When a 12-year-old paperboy named Johnny Gosch disappeared on the job in West Des Moines, Iowa at the crack of dawn on Sept. 5, 1982 – 40 years ago – America was just beginning to awaken to the problem of missing and sexually exploited children in this country. John David Gosch – known as Johnny – disappeared in 1982 aged just 12 while working as a paper boy, having vanished while completing his paper round. While most accept he was kidnapped, accounts of Johnny reappearing and strange events in the case mean that there are many unanswered questions. 5 , 1982 , Johnny Gosch woke up before sunrise and left the house with his dachshund, Gretchen, to deliver newspapers in West Des Moines, Iowa. According to Iowa Cold Cases, his father usually went with him, but John David Gosch had decided to stay home that fateful Sunday morning. As the years have passed, John David Gosch’s case has remained a haunting mystery , and his disappearance has had a lasting impact on the community. The search for answers continues, and his family remains hopeful that one day they will finally have the answers they have been seeking for so long. In the early hours of September 5 , 1982, the quiet suburb of West Des Moines, Iowa, was shattered by the disappearance of 12-year-old paperboy Johnny Gosch. What started as a routine day for young Johnny, delivering newspapers with his trusty red wagon, soon turned into one of the most chilling cases of a missing child in American history. The Johnny Gosch Bill now requires police to investigate missing - child cases immediately instead of waiting 72 hours as they had in Johnny’s case. In addition, Johnny’s face appeared on a milk carton in 1984: one of the first missing children whose case was publicized that way. WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — 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. On July 1 , 1984 , a bill she authored — the Johnny Gosch Bill — was passed into Iowa law. It mandated immediate police involvement whenever a child went missing, and was subsequently adopted by eight additional states. Johnny Gosch as a young Boy Scout.
The John David Gosch Case: What Happened Next?
When a 12-year-old paperboy named Johnny Gosch disappeared on the job in West Des Moines, Iowa at the crack of dawn on Sept. 5, 1982 – 40 years ago – America wa...
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