Disappearance
On Sunday, September 5, 1982, in the suburb of West Des Moines, Johnny Gosch left home before dawn to begin his paper route. Though it was customary for Johnny to awaken his father to help with the route, the boy took only the family's dachshund, Gretchen, with him that morning. Other paper carriers for The Des Moines Register would later report having seen Gosch at the paper drop, picking up his newspapers. It was the last sighting of Johnny Gosch that can be corroborated by multiple witnesses.
A neighbor named Mike reported that he observed Gosch talking to a stocky man in a blue two-toned Ford Fairlane with Nebraska plates; Mike didn't know what was discussed because he was observing from his bedroom window. As Gosch headed home, Mike noticed another man following Gosch.
Gosch was last seen wearing blue rubber thong sandals, warm-up exercise pants, and a white sweatshirt reading "Kim's Academy".
John and Noreen Gosch, Johnny's parents, began receiving phone calls from customers along their son's route, complaining of undelivered papers. John Gosch performed a cursory search of the neighborhood around 6 a.m. He immediately found Johnny's wagon full of newspapers two blocks from their home.
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