Issue 35: Johnny Gosch
From the newsies in the 1920's right up to today, having your paper delivered by a newspaper boy was a fixture of any neighbourhood. With the age of the internet, though rare, the odd boy still may be found. Johnny Gosch, a 12-year-old boy was one of those boys in the 1980s who delivered those papers in West Des Moines in Iowa - until the day he went missing.
Johnny Gosch was born on 12 November 1969 to John and Noreen Gosch. It was usually routine that Johnny would wake his father up, as he would help his son with the paper round. Yet on 5 September 1982 Johnny, who had been awoken by his step-brother who was heading off to work, decided that the family miniature dachshund, Gretchen, with him instead. As the family got up that morning they assumed that Johnny had taken the dog with him and that they would return after he had finished his round. It wasn't long after that the family received multiple calls from residents who were missing their papers and wondering where Johnny was. John Gosch decided to go and look for his son. As well as taking Gretchen that morning, Johnny had also taken a red wagon to pull behind him with the papers loaded up. Two blocks away from his home, John Gosch found the wagon abandoned with the papers still inside. Once back home the police were contacted.
Through preliminary investigations it was established that the people who worked for The Des Moines Register saw him at the paper drop off, this was the place where the boys had to pick up all the papers they had to deliver.
Another paperboy named Mike reported that he observed Gosch talking to a stocky man in a blue two-toned car near the where the papers were picked up. Another witness, John Rossi, saw the man in the blue car talking to Gosch and "thought something was strange." Gosch told Rossi that the man was asking for directions and asked Rossi to help. Rossi looked at the license plate, but could not recall the plate number.
According to a private investigator hired by the Gosches, as Johnny walked a block north, where his route started, a paperboy noticed another man following Gosch. Furthermore a neighbour heard a door slam, and saw a silver Ford Fairmont speed away northwards from where Johnny's wagon was found.
Over the years Noreen has told the story of Johnny countless times. As a cause of this there have been slight changes made to the details of what happened. These changes have come not just from Noreen but also some witnesses. We have to remember that memory is falible and with understanding of how a traumatic event changes the brain, details may be foggy. Nevertheless, scrutiny still came the families way.
Noreen said that she waited 45 minutes before the police arrive to take the initial report. Furthermore, at the time it was standard procedure to wait 72 hours before the person could be classified as missing. That means that the police did not treat it as serious as they could have, believing that at first he was a runaway but later changed their statement to kidnapping but were unable to establish a motive. After they left the family after the initial report, the police did not return for 7 hours to update the family. Not wanting to waste time, Noreen started collecting the eye-witness accounts from the paperboys before the police arrived.
It was established that Johnny disappeared between 6 and 7am. Unfortunately, this is another case where there were things that happened that could have been handled better:
the police chief of the area told everyone to stop searching and that Johnny was just a runaway
Noreen had called the FBI and asked for assistance, they informed her that they knew about the case but the police chief didn't want their assistance
in the 2015 documentary about the case a retired police office said that they didn't investigate the case because there was 'no crime scene'
A few months after his September 1982 disappearance, Noreen Gosch has said her son was spotted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when a boy yelled to a woman for help before being dragged off by two men. No more came of that sighting; however, Noreen would later insist that she actually saw Johnny after he was kidnapped.
It was in 1997 that Noreen said that her son came to her house with an unidentified male. She said that the visit wasn’t long but he had told her that he was a victim of a pedophile ring and cast aside when he was too old. He feared for his life and was living under an assumed identity.’ Although Noreen was persistent with what had happened, once more nothing more eventuated.
Between 1982 and the end of 1997 Johnny’s face had made its way across the country because he became one of the first Milk Carton Kids.
This was a campaign that publicised cases of missing children. It started in the 1980’s and wrapped up in the late-1990’s. It was no longer needed since the Amber alert system was created in 1996.
Unfortunately but also unsurprisingly, the Gosch’s marriage broke down with the ongoing stress of the disappearance. John and Noreen Gosch divorced in 1993. John has publicly stated that he is not sure whether a visit actually occurred or whether it was someone pretending to be Johnny.
Nothing happened until a morning in 2006 Noreen stepped out onto her doorstep to see an envelope had been placed there. Inside where photos from a kidnapping case in Florida. One of the boys in the photo has never been identified and Noreen believes it is her son. Police have not made anything official.
As of December 2023, no arrests have been made. The case remains open and anyone with information are encouraged to contact the police.