The views and opinions expressed in Cold and Missing are exclusively those of the hosts. All parties mentioned are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Cold and Missing also contains adult themes and languages. Listener discretion is advised. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Sulkowski. And I'm your co-host, Eli Sulkowski. And this is Cold and Missing, where we cover cold cases and missing person cases. Hello everyone and welcome back to Cold and Missing.
I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Solkowski. And I'm sure it's no surprise to those of you who listened last week or follow us on Instagram that I'm coming to you solo again this week. Eli's mother passed away unexpectedly, which I mentioned last week in our episode. But he's just taking some time for himself right now to grieve and mourn and hold it before he gets back to this work, which can be difficult work when you are mourning.
So thank you if you've reached out to us, left us a comment, kept us in your thoughts, prayers, meditations. We really appreciate the support and thank you for hanging with us and being with us during this time. We really appreciate it. So thank you. But just to keep our episode rolling along here, this week we are going to be talking about an unresolved missing person case. And just as a content warning at the top, this case does involve a young person.
Today we are talking about the missing person case of Sherry Lynn Marler. And this takes place in June of 1984 in Greenville, Alabama. But first a little bit about Sherry. Sherry was 12 years old in 1984, but tall for her age. Those around her said she could have easily passed for 16 or 17 years old. She was born August 8, 1971, and she would be 52 years old today. Sherry was a tomboy by all accounts. Her family called her Little Farmer.
Sherry, her mother, stepdad, and siblings all lived on a 400-acre farm. Her stepdad, Raymond Stringfellow, said, quote, she was a tomboy and didn't like school. Her pride and joy was that she could operate the tractor. If any of my kids could be a farmer, it would be her. End quote. Sherry loved listening to Kenny Rogers and scooting around on her moped, which she proudly put over a thousand miles on. Sherry was a rough and tumble kind of gal and loved getting her hands dirty in the earth.
And now, a timeline of events. On Wednesday, June 6, 1984, Sherry's mother, Betty, wakes up early for her shift at the Waffle House. Summer had just started for Sherry. She had just finished up sixth grade, and that fall she was going to start seventh grade. On this particular Wednesday morning, Sherry was sleeping on the couch in the living room since a visiting relative was using her bed. Sherry woke up to the sounds of her stepdad making coffee. Raymond had a busy day ahead of him.
He needed to go to the bank to get an extension on his farm loan, and he also needed to work on the combine on top of all of the other farm chores. Sherry came into the kitchen and was putting on her shoes when Raymond asked her where she was going, and she replied, with you. Sherry and Raymond worked on the combine for a little bit and then rode around to check on some different crops.
Finally, about 9am, the bank in Greenville would be open so Raymond and Sherry hopped in his red pickup truck and headed into town. About 9.30am, they pulled into a parking lot used by several businesses, including the First National Bank. Sherry didn't want to go into the bank since she was dusty from work on the farm that morning. As Raymond gets out of the pickup, he puts a dollar on the seat for Sherry to run to the gas station across the street and buy a soda.
According to Raymond, he heard the passenger door open and close, but it is unclear if he saw Sherry walk across the street. Raymond was in the bank for about 15 minutes. When he headed back to his pickup truck, Sherry was nowhere to be seen. Raymond knew that Sherry was anxious to get back home so she could watch her favorite soap opera. Raymond starts looking for Sherry, walking around the streets, just peeking around, seeing if he could see her anywhere.
And after about 25 minutes, he calls the Waffle House, which was nearby, and where Betty was working to see if Sherry had shown up there. But she hadn't. Since Sherry loved farming, she would often stop into farm supply shops just to look around. Raymond checked all of her favorite spots, but nobody had seen her. At 1146 A.M., Raymond reports Sherry missing. The Greenville police begin canvassing the area looking for Sherry. They don't believe she ran away as she had nothing with her.
