IA JOHNNY GOSCH: Missing from West Des Moines, IA - 5 Sept 1982 - Age 12 (1 Viewer)

The Doe Network:
Case File 160DMIA

Left: Gosch, circa 1982; Right: Age-progressed to age 40 (circa 2010)

John David Gosch
Missing since September 5, 1982 from West Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.
Classification: Non-Family Abduction

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: November 12, 1969
Age at Time of Disappearance: 12 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'7; 140 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Light brown, short hair; blue eyes.
Marks, Scars: Gosch has facial freckles. He has a horseshoe-shaped scar on his tongue and a birthmark on his left cheek.
Clothing: A white sweatshirt with Kim's Academy imprinted on the back, warm-up pants and blue rubber thong sandals.
Dentals: There is a gap between his front teeth.
Nickname: Johnny

Circumstances of Disappearance
Gosch disappeared while conducting his newspaper route in West Des Moines, Iowa on September 5, 1982. He was tailed by his dachshund, Gretchen. Gosch was seen speaking to a male suspect while working his paper route on 42nd Street and Marcourt Lane. Gretchen returned home without her master.

Because of the Gosch case, Iowa passed a law requiring immediate investigations of missing children.

Gosch disappeared from the same vicinity as Eugene Wade Martin did in October of 1984 and Marc James-Warren Allen in March of 1986. Martin also vanished while working his newspaper route; It has not been proved that these three cases are related in any way, but it is worth noting the similarities.

Gosch's mother claimed that her son is alive and that he visited her in 1997. She announced her revelations during a 1999 pedophile crime organization trial in Nebraska. Gosch's mother said that he came to her Iowa apartment in March 1997 with an unidentified male friend. She claims that Gosch told her he was abducted by members of a pedophile crime organization and he escaped from the group at an undetermined time. Gosch's mother also said that her son was in fear of repercussions from the group and that was the reason he chose to remain "underground." She stated that she has had no further contact with her son since his 1997 visit and that she remained silent about the event until called as a witness in court because she fears for Gosch's safety.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning Gosch's whereabouts, please contact:
West Des Moines Police Department
Detective Tom Boyd
515-223-3211
Email
--
Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse
1-800-346-5507
Email
All information may be submitted anonymously.

Agency Case Number: 82-2976

NCMEC #: NCMC601763

NCIC Number:
M-089641270
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information related to this case.

Source Information:
The National Center For Missing and Exploited Children
NamUs
The Cedar Rapids Gazette
The Des Moines Register
What Happened to Johnny
The Johnny Gosch Foundation
Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse

160DMIA - John David Gosch

edited by staff to add media link

JOHNNY GOSCH: Missing from West Des Moines, IA since 5 Sep 1982 - Age 12

Gosch (born November 12, 1969; disappeared September 5, 1982) was a 12-year-old paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, who disappeared without a trace between 6 and 7 a.m. on September 5, 1982. He is presumed to have been kidnapped.

www.crimewatchers.net

 

[Mel70]

I don't believe John is alive. I think sick people have preyed on Noreen and led her to believe some outlandish information. I think Eugene Martin was likely another victim but not the boy in 86. I've heard Noreen's claims and some are extremely outlandish. But that us nothing against Noreen. She has been through hell. She even believes John Sr. Who was sleeping at the time has something to do with his disappearance. And having a look alike of Noreen. It goes so deep.

 

[GarAndMo39]

I don't believe John is alive. I think sick people have preyed on Noreen and led her to believe some outlandish information. I think Eugene Martin was likely another victim but not the boy in 86. I've heard Noreen's claims and some are extremely outlandish. But that us nothing against Noreen. She has been through hell. She even believes John Sr. Who was sleeping at the time has something to do with his disappearance. And having a look alike of Noreen. It goes so deep.

I agree @Mel70. I remember when he disappeared. I think poor Noreen just couldn't handle it...

 

[Romulus]

Many of these cases and this too I unfortunately believe are prey to sexual and predatory perverts, for example also the case of Morgan Nick, reminds me of this; otherwise, alternatively, I can think of human trafficking, I cannot think that such small children will leave of their own free will.

 

[Mel70]

Many of these cases and this too I unfortunately believe are prey to sexual and predatory perverts, for example also the case of Morgan Nick, reminds me of this; otherwise, alternatively, I can think of human trafficking, I cannot think that such small children will leave of their own free will.

They do. Even younger. In some states here. I don't know if it's changed but it was considered the age of discretion for running away was 8.

 

[Mel70]

This is the first case that really hit me. My Parents and I were driving through Iowa to get to my Grandparents farm in the Summer of "83" and I saw the missing poster. I was 13. I just thought Missing?. Where could he be?. Looking at all the open land driving on after leaving the Diner just thinking he could be out there anywhere. But where?. Why can't they find him?.

