John Gosch Abduction 9/05/82 IA
JOHN GOSCH DOB: Nov 12, 1969 Missing: Sep 5, 1982 Age Now: 36 Sex: Male Race: White Hair: Lt. Brown Eyes: Blue Height: 5'7" (170 cm) Weight: 140 lbs (64 kg) Missing From: WEST DES MOINES IA United States John's photo is shown age-progressed to 35 years. He was last seen delivering newspapers. He has facial freckles, a gap between his front teeth, a birthmark on his left cheek, and a horseshoe-shaped scar on his tongue. ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT National Center for Missing & Exploited Children 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Des Moines Police Dept. (Iowa) - Missing Persons Unit - 1-515-223-3211 or Your Local FBI http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewPoster&caseNum=601763&orgPrefix=NCMC&searchLang=en_US

Distinguishing Characteristics: Light brown hair, blue eyes. Gosch has facial freckles. He had a gap between his upper front teeth at the time of his disappearance. Gosch has a horseshoe-shaped scar on his tongue and a birthmark on his left cheek. His nickname is Johnny. Clothing Description: A white sweatshirt with "Kim's Academy" imprinted on the back, warm-up pants and blue rubber thong sandals. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Details of Disappearance Gosch was last seen while conducting his newspaper route in West Des Moines, Iowa on September 5, 1982. He was accompanied by his Dachshund, Gretchen. Witnesses told authorities that Gosch was seen speaking to a male suspect on 42nd Street and Marcourt Lane while delivering his newspapers. Gretchen returned to family's residence, but Gosch had disappeared. Gosch's mother claimed that she was visited by her son when she testified during a 1999 pedophile crime organization trial in Nebraska. Gosch's mother said that he had visited her Iowa apartment in 1997 with an unidentified male friend. Gosch's mother went on to say that her son told her he had been abducted by members of a pedophile crime ring and he was keeping a low profile to avoid repercussions from his former captors. Gosch's mother said he told her he had escaped from the group sometime earlier. She maintained that she had no further contact with her son since that time, as she feared for his well-being. Gosch vanished from the same vicinity that Eugene Martin disappeared from in 1984. Both boys were newspaper carriers in the Des Moines, Iowa area. It is not known if the two cases are related. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Investigating Agency If you have any information concerning this case, please contact: West Des Moines Police Department 515-223-3211 Last updated October 16, 2005; age-progression updated Charley Project

Police Investigate Link Between Photograph And Missing Boy WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Police hope a photograph of a gagged and bound boy will open new leads into the fate of Johnny Gosch -- the 12-year-old who disappeared 24 years ago while delivering newspapers in West Des Moines. The boy has not been seen since September 1982 -- but his mother believes a photograph she received this week from an unknown source may yield some clues about his abductor. Noreen Gosch has told authorities she believes the picture is of her son shortly after he was abducted. The boy in the photo appears to have his mouth gagged, his hands and feet bound and is wearing sweatpants like those her son was wearing the day his abduction. Police say they are investigating where the photo came from and whether it was doctored up. The boy's mother believes her son was taken by child pornographers. She has told authorities her son briefly contacted her in 1997 but feared for his life and declined to give details about where or how he could be contacted. http://www.ktiv.com/News/index.php?ID=3939

Iowa mom gets photos of son missing 24 years THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DES MOINES - The mother of a boy abducted 24 years ago said she's bewildered by two photographs left at her front door, apparently showing her son and two other children bound and gagged. The old photos appear to show 12-year-old Johnny Gosch with his mouth gagged and his hands and feet tied. The boy is wearing the same sweatpants Johnny was wearing when he disappeared while delivering newspapers on the morning of Sept. 5, 1982, his mother said. "It's like reliving it," Noreen Gosch said Thursday night. "But the bigger picture is, 'Why are they doing this?' "Whoever had these photos had them for 24 years. I don't understand why they would do this now. It must be some kind of message." Gosch said investigators confirmed the photos were authentic and likely taken within "hours or days" of the abduction. She said they were checking for fingerprints that could lead them to the source and possibly a breakthrough in a case that has long baffled authorities. The other boys in the photo were unidentified. "We are in the process of researching where they came from and whether they've been doctored up," West Des Moines police Lt. Jeff Miller told the Des Moines Register. Johnny's disappearance triggered nationwide fears of child abductions. He was one of the first faces of a missing or abducted child to appear on milk cartons across the country. Originally published on September 2, 2006 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/story/448818p-377853c.html

