His disappearance was a near carbon copy of that of 12-year-old Johnny Gosch , who set out with his dog and his red wagon Sept. 5, 1982, to deliver the Sunday newspaper near his suburban West Des. 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. 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’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. Johnny Gosch , a 12-year-old paperboy, vanished in 1982, sparking one of America’s most chilling missing child cases. His whereabouts remain unknown. 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. A few years after Johnny Gosch went missing, the Associated Press was reporting on something troubling — the nearly identical disappearance of another Iowa boy, named Eugene Martin . Martin, says Iowa Cold Cases, was 14 years old when he was reported missing on August 12, 1984. In March 1983 , a 12-year-old boy matching Johnny’s description approached a woman leaving a store in Oklahoma. The boy said to her, “I’m John David Gosch. Please help me.” Two men came to the boy and led him away. On the morning of September 5, 1982, West Des Moines paperboy Johnny Gosch was abducted while on his paper route. With the police and FBI being unhelpful, Johnny’s mother Noreen Gosch took matters into her own hands, hiring private investigators to pursue the case.
John David Gosch: The Man Behind the Myth
His disappearance was a near carbon copy of that of 12-year-old Johnny Gosch , who set out with his dog and his red wagon Sept. 5, 1982, to deliver the Sunday n...