present at the site.
Old Photos: Ryan Welch Anderson claimed that a surviving family member of the individual she believes murdered Sherry allowed her to look through a box of old photos.
One photo showed a pig and what appeared to be a severed human head underneath the standing pig.
Anderson believed that the human head had not yet decomposed when the original photo was taken.
She says the police are aware of the photo but have not responded to requests for a follow-up.
Ryan Welch Anderson believed that the person who abducted and murdered Sherry was deceased and that there were likely one or two other people present at the time of her death.
Anderson also believed that Sherry was a victim of a family-based incest pedophilia ring that involved people from both Butler and Crenshaw Counties.
However, Anderson's claims are highly speculative, and no concrete evidence linking this farm or any pedophile ring to Sherry has been put forth by the authorities.
The disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler is a heart-wrenching and disturbing case that has left a lasting impact on the community.
Despite the passage of time, the case remains unsolved, and Sherry's family continues to search for answers.
Sherry Lynn Marler would have been 52 years old this year.
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