The Disappearance of Sherry Lynn Marler

Written by: Kenzie Desrosiers

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On June 6, 1984, Raymond Stringfellow was backing out of the driveway when his stepdaughter, Sherry Marler, came running out of the house with her shoes in hand. She hopped into the passenger seat, and they drove into downtown Greenville where Raymond had to sign papers at the First National Bank.

When they arrived, Raymond out of his red pickup truck and placed a dollar on the seat for Sherry to buy a soft drink at the gas station across the street. He told her to meet back at the truck in fifteen minutes. He heard the passenger door slam shut and continued into the bank.

Fifteen minutes later, Raymond returned to the truck to find the passenger seat empty. When twenty-five (25) minutes passed by, he called his wife, Betty, at the Waffle House to see if Marler stopped in to see her.

At 11:46 a.m., Raymond contacted the Greenville Police Department to report Sherry missing.

A month after her disappearance, Raymond contacted the Child Find Organization to aid in a nationwide search. As a result, Child Find got him in touch with the Dee Scoffield Center in Tampa, Florida to get her face and story on billboards, posters, and labels across the country.

Authorities received a tip from South Carolina regarding a possible sighting of Sherry. The tip seemed plausible as the summer before her disappearance, Sherry stayed with her stepsister and her husband in the area.

Sherry allegedly was seen with a male truck driver traveling through Georgia, Mississippi, and Florida. In March 1986, Raymond received a report from Arizona, but the caller hung up before getting any information. Chief Kenneth Flowers says, “There is a possibility she ran away, but as more time elapses, we have to believe foul play was involved.”

At the time of her disappearance, Sherry was allegedly pregnant. According to Jenni Griffith, Sherry “was standoffish before school broke up.” Sherry’s friend Amanda Kelly claims that she was pregnant by her then-boyfriend Johnny McCullough. While Sherry hadn’t told her parents, she told Johnny and his father.

Aaron McCullough, Johnny’s father, allegedly talked about killing Sherry. Aaron and an unknown male bragged about how easy it was to get rid of a body when you farm pigs. He then threatened Amanda telling her that if she told anyone, the same thing would happen to her.

According to Amanda, Sherry was kidnapped outside the bank where her boyfriend’s father was waiting.