Johnny Gosch

Johnny Gosch

John David "Johnny" Gosch (born November 12, 1969) was a 12-year-old paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, when he disappeared on September 5, 1982, presumably kidnapped. His case and the subsequent publicity played an important part in the growing public awareness of missing children cases in the 1980s.

His mother, Noreen Gosch, maintains that Johnny Gosch escaped from his captors and visited her in 1997, but fears for his life and lives under an assumed identity. Gosch's father, John, divorced from Noreen since 1993, has publicly stated that he was not sure whether or not the visit actually occurred. Authorities have not located Gosch or confirmed Ms. Gosch's account, and his fate continues to be the subject of speculation, conspiracy theories, and dispute.

The case received publicity in 2006 when photographs possibly depicting Gosch in captivity were supposedly left on his mother's doorstep.

Read more about Johnny Gosch:  Disappearance, The Search For Johnny Gosch, National Interest, Another Missing Paperboy, A Confession, Noreen Gosch's Visitors, 2006 Photos

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