13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Shannon Sherrill's family encouraged by reward

Shannon Sherrill's family encouraged by reward

Chris Proffitt/Eyewitness News

Shannon Sherrill was six years old when she disappeared from her Thorntown home 20 years ago. The case made headlines in 2003 when an imposter, Donna Walker, claimed to be the missing girl. It was a hoax. Since then, only anniversaries of the missing child's disappearance made news - until now.

"We're just so excited over this. First time we've been excited over anything in years," said Becky Sherrill, Shannon's stepmother.

The family is hopeful after Philadelphia businessman Joe Mammana offered a $100,000 reward for information that could solve the case. The millionaire is known for putting up reward money in missing persons cases, including Natalee Holloway, the 18-year-old from Alabama who disappeared in Aruba last year.

"Forget $2,500 rewards. Forget $5,000 rewards. When you start throwing a $100,000 reward out there, mothers turn against sons, fathers turn against brothers. It changes the whole scope of everything," said Mammana.

For 20 days in November, Mammana is offering rewards totaling $2 million for 20 missing people, including seven in Indiana. The rewards are for so-called cold cases like Karen Jo Smith of Indianapolis. Her ex-husband was found guilty of her murder but her body's not been recovered. Patti Bishop is the woman's stepmother. "I hope and pray that we'll be able to bring our missing home because the reward is $100,000 for the recovery of the missing person or the arrest and conviction of the persons responsible," she said.

Mike Sherrill hopes the reward posted and circulated on flyers will solve the disappearance of his daughter. "Nobody's ever done this kind of thing for me before. I hope it brings closure to the whole thing," he said.

Now 20 families anxiously wait to see if a benefactor's big reward can break cases going nowhere.