The momentum is here.

So is a private investigator of Iowa offering up a $100,000 reward.

If ever a time to come forward with information related to the disappearance of Winfield Township’s Cherrie Mahan, it’s now.

Cherrie, then 8 years old, vanished, Feb. 22, 1985, after getting off her school bus near her home on Cornplanter Road.

The nation was captivated by the story. She appeared to have disappeared into thin air. A decades long search for a van painted with a skier scene began.

Even after she was declared legally dead in 1998, her mother continued to hold annual vigils and state police kept open the case.

At a news conference Tuesday at the Bonniebrook Club House & Golf Course, Cherrie’s mother, Janice McKinney, the private investigator Steve Ridge and others announced a new reward of $100,000 for information leading to Cherrie’s location and asked the public to come forward with tips.

The event highlighted a backpack Cherrie may have been carrying when she disappeared, and those speaking at the event said the van may have been a distraction all along.

This past February marked 40 years since Cherrie’s disappearance. The event held for that anniversary recognized the occasion and memorialized Cherrie, but that wasn’t it.

The event also garnered more tips.

There’s momentum. There’s interest. There’s $100,000.

There’s plenty of reasons that this case — even 40 years later — can be pushed further along.

If you know something, say something. Cherrie’s case deserves closure.

— TL