Searching for Cheryl

 refers to an unmarked quest in Fallout 3.

Follow the trail of a party who went out to find Cheryl, sister of the party leader.


 * In L'Enfant South you can find a burial mound containing Search Party Log #1.
 * As mentioned in the log, go to the Ranger Compound and access the outdoor terminal to read about the Canterbury Search Party. The terminal can either be unlocked by Reilly or is a very hard hack.
 * The "Western Ruins" mentioned in the second log are located to the west of Lincoln Memorial, north of Potomac Bridge, next to a Raider camp. Find Search Party Log #3 on a second burial mound there. To get to that raider camp, travel to Dukov's Place toward the Potomac Bridge (the only bridge over the big river for miles). Between the raider camp and the bridge you can find the grave.
 * Now proceed to a grave directly northwest of the Sewer Waystation and read Search Party Log #4. To find the grave, walk toward a big corvega billboard.

A short distance west-southwest of Jury Street Metro Station you run into a group of super mutants hiding out at a small wrecked train. Entering the container with the shopping cart cages in it causes a Super Mutant Behemoth to appear (He may take a while, as he runs to you from a distance.) In this camp you can find the corpse of Manny Koch, leader of the search party. There's a chance Manny Koch will still be alive. If so, he's immediately hostile. Apart from the loot on his body the main reward is a Mini Nuke on the Behemoth.

Walk southwest of the shopping cart container, up hill towards decimated church. Inside church is a minigun/flamer-wielding raider & shotgun trap, guarding another mini-nuke, ammo, bottlecaps, Pugilism Illustrated & Lying Congressional Style.

Reward

 * Mini Nuke
 * various loot

Bugs

 * Manny Koch may be quite alive and very hostile to the player if the Super Mutant camp was cleared and the Behemoth trigger activated prior to progressing through the quest. In this case the player has no choice but to defend himself against the woefully under-equipped Manny.


 * Sometimes Manny Koch will not spawn. The only bodies in the area will be the burned skeletal remains by the shopping carts.

Trivia
It is likely that this quest was inspired by the John Ford film The Searchers. Both stories feature an obsessed man (Manny in the quest, Ethan Edwards in the film) engaged in a seemingly futile search for a female relative who has been kidnapped by a group that the character despises (Super Mutants serve as a stand-in for the original's Comanche Indians).