Police ask around and nobody saw anyone strange walking around Greenville that day. The next day, Thursday, June 7th, police begin calling all of Sherry's friends to see if any of them had heard from her or knew where she might be, but nobody has seen her. Police bring her photo to news stations to get her photo broadcast around Alabama in hopes that somebody will recognize her. Police continue to canvas the area around where Sherry was last seen, this parking lot in downtown Greenville.
With no sign of Sherry, by Friday, June 8th, she had been missing for two days at this point, the Butler County Sheriff launched an airplane to help search for Sherry, but there was still no sign of her. Any thought that Sherry could have ran away was slowly diminished. Police say they usually track down runaways within a few days, but with each passing day and with each passing hour, there is no sign of her and police begin to worry more and more that foul play is involved.
Sheriff Parker Worthington says, quote, We've also been riding the roads and talking with people everywhere, but we haven't had any luck. We're going to do all we can for as long as we can, end quote. The search continues quietly, but by July 16th, this is over a month now Sherry has been missing, police do believe that foul play is suspected. A $2,000 reward was raised for information leading to Sherry, but all of those tips have fizzled out.
Police have interviewed dozens of people, but they have no suspects. Sherry's family believe that she was kidnapped. Her stepfather Raymond says, quote, I believe somebody took her. I think she's been kidnapped, end quote. Police have searched fields and woods for Sherry , but no sign of her and any tip that's called in, no matter how far fetched it is, is run down. Some hunters called the police because some buzzards are interested in an abandoned well.
So police go and investigate looking for signs of Sherry, but all they end up finding are some dead snakes at the bottom of the well. A woman had a dream about a body being buried in a field, so they dug up several acres of this field looking for any sign, but no signs of Sherry. So they really are running down every lead according to the local news reports at this time. Sherry's family has contacted Child Find, which was a national agency that helped get information out about missing children.
So through them, they're able to get Sherry's picture on billboards and posters around the country. Some tips do come in because of this, but they all fizzle out in the end. However, starting in October, Sherry has been missing for four months at this point. Police start to receive tips of sightings. Detective Ken Flowers says, quote, we still get tidbits, but nothing major.
We've had possible sightings in northern states and some local information was brought to us just a few days ago, but nothing came of it. End quote. The sightings continue between October and December of that year. Three different callers from three different states in the South, Louisiana, Georgia, and Florida called police to report seeing Sherry with a man. All three witnesses kind of described the same guy.
They describe him as a husky, five foot eight, fifties year old man that looked very weathered and had noticeable crow feet. All of the callers also said that the young woman who was with him seemed disheveled and the word that was used in the newspapers was ragamuffin. The caller from Georgia said that this young woman called the man BJ at a truck stop.
Betty Stringfellow, Sherry's mom, said, quote, the man who reported her said that what made her so discernible was that she was so despondent and dazed looking. End quote. In April of 1986, Sherry has been missing for nearly two years at this point. Police still do not have any leads or suspects. Rumors have flown around Greenville, though, particularly around Sherry's family and her stepfather Raymond. Several people in town say they never even saw Sherry that day.
An anonymous resident told the local newspaper, quote, that little girl never made it into town or else I would have seen her wherever she's at. She's dead. End quote. The family stands together and believe that none of them had anything to do with the disappearance of Sherry and they keep a united front. While police believe foul play is involved, they do believe that Sherry would have only gotten into a car with someone that she knew.
And furthermore, nobody saw a stranger around Greenville that day. She disappeared. Greenville police captain Thomas Touchston says, quote, this is not like Birmingham or any other big city. If you was to see somebody you don't know, you'd find out quick who it is. End quote.
And I think any of our listeners who have lived in a small town or experienced that kind of lifestyle know that in a small town, if somebody's there that you don't recognize, people really notice that you can't get away with just blending in like you can in a big city. So the residents of Greenville say that they did not see anybody out of the ordinary the day that Sherry disappeared, which kind of eliminates to a certain extent a stranger grabbing her off the streets randomly.