 

[Kimster]

This is the first case that really hit me. My Parents and I were driving through Iowa to get to my Grandparents farm in the Summer of "83" and I saw the missing poster. I was 13. I just thought Missing?. Where could he be?. Looking at all the open land driving on after leaving the Diner just thinking he could be out there anywhere. But where?. Why can't they find him?.

That is so sad! Hearing it from the perspective of a child's thought process.

 

[Mel70]

And at 13 a man tried to lure me into his car when I was walking to school. I knew better.

 

[Guess Who]

And at 13 a man tried to lure me into his car when I was walking to school. I knew better.

Which leads me to think it very well could have been somebody he knew or was at least familiar with.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Iowa's Unsolved: Missing Iowa boy's case prompts changes for child abduction nationwide

Johnny Gosch was just 12-years-old when he disappeared from Des Moines. He was out delivering newspapers September 5, 1982. His dad usually went with him, but that day he didn't. Johnny never came home. Nearly two years after his disappearance, another Des Moines Register paperboy, 13-year-old...

cbs2iowa.com

Iowa's Unsolved: Missing Iowa boy's case prompts changes for child abduction nationwide
May 24, 2021

Johnny Gosch was just 12-years-old when he disappeared from Des Moines.

He was out delivering newspapers September 5, 1982.

His dad usually went with him, but that day he didn't.

Johnny never came home.

Nearly two years after his disappearance, another Des Moines Register paperboy, 13-year-old Eugene Martin also went missing.

Johnny’s mom, Noreen Gosch, believes those two cases are connected.

“As time went on it was more evident we had a real problem here. It was the second kidnapping in two years, the boys were the same age, kind of resembled one another, wore their hair about the same and the police had a big problem on their hands now,” said Gosch.

She believes her son was targeted and sold into the dark world of child sex trafficking.

She wants people to know the harsh reality that this underground world exists and she's made it her lifelong mission to do just that, as well as bring awareness to missing children cases.

One way, the Johnny Gosch Law, which mandated immediate police involvement when a child went missing, as well as prompted the creation of the National Missing and Exploited Children’s Network.

"It’s been a long journey as we are nearing forty years. I've seen a lot of progress and I’ve seen a lot of areas that need to be much more improved,” said Gosch.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Searching for Johnny: 40 Years Later

The disappearance of Johnny Gosch is one of Iowa's longest running, and most notorious mysteries.

www.kcci.com

Searching for Johnny: 40 Years Later​

The disappearance of Johnny Gosch is one of Iowa's longest running, and most notorious mysteries.

In 1982, the 12-year-old paperboy in West Des Moines vanished without a trace.

Forty years later, KCCI uncovers where the investigation stands, how his parents have lived with the uncertainty, and how his disappearance changed a neighborhood.

This week, KCCI is running stories on the case on KCCI News at 6 p.m., followed by an hour-long special on Mon., Sept. 5 at 7 p.m.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Hometown Tragedy, a true-crime series streaming free on the Very Local app, examines the disappearances of two central Iowa paperboys, Johnny Gosch in 1982 and Eugene Martin in 1984. Both cases remain unsolved.

 

[Mel70]

His disappearance really stuck with me. He was just a few months older. IMO. Dang. It's hard to say. I Don't think he's alive, And hasn't been. Same with Eugene Martin. I can't see how they ARE NOT related. I think the perpetrator(s) got away with it twice and didn't take the chance again. IMO. The person(s) involved were not from the area. Just a feeling. I feel so sad for Noreen. She has made some out there claims and stories of events. Even saying Johnny showed up one night with another guy after he was an adult. IDK. I think she has pushed a bit over the edge. By no fault of her own whatsoever. I can't, And most people can't imagine how devastating it would be to lose a child. I believe people preyed on her vulnerability. And some real sicko &^%$&>>< *^$&_/#>&$. 's played a joke on her showing up that night saying he was Johnny and Noreen believes it was. I knows she wants to believe he's still alive. But he was about to or just turned 13. So he would remember his address, Phone #, Parent's names. In the video her stating if I am quoting correctly. "At least there's not a dead body to deal with". Maybe that's the best way for her to be able to handle it. Now 40 yrs later. Wow. And I remember it very vividly.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

An Iowa paperboy disappeared 41 years ago. His mother is still on the case

Johnny Gosch became one of the first “milk carton kids” after vanishing one Sunday morning in 1982. His mother hasn’t given up looking for him, and his case keeps getting stranger.

www.cnn.com

An Iowa paperboy disappeared 41 years ago. His mother is still on the case​

Johnny Gosch left home for the last time on a warm Sunday in late summer, in the pale morning light before sunrise. He was 12 years old, and he liked building model rockets. Just before 6 a.m., a neighbor heard a wagon rattling through the yard and figured it was Johnny taking his usual shortcut on his way to pick up his newspapers. Another paperboy recalled seeing Johnny near the newspaper drop site. The boy saw a blue car pull up, and saw Johnny talking to a stranger.

