Obscure Occurrences : The Mystery behind the disappearance of Johnny Gosch

 Born on 12 November 1969, Johnny Gosch was the only son of John and Noreen Gosch. His parents took excellent care of him only to see their worst nightmare unfold 13 years later when Johnny disappeared in unexpected and obscure circumstances. Johnny's case allegedly involves prostitution, paedophilia, and a human trafficking ring.

Portrait of Johnny Gosch (Left) and his Parents (Right)

Johnny's Disappearance

 On 15 September 1982, 12-year-old Johnny Gosch left his house in the suburb of West Des Moines at around 5:45 am to deliver the Des Moines Register’s Sunday paper to the people of the locality. He usually woke his father up before leaving the house to help him with his delivery rounds but that day, he left the house all alone with only Gretchen, the house’s miniature dachshund, accompanying him. Dressed up in a white sweatshirt with Kim’s Academy printed on the back, sweatpants and blue rubber flip-flops, he took with him a yellow paper bag and a red wagon which he always used to carry the papers.

 However, Johnny was not able to deliver the papers that day. As a result, at around 7 am, his mother Noreen got a call from a neighbour who complained about not receiving their newspaper. Alarmed by this, his father John left the house to investigate. Approximately two blocks away, he found Johnny’s red wagon with Gretchen and all the undelivered newspapers in it. John rushed back to the house and along with Noreen, informed the police. But because of the police policy back then, Johnny could be classified as missing only after 72 hours.

Initial Investigation 

 The initial finding of the police was that the young boy had run away from his parents but his parents strongly objected to it and suggested that Johnny had been kidnapped. However, they were not able to establish a strong motive behind it. Thus, to gather more information, John and Noreen started to do their own investigation. Thankfully, they got quite a few inputs from witnesses who saw him just before his disappearance.

 On the dreaded September morning in which Johnny disappeared, his fellow paper boys had seen him at the paper drop picking up his share of newspapers. Mike, who was one of Johnny’s fellow paperboys, saw a blue Ford Fairmount car approach Johnny. The engine of the car turned off and the man driving it opened its door swinging his feet out onto the platform on which the boys were assembling. He asked Johnny where 86^th Street was but Johnny gave him a completely incoherent answer. He told the man that his papers were loaded in his wagon. “I'm scared. I'm getting out of here. I'm gonna head home”, he added.

 As Johnny started walking away, the car also started to leave. But before driving away, the mysterious man flickered his light thrice. It appeared as if he was giving out a signal as a tall man walked out of a space between two buildings and started following Johnny along 42^nd street to Marcourt Lane.

 At the same time, a man named Smith was woken by the sound of a car door slamming shut. When he sat up on his bed and peeked through a nearby window, he saw a black and silver car break the stop signal and make a left turn. A couple of other residents saw Johnny talking to a strange-looking man in a blue car whose number plate was from Warren Country, Iowa.

 After Noreen and John gave the police the information they had gathered, the police began scouring the entire area. They even did a door-to-door canvas of the neighbourhood to find clues but they found nothing. It appeared as if the boy had “just vanished” and that is exactly what the police officer in charge of the case told in his pronouncement. With the police not doing much to solve the case, Noreen sought the help of two private investigators named Jim and Ted who followed up on the leads that were never pursued by the police. What they found horrified Noreen. Johnny was supposedly kidnapped to be used in a global paedophile and prostitution ring.

 In March of 1983, roughly six months after Johnny’s disappearance, a woman from Oklahoma claimed that she was approached by a young boy in the parking lot of a local store. He kept screaming, “I’m Johnny Gosch. I’ve been kidnapped” but before she could do anything, two men grabbed him and took him away. They were never seen again.

 Over the following few years, more evidence was found. The Gosch received a dollar bill with a handwritten note on it and it read, “I am alive, Johnny Gosch”. Noreen confirmed that it was indeed her son’s handwriting. Also, in Denver, “Johnny Gosch was here” was written on the restroom wall of a public eatery and whether it was real or not was hard to decide.

Another Boy goes Missing

 After the disappearance of another 13-year-old boy named Eugene on 12 August 1984, Noreen gained the support of a diary company in Des Moines. Eugene went missing while he was delivering newspapers on the south side of Des Moines.  With the police claiming that the cases had no connection, Noreen claimed that she knew about the abduction a few months before it happened. According to her, a private investigator who was searching for her son told her that the next kidnapping would take place on the second weekend of August 1984 and it would be a paper boy from the south side of Des Moines.

 After Eugene’s disappearance, his relative who was working at Anderson and Erickson Diary reached out to the company’s president. To help find the boys, he agreed to put their photos and details on the sides of the half-gallon milk cans the diary made. It was later followed by the Prairie Farms diary as well. Despite the massive reach it gave, no information about their disappearance was found.

A New Claim

 In 1989, Noreen met a 21-year-old man named Paul who was also a victim of the prostitution ring that apparently captured Johnny. He told her that the underage prostitution ring was run by Lawrence E King Jr, a prominent Republican party activist and businessman. He also claimed that other high-level US politicians were involved in it. According to him, they were a cult of devil worshipers who were involved in the mutilation, sacrifice and cannibalism of children.

 Paul told Noreen that he had met Johnny while he was stuck in the prostitution den. He told her details about Johnny which were never publicized and this included a scar on the tongue. However, the FBI and the police did not consider him as credible evidence and they did not even interview him. Also, separate state and federal grand juries ruled out the prostitution ring as a carefully crafted hoax. But according to Noreen, the claims were dismissed just because of the high-profile names that were involved.

Noreen claims to have seen Johnny again

 In the early hours of March of 1997, two young men appeared on the doorstep of Noreen’s Iowa apartment. After waking up from sleep because of their knock, she walked towards the main door and peeked through it to see who it was. As the faces were unfamiliar, she asked who it was and a voice answered, “It’s me Johnny. Can I come in”. She immediately opened the door and let the men in. After entering the house, the young man who claimed to be Johnny opened up his shirt and showed her a unique birthmark on his chest to confirm his identity. Noreen understood that her son had grown into a young man. After a brief conversation with his mother, the young man left.

 According to Noreen, her son told her that he was indeed kidnapped by the members of a paedophilic crime ring. He had recently escaped from them and was keeping a low profile to avoid getting abducted again. He told her that he was still in great danger and thus, would not visit her again. Asking his mother to bring his captors to justice, Johnny apparently left. Later, Noreen went to the FBI and had them create a sketch of her now adult son but with lack of evidence to suggest that Johnny was abducted by the members of a paedophilic ring made them question if he was still alive. There is a possibility of Noreen hallucinating or someone playing a prank on the grieving woman but it is hard to come up with a convincing conclusion.

Disturbing Photographs

 On 1 September 2006, Noreen found a mysterious envelope on her doorstep. Inside the envelope were three chilling photos. In these photos were three young boys who were tied up and gagged and one of these boys resembled Johnny. Believing that the photos were authentic, she took them to the police department but with a Florida law enforcement officer claiming that he had investigated one of these photos a few years before Johnny’s disappearance.

 All three boys in this photograph were identified and it was determined that they willingly posed for it. Assuming that the other two photos were related to this one, the police concluded that it was just a bad prank. Noreen, however, asserted that the boy in the photo was her son himself but the police never took her seriously.

 With Noreen still insisting that her son was abducted to satisfy paedophiles and the police continually denying it, what actually happened to Johnny remains a mystery.