The FBI originally looked into the case when it first happened back in 1984, but they withdrew when they couldn't find any solid evidence of a kidnapping. Police have asked Raymond and Sherry's family to take a polygraph test, to which he and the family refused. Raymond says, quote, why should we take a polygraph test when they don't even check out people who say they have seen Sherry? We haven't done anything we're ashamed of. We didn't do anything to prompt Sherry to run away. End quote.
The police argue that the polygraph is just standard procedure since Raymond was the last person to see Sherry before she disappeared. And then after this in 1986, the case truly goes cold. Over the years, any time remains were found, especially in the southern states, that could be a match for Sherry. They were compared, but none of those remains ended up being Sherry. Sherry's family stays committed to bring her home. In 2003, Betty, Sherry's mom, says, quote, I wish I could see her again.
Not a day goes by that I don't think of her. End quote. In 2005, police chief Lonzo Ingram told local media that he believes that Sherry was murdered the day she disappeared and that he has the suspect in mind, but he doubts that he'll ever be able to bring him to justice. In 2018, officials in South Carolina helped search for Sherry, although it was unclear if they were looking for a living person or for remains.
In the newspaper report, Sherry had been seen in the St. Stephen area a year before she disappeared and then shortly after she disappeared, a sighting of her came in near that area. So that was really the last update I could find that was in 2018. And there is a Facebook group. It's called Sherry Lynn Marler Still Missing. And it has popped up and it is dedicated to bringing Sherry home for a proper burial. This group has their own theory about what has happened to Sherry.
And just to give it a quick summary, they believe that Sherry was killed by somebody that she knows, but not somebody in her family. So not her stepfather, anybody else in her family. They believe that her body was fed to hogs and she disappeared on a hog farm ultimately. This Facebook group has done a ton of research and kind of their own investigation into it. If you're interested in learning more about what they have done, I totally recommend you check them out.
But it does seem like the police are not interested in really working with these people from the Facebook group, not really interested in anything they find or anything they uncover in their investigation. So it's all very sad because ultimately there's a lot of energy around finding Sherry, but maybe the police aren't interested in harnessing that energy and that manpower that's kind of ready and willing to act.
But to date, no suspect has ever been named in Sherry's case and no evidence has ever been found on what has happened to Sherry. So if you know anything about the disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler in June of 1984 or her whereabouts today, please call the Greenville Police Department at 334-382-3107.
And the sources for the timeline today come from the Montgomery Advertiser, Birmingham Post Herald, the Enterprise Ledger, the Selma Times Journal, the Dothan Eagle, the Greenville Advocate and the Facebook group Sherry Lynn Marler Still Missing. So that is the case of Sherry Lynn Marler. I'm always fascinated in these cases where it happens in broad daylight.
You know, we've covered a couple cases where in the middle of the day, just a child goes missing and it's so hard to wrap my mind around that. I just know when I'm out, you know, in my everyday life, if I see a kid, I usually, you know, clock what they're doing. And if something seemed fishy, I would hope that I would notice that.
You know, it's always a hope of mine in these cases that like a memory gets shaken loose and someone remembers, you know, seeing a car or seeing somebody strange on that specific day years ago. I know that it's very slim, slim to none that something like that would happen. But it's like, ugh, you can't help but just like wish there was like a device that can scan your brain of all the memories that you've ever had, anything your eyeballs have ever seen like a big database.
Wouldn't that be helpful? Maybe kind of horrifying, but could be helpful in these circumstances, right? And then it's always such a mystery to me when, you know, it's a short amount of time, you know, is roughly 15 minutes from when Sherry was last seen by her stepfather Raymond to when he's back at the car and kind of notices that she's gone. So like that short timeframe for a child to go missing. Nightmare. It's every parent's nightmare.
You know, you think you can leave them alone for five, 10 minutes. Here is Sherry, a 12 year old just running across the street to another store to get a soft drink, a Coca Cola, and she disappears. I have a lot of questions in this case, as I'm sure a lot of you listeners do. I can't help but really want to know about the suspects. You know, the in 2005, I believe it was the police chief says that, you know, he had a suspect in mind, but he didn't think he'd be able to bring the guy to justice.
