John David Gosch: His Story, Their Struggle

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On September 5 , 1982 , 12-year-old Johnny Gosch woke up early to deliver newspapers in his West Des Moines, Iowa neighborhood. His fellow paperboys spotted him at around 6 a.m. With his wagon full of deliveries not far from his house — but Gosch never made it home. John’s mother, Noreen Gosch, hired private investigators to look into her son ’ s disappearance. She believes he was kidnapped and sold into a pedophile prostitution ring. She claimed she was visited by her son when she testified during a 1999 pedophile crime organization trial in Nebraska. In 1982, Johnny Gosch disappeared and the Gosch family found themselves living a parents’ worst nightmare. And 40 years later, they’re still hoping for answers. 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. 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. The friend later told police the man, who was driving a blue, full-size car with Warren County license plates, had driven past other newspaper delivery boys three times, and twice had asked directions to 86th Street. Because Johnny had his dog with him and the dog wasn’t barking, the friend assumed Johnny wasn’t in danger. Johnny was a well-liked boy from the neighborhood who was a Cub Scout, made friends easily, was close with his parents, and loved his little dog, Gretchen. As the story goes, Johnny left the house that morning with Gretchen and his red wagon to go to the corner and pick up his papers for his route. John and Noreen Gosch only discovered that their son was missing, because their phone started ringing off the hook. Customers were complaining that they had not received their newspapers. On Sunday , September 5 , 1982 , Johnny got up early but didn’t wake his father up like he usually did. Instead, around 5:45 am he quietly slipped out of the house, taking only his dachshund,.