Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 1 /// Johnny Gosch

In the early 80s, Middle America experienced tragedies that no parent could imagine.

Until it happened for the first time, newspaper boys were disappearing from the streets.

They would step out into the dark of the early morning hours to deliver the daily news to their neighborhoods,

and some of them did not return.

It started in Iowa and then it moved to Nebraska.

Kids were plucked off the street, just a few steps into their routes,

and some have vanished forever.

The first boy gone was in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The papers he carried, read, Des Moines Sunday Register.

The newspaper Iowa depends upon.

September 5, 1982.

$1.00 for a single copy, 85 cents by motor route, and 80 cents by carrier.

The top story headline read.

Good news of Iowa humanity emerged in tragedies of summer.

The day's weather forecasted on the front page, partly cloudy, with a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Highs 80 to 85 degrees, but none of that matter because the boy was gone before sunrise, vanished.

This is True Crime Garage, and this is our look at the Missing Paper Boys, chapter 1, Johnny Gosh.

We are going back in time to the 18th of September, 1983.

This is Bellevue, Nebraska.

Bellevue, Nebraska is just outside of and just south of Omaha, Nebraska,

which is right on the state line of Nebraska and Iowa.

September 18, 1983 was in fact a Sunday.

Please note that all three, the location, the month and the day of the week, and more importantly,

the fourth item here, Captain, the scenario regarding this story are all very key ingredients to the emergency response

and law enforcement officers responding to this call for help that cause them to have great concern,

and they all agree this is very, very strange, very, very scary stuff right off the rip.

So this is from Peter Clismet's book.

Now we've recommended his book before in our recommended segment here in the garage.

The book title is FBI Diary Profiles in Evil.

And this portion of his book reads 13-year-old Danny Joe Everley, got up early as he always did,

and headed down to a nearby convenience store to pick up his supply of 70, 70, Sunday newspapers to go out and deliver them.

He rolled the papers, put the entire load in the delivery bag on his bicycle, and took off on his route.

But he only made it three stops on this route.

When some people on the route didn't get their newspapers at the usual time, they were on the phone to Danny's parents, calling his home phone number.

Puzzled by the number of phone calls his parents headed out on the route, eventually finding Danny's bike inside the gate of a fence around a dentist's home.

Folded newspapers were inside the delivery bag.

But Danny Joe was nowhere to be found. There were no signs of a struggle.

His parents drove around to see if they could find him, but could not.

And immediately afterward called the Bellevue Police Department.

Police began searching for the boy right away, systematically talking to people in the area, but no one had seen anything, including Danny Joe himself.

The search continued for the entire day with officers checking every building in the area and searching around houses.

More neighbors were interviewed, but no one had seen Danny Joe with anyone.

He had simply vanished.

And as Peter Klismet writes, much like Johnny Gosh did a year before.

And the parallels, he says, were eerily similar.

No clues were found despite a search by over a hundred townspeople and officers.

The day became evening.

And when darkness fell, the search was put on hold and began first thing the next morning.

Yet again, the search teams fanned out with guidance and organization from law enforcement.

The Sheriff's Department was involved in the Bellevue Police Chief contacted the local FBI office in Omaha, Nebraska.

Agents were immediately assigned to help with the search and investigation into the boy's disappearance.

There were no indications of problems at home that could have made him decide to run away.

To the contrary, he was conscientious about getting up, delivering his papers, and getting himself to school every morning.

There were no problems at school. No one could understand how he could mysteriously disappear.

So where this call goes here, Captain, we have FBI is going to get involved very quickly in the disappearance of Danny Joe Eberly from Bellevue, Nebraska.

Newspaper boy out on his route doesn't come home.

It appears he made it to three of the stops delivering three newspapers and then something must have occurred after that third delivery.

And now the boy is gone. The FBI, we have special agent in charge, Herb Hawkins at the local field office here.

And we have assistant special agent in charge, John Evans from the Omaha, Nebraska field office.

So they are coordinating with the Bellevue Police Department and the Sarpie County Sheriff's Office.

Herb Hawkins and John Evans get a local agent, Peter Klismet Jr., who we've already mentioned his name a couple times.

I believe he is out of neighboring state Iowa at this time.

They get him involved and they also make a call to Quantico to bring in one of the big guns, one of the original mine hunters, Robert Restler.

On these initial phone calls, all of the agents discuss, could this be a link, could this be a continuation of the case that made national headlines just 130 miles to the east and almost exactly one year prior about another missing paper boy 12 year old Johnny gosh.

Well, I think this hit home to a lot of people because at that time your paper boy delivering your daily paper is a part of your daily life.

So this affected a lot of individuals for many it's the start of each day, the start of that daily life.

Absolutely.

To have something go so wrong so quickly in the day is jarring and then we know as this story stands today very, very haunting, very mysterious.

So let's circle back here and get into the details because I know we've talked about it many times here in the garage, but everybody listening today may not be fully up to speed on the Johnny gosh portion of this story.

And again, the FBI agents that get involved in this missing paper boy case immediately they have to be thinking about Johnny gosh again is just 130 miles away.

It took place about one year prior in today's trailer.

We talked about the newspaper headline and details that were on the front page of the De Boin register newspaper the very papers that Johnny gosh was out delivering on the day he went missing right now.

The next day the headline was police hunt missing West Des Moines boy with an article featuring a school picture of the missing youngster Johnny gosh.

And this true crime story breaks down as such before dawn on September 5th 1982 the quiet routines of a West Des Moines Iowa neighborhood were already stirring Johnny gosh a 12 year old Des Moines register paper boy born November 12th 1969 got up early to begin his Sunday morning routine which was delivering the Sunday morning paper.