What happened in the next few minutes would resonate for the next four decades, far beyond the rolling green hills of Iowa. Johnny would become a tragic abstraction, a face on a milk carton, a story that warned other kids away from paper routes and changed the way police handled missing-children cases.

The reasons for Johnny’s disappearance would be fiercely debated. Theories would proliferate. Some would call it an impenetrable mystery, insisting that countless hours of police work had led nowhere near the truth.

Johnny’s mother would open a parallel investigation, one that continues to this day. In August 2023, not long before her 80th birthday, she pointed to her own skull and said, “I’ve got pretty much all of it in the file cabinet up here.”

By then she had named the names of more than half a dozen alleged perpetrators or potential suspects, none of whom had been arrested in her son’s case. She’d been ignored and dismissed, threatened and ridiculed, but Noreen Gosch kept searching for answers. The loss of Johnny changed the way she saw America. She said it convinced her of the corruption in our institutions, the injustice in our justice system, the breathtaking power behind the men who took her son. A force none other than evil itself.

The Gosch case is a vast labyrinth, full of wonder and terror, a place so dark you can barely see your hand in front of your face. I spent several months there while reporting this story, trying to reconcile Noreen’s findings with those of the authorities, hoping to gather all the objective facts. Many of those facts remain undiscovered.

And so, a warning: Any conclusion you make about the fate of Johnny Gosch will require some combination of guesswork and faith. Most people who study the case eventually settle on one of the following two theories.

You can choose to believe that Johnny was murdered soon after his disappearance, even though no killer has been identified and no remains have been found.

Or you can believe Noreen Gosch, who says she saw Johnny years later, very much alive, and talked to him just long enough to know why he had to disappear again.

MUCH MORE AT LINK

 

[Mel70]

His case will always be on my mind. Only a few months older. Seeing his missing poster driving through Iowa, AndcI couldn't understand why he couldn't be found. His case really got me interested in missing cases. IMO. "Noreen" Has been sent through HE77! Not simply by the pain of him being missing, But it has been over 40 years for her. I don't believe the 2 people that showed up were Johnny and someone else. I think it was a very sick. Cruel joke. All the trauma she has been through. I think she dies have mental health issues. BY NO FAULT OF HER OWN! I've heard her claims. She named his dad. And said someone was bringing around her double. And she never met that person. I find it all really hard to believe. As much as I want to believe Noreen. I feel deeply for her. She's 80 now. And I fear she will die never knowing.

 

[GrandmaBear]

His case will always be on my mind. Only a few months older. Seeing his missing poster driving through Iowa, AndcI couldn't understand why he couldn't be found. His case really got me interested in missing cases. IMO. "Noreen" Has been sent through HE77! Not simply by the pain of him being missing, But it has been over 40 years for her. I don't believe the 2 people that showed up were Johnny and someone else. I think it was a very sick. Cruel joke. All the trauma she has been through. I think she dies have mental health issues. BY NO FAULT OF HER OWN! I've heard her claims. She named his dad. And said someone was bringing around her double. And she never met that person. I find it all really hard to believe. As much as I want to believe Noreen. I feel deeply for her. She's 80 now. And I fear she will die never knowing.

I know this case too and it stuck out for us in the midwest big time and hit news of course. I would have been around 18. Wetterling was another that stood out,a handful of years later. We honestly did not hear of many "abducted" or disappearing in our neck of the woods in this time back when (now so common everywhere but I think still less here) and the ones whose parents etc. pushed for news and such, those two for sure, were heard of.

I can believe in either theory but I tend to agree with you. It isn't that I think such can't or couldn't have went on, what his mom believes, but for other reasons I don't buy it but I don't 100 percent exclude it. I think it is right close to his route and home and habits and patterns with his job. Much was thought of too with Wetterling and in the end it was right in home territory.

I don't discount what his mother thinks, there is a lot of evil in this world and most of us don't wan to believe such kind of stories but I don't think it is what happened for a few reasons. I haven'\ excluded the possibility but I think it was someone on his route, in his neighborhood of the route and someone who just knew he was alone and took the opportunity. I tend to agree with you that it was a cruel hoax but again I will keep the possibility open.

And it has not been solved. Do they have anything we don't know of? Maybe there is more to what his mom thinks because I will say this much, after 42 years, they may as well share what they have or something to spur something unless someone is being protected...

I get there is no statute of limitations on murder but 40 years is enough. Give up some info in hopes of spurring something.

His body has never been found is the other thing so there isn't even any evidence there was a murder. And any other crime is LONG done by statute of limitations.

So 40+ years and not even proof there was a homicide, share what they have or some of it. A good possibility of course they don't have much, but there is also a good possibility they do.

It sucks not to get justice but I think if one has to choose most families would choose answers over justice. After 40 years for sure. Perp's already been free and is how old after that many.