And that's really the only hint we get is, you know, he uses him in, you know, whenever he's describing this person. So it's it's a man. It seems like it's one person. But that's really all we get as far as a clue as to who this person could be. I do think that, you know, it makes sense what the police were saying that Sherry most likely knew this person. So I think that does make sense that Sherry, you know, could have hopped in the car with somebody.
Somebody could have said, hey, your dad told me to come and grab you. You know, there's a lot of ways that an adult who is trusted by a child can misuse that trust and abuse that trust and get them in the car without having to force them, cause a big scene, physically interact with them. You know, it's it's really sad. But that's what we see in a lot of child abduction cases is that it is somebody that the person knows. I do think that tracks for this case as well.
And I'm also very curious about these sightings that kind of come in for years, sort of after Sherry goes missing, her being seen kind of around the southern United States, but also a couple of reports from more northern states as well come in that she was reported with this man. And all of the callers describe the same person or a very similar person, which that's just not something that I hear a lot about in these missing person cases. Usually if there's a sighting, you know, it's unconfirmed.
And I should say that these are also unconfirmed sightings of Sherry. But what makes them stand out in my mind is that the callers all describe a similar person. In past cases, you know, it might change how many adults the person's with, like the description of who they're with, the description of them. But the description of Sherry kind of stays the same. You know, she's disheveled, she's dazed and kind of out of it. And the descriptions of the man all kind of hold up.
So that's one thing that seemed to have some steam for a while as a possible answer to what happened to Sherry. Like, could this be a trucker, for instance? It seemed like it was at a lot of truck stops that she was spotted at. So you know, could a trucker have gotten her in a truck and taken her around? I would be curious to know if police were ever able to rule that out completely. You know, were they ever able to find these two or this girl that matched Sherry's description?
It's something that just kind of falls off. And I also just want to address because, you know, there were a lot of rumors around this, but it does seem like the police also said over the years that her stepfather and the family had nothing to do with it. But they did refuse a polygraph test, which knowing what we know about polygraph tests, I don't know if that really means anything. Of course, in 1984, 1985, like maybe they held more gravity and, you know, it meant more.
But today, if somebody refused a polygraph test, I don't necessarily think that person is guilty or trying to hide something. As always, I'm hopeful that we can get some answers on what happened to Sherry. It just never sits well with me when a child goes missing with no trace. Like that just seems as a society, like we need answers for every missing person, but especially like we need to answer for why a child didn't reach adulthood.
Like I think as a society, we need to have those answers and we don't have them here. So again, if you know anything about the disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler in June of 1984 or her whereabouts today, please call the Greenfield Police Department at 334-382-3107. And while I have your ear for just one more second, if you could please rate us and review us. It really helps others find this podcast. It feeds that algorithm machine.
So whatever platform you're on, if you could give us a thumbs up, a five stars, whatever the metric is. Thank you so much. If you're in Apple podcasts, leaving us a written review helps immensely. So if you have just a couple seconds to do that, even just some fire flame emojis will make my day. If you have a second, I really would appreciate it. So thank you. And please follow us on Instagram.
You know, last week we had a bit of a disrupted schedule because of, you know, what was happening in Eli and I's personal life with his mother passing. So if there's ever going to be a delay in an episode or if it's going to come out on a different day of the week, we post that over on Instagram. So please follow us there if you're not already. We also will be posting pictures of Sherry this week, along with, you know, other cases that are happening around the country in real time.
So all of that information is over there. If you or someone you love is hard of hearing, we have transcripts up on our website. All our episodes are up there. We have additional pictures. We have blog posts. We have more information about Eli and I. If you don't have Apple podcasts and you want to write us a written review, you can do that over on our website. It's all there. If you want to reach out to us, you can do that there too.
If you want to leave a tip, donate to the podcast because you enjoy the content that you're getting and you appreciate what we're doing. All of that can be found there. And that's all I have. So thank you for listening to Cold and Missing. I'm your host, Ali McLaughlin-Zulkowski. Have a great week and stay safe, y'all.