In the American latchkey era, if a child went missing, law enforcement and the local community utilized tools of the time, milk cartons, print publications and a community network, to gain and share information to help find the missing child.

Time has since afforded progressions in culture and technology that have prove invaluable as tools to track and recover missing children today. Biometrics and social media are helping to locate some of the 460,000 children reported missing each year.

TribLive reporter Jack Troy discusses how law enforcement hope these advancements will aid in solving the 40-year-long case of Cherrie Mahan, the 8-year-old who disappeared Feb. 22, 1985, from a bus stop near her home in rural Winfield.

This is “From the Newsroom.”

• Investigators hope advancements in biometrics, social media could aid in the case of Cherrie Mahan • After 40 years of searching and praying, Cherrie Mahan's mother asks for closure

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