Tue, Sep 05, 2006 Mother gets photos 24 years after son’s abduction DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The mother of a boy abducted 24 years ago said she’s bewildered by two photographs left at her front door, apparently showing her son and two other children bound and gagged. The old photos appear to show 12-year-old Johnny Gosch with his mouth gagged and his hands and feet tied. The boy is wearing the same sweat pants Johnny was wearing when he disappeared while delivering newspapers on the morning of Sept. 5, 1982, his mother said. "It's like reliving it," Noreen Gosch told The Associated Press on Thursday night. "But the bigger picture is, 'Why are they doing this?' "Whoever had these photos had them for 24 years. I don't understand why they would do this now. It must be some kind of message." Gosch said investigators confirmed the photos were authentic and likely taken within "hours or days" of the abduction. She said they were checking for fingerprints that could lead them to the source and possibly a breakthrough in a case that has long baffled authorities. The other boys in the photo were unidentified. The photos were given to the state Division of Criminal Investigation's computer crime task force, West Des Moines police Lt. Jeff Miller said. He said police have not positively identified the boy in the photos as Johnny Gosch. Johnny's disappearance triggered nationwide fears of child abductions. He was one of the first faces of missing or abducted children to appear on milk cartons across the country. Several theories have developed since he vanished before dawn while delivering Sunday newspapers. His newspaper wagon was discovered near his West Des Moines home, but few substantial clues have surfaced since then. Gosch believes her son was taken by child pornographers. She told authorities he briefly contacted her in 1997 but feared for his life and declined to give details about where he was. She believes his abductors got him involved in crimes, which is why he is hiding his identity. The National Center for Missing Children is examining the other boys in the photograph and trying to match it with its database of missing children. "These kids have parents someplace," Gosch said. "I'm sure they feel the same way I did. ... Hopefully we can do some good and give these parents some peace." Johnny was Gosch's youngest of three children, and she has devoted her life to finding him, from raising money for private detectives to following her own leads and prodding police to try harder. She also wrote a book called "Why Johnny Can't Come Home." http://www.southernstandard.net/news.php?viewStory=34638

Police Say Photos May Be 'Horrible Prank' Hillsborough County Sheriff Reviews Microfilm POSTED: 1:08 pm EDT September 13, 2006 UPDATED: 1:41 pm EDT September 13, 2006 WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- West Des Moines police said that if two photos of boys tied up and gagged are not of Johnny Gosch, then someone is playing a "horrible prank'' on his mother. Gosch was 12 when he disappeared in 1982 from his West Des Moines neighborhood while delivering the Sunday newspaper. Police are investigating a lead out of Florida that the pictures recently delivered to his mother's front door date back to the 1970s. A retired investigator from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Tampa said the photos of boys tied up and gagged are not Gosch. The sheriff's office is now going through every roll of microfilm in its archives to find the police report, which has the photos attached. West Des Moines police Lieutenant Jeff Miller said the investigation is continuing to look into who dropped the photos off at Noreen Gosch's house. Calls for comment have not been returned. Nelson Zalva, a retired police detective in Tampa, Fla., who now works for the Florida state attorney, said that he believes these are pictures from a case he worked on in the late 1970s -- that's several years before Gosch disappeared. He said at the time, police tracked down and identified all three boys and the man who took the pictures. Zalva said the boys posed voluntarily and police did not file charges. He does not believe these three boys have anything to do with the case. http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9840268/detail.html

Florida Investigator: Decades-Old Photos Do Not Show Missing Iowa Boy Wednesday, September 13, 2006 DES MOINES, Iowa — A retired investigator from a Florida sheriff's office said Wednesday that photos of boys tied up and gagged do not show a missing Iowa boy who disappeared 24 years ago while delivering newspapers. Nelson Zalva, who is now working for the Hillsborough County state attorney's office, said he investigated the photos while he worked at the Hillsborough County sheriff's office in 1978 or 1979. "I remember this case," he said. "I identified the kids portrayed in the photos. It was definitely investigated by me several years prior to the disappearance of Johnny Gosch." The photos were in an envelope that was dropped off at the West Des Moines home of Johnny's mother, Noreen Gosch, on Aug. 27. One photo is black and white and shows a boy bound and gagged on a bed. The other is a color photo that shows the same boy in a similar pose with two other, unidentified boys who also are bound and gagged. Noreen Gosch turned the photos over to police who have been investigating the authenticity of the photos and to determine if they were of Gosch's son http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213660,00.html

Investigator Can't Find File In Gosch Case POSTED: 7:01 am EDT September 22, 2006 UPDATED: 7:21 am EDT September 22, 2006 DES MOINES, Iowa -- A Florida investigator said he can't find a case file he believes would debunk a possible break in a 24-year-old mystery of missing Iowa boy. Staff at the Hillsborough County sheriff's department in Florida have given up the search for a case file that investigator Nelson Zalva said contained photographs of three boys bound and gagged on a bed. Zalva said the photo was the same as one left last month on the West Des Moines doorstep of Noreen Gosch. The photo sparked hope that police could finally determine what happened to Johnny Gosch, who was 12 years old when he disappeared in 1982. Florida officials are hoping the public will help them come up with a name. Noreen Gosch said she is still sure the photos left on her doorstep are of her son, and said she can see a birthmark on the boy's neck and chest that could only belong to her son. http://www.local6.com/news/9908967/detail.html