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LEBANON, Ind. -- Mike Sherrill says he has spent nearly 17 years hoping to hear from his missing daughter. Now he also wants to find the woman who is accused of posing as Shannon Sherrill this month.

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Father: Caller 'Did Her Homework' Police: Woman's Claim In Missing-Person Case Was Hoax Father Wasn't Expecting Bad News Thorntown Residents Shocked See Beginning Of July 30 News Conference History Of Shannon Sherrill Case Slideshow: Searching For Shannon Indiana Missing Childrens' Web Site

Police said Wednesday that a woman who called Shannon Sherrill's parents over the weekend, claiming to possibly be the person who disappeared at the age of 6 in 1986, was a hoaxer, now identified as Donna L. Walker, 35, of Kansas.

Mike Sherrill, who was once convinced by the caller, says the news has hurt him.

"I hope (Walker) is a lot easier to find than Shannon. I hope it doesn't take another 17 years to find this imposter," Mike Sherrill (pictured, left) told reporters Wednesday outside the Boone County courthouse, hours after police announced they were searching for Walker.

Walker (pictured, right), starting on Saturday, falsely told the family of Shannon Marie Sherrill and police over the phone that she may be the missing person, Indiana State Police 1st Sgt. Dave Bursten said.

Shannon Sherrill vanished in October 1986 while playing outside her mother's home in Thorntown.

Mike Sherrill said the caller knew a lot about his daughter and the investigation. Police said Walker may have educated herself about the case through previously published reports.

"I'm confused," the father said. "I don't know why this practical joke was played on us. We lost her all over again."

Police said they became suspicious of the caller's story when certain parts of it didn't add up. Bursten said that when Walker first contacted Mike Sherrill and his former wife, Dorothy Sherrill, she said she was a Virginia resident named Beth Harris, and that she believed she may be Shannon Sherrill (pictured, left).

Bursten said Walker would, at separate times, speak to police in three different voices, posing as three different people. Walker used two of the personalities to try to support the Beth Harris story, Bursten said.

Walker's motive for making the claim is unknown, Bursten said. She is wanted on charges of identity deception, a class D felony, and false informing, a class A misdemeanor, authorities said.

Mike Sherrill said he hopes the caller spends a lot of time in jail.

"(The calls got our) hopes way up. Only this time, they were up higher because she had a voice," he said.

Police In Kansas Hunt For Walker

Investigators in Topeka, Kan., spent several hours Wednesday at an apartment complex where Walker was last known to live, an ABC News crew reported.

A resident told a Topeka newspaper that she saw Walker last week, but not in the past few days. Walker apparently had lived there for six months, the resident said.

Police said Walker has a criminal record and may have conducted hoaxes on other families with missing children.