Going on his paper route in the gosh home this was usually a familiar ritual Johnny often would get his father up wake him up.

John gosh is his father so the two of them could go on the route together.

But on September 5th 1982 Johnny went out alone he wasn't entirely by himself though that morning he took the families dog.

This is a small miniature doxin dog's name is Gretchen so Gretchen goes with him as he headed out into the pre dawn darkness of West Des Moines.

Well let me just for people that are not familiar with paper boys because in the 70s 80s 90s it was commonplace so you'd have a kid that was local to the route.

The route would be normally a couple blocks a section of housing close to that individuals location or close to their house the papers would be delivered in a stack the newspaper boy would then wake up normally before school they would get the papers they would roll them or bag them and then they would head out and deliver them now most of the time the paper boys were.

I would say early teenagers to high school students well see that's interesting that you say that because that was our experience we delivered newspapers in the 90s and I think that these stories are why in the 90s that the paper boys were a little older than they were in the 80s right and as you said that paper routes very important for folks to know that.

It was either very near the delivery boys home or the delivery boys home was part of that route and Sunday is always your biggest delivery day I recall my route damn near every house on the route received a Sunday paper that it was about half or maybe a third received the paper daily.

Yeah and with the Sunday papers they normally had ads so there'd be heavier papers but a typical day they'd wake up collect the papers that were delivered to them they'd have to roll them or bag them and then they deliver them now they might deliver them by themselves or they might have a parent that helps them and sometimes that would depend on the weather exactly and note that in both of these cases that we've mentioned here with these two paper boys this is both.

Occurring on a Sunday so the busy day for these delivery boys and the day that the paper boys would be out the longest amount of time on their route as well right and so if they're delivering the papers by themselves they become very vulnerable this next part I want to be clear here some descriptions say white sweatshirt the majority of them say white t shirt this is a description of what Johnny gosh was wearing when he set out.

That day to deliver the papers now Johnny gosh is on foot where Danny Joe Eberley was on his bicycle right Johnny wore clothes described in later summaries as a white t shirt or white sweatshirt with Kim's Academy on the back he was also wearing warm up pants and blue rubber flip flops and he carried the standard yellow newspaper delivery bag used by the local carriers.

And if you go back on message boards or go through comments people that lived in the area that have continued to follow the Johnny gosh case they say that there's a picture of of a delivery bag and everybody's comments are the same all of the kids all the delivery boys wore those same delivery bags they were used to seeing that color that delivery bag his route began near the area later associated with what would be suspected as

as the abduction site or near the abduction site so this is around 42nd Street in Mar court Lane in West Des Moines like other carriers Johnny first needed to collect his newspapers so there's a drop off spot other Des Moines register paper carriers would later say that they saw him at the paper drop off picking up his papers right those sightings are corroborated by multiple witnesses.

These became the last widely verified moments of Johnny gosh is more not long after something happened that several people would remember in fragments and uneasy impressions another paper boy he's much later identified by the single name of Mike I don't know if that's his real name or if that's how they chose to identify him early on in this case captain.

The a lot of the paper boys that had comments are said that they may have seen something were not identified to the public by name yeah cause law enforcement was afraid that there would be targeted exactly this paper boy named Mike later reported that he saw Johnny talking with a stocky man who was near a blue to tone car now a second witness his name John Rossi also saw man in a blue car.

Speaking with Johnny and felt that something about it didn't sit right Rossi recalled that Johnny told him the man was asking for directions and Johnny asked Rossi to help Rossi tried to do what he could in the moment he looked at the license plate.

But when the situation passed he found that he could not recall the plate number later he would describe the frustration of that gap how he kept hoping the numbers would suddenly return to him he says quote as distinctly as night and day and quote but they never did.

Rossi eventually underwent hypnosis and reported some plate details to police including that the plate he believed was to be an Iowa license plate from Warren County so as Johnny moved on walking roughly one block north toward where his route began another paper boy notice something else Johnny appear to be followed by another man around that same time.

A neighbor later described hearing a door slam seeing a silver Ford Fairmont speed away northward from the area where Johnny's wagon would later be found so that wagon.

Is what he used to carry the papers and as said this would be his big day he's got his he's got his bag over his shoulders and he's got his wagon that he's pulling behind him that wagon Johnny gosh is wagon would become one of the most.

Those haunting physical anchors in this case and we know because we're both paper boys but I didn't remember or I don't remember seeing other paper boys out when I was delivering sometimes one of the people on your routes might open up the door as you're going to deliver the paper on their porch.

But you also didn't really see cars on the road because you're delivering the papers before work and before school yeah you would often during the week would be a little more typical that you might see somebody out or somebody in their front yard or going out to their vehicle but you're absolutely right 95% of the time.

First off circle back to something else you said I never saw another delivery boy and we did that you know we had a route for years.

I do recall almost every day seeing the drop off the person that would drop off the bundles of newspapers because you would wait for them to arrive so you could start you couldn't start until you received that bundle so that person that vehicle you would typically see I would anyway every single day.

And at most during the week most days the only thing I would encounter would be a dog that would decide to chase you temporarily or or again maybe somebody walking out to get in their vehicle to go into work early so it's usually kind of the dead of the morning for lack of a better term here his route is interesting and I'm guessing it's a much heavily more heavily populated area.

You have paper carriers meeting in a central location that morning to receive their paper bundles and they're they're all kind of in the same space before they part ways and go to start their routes that would seemingly be helpful in the Johnny gosh case that we have some of these eyewitnesses and then potential

ear witness. But I will say this captain the timeline of events and witness reports of that morning they seem a little scattered some of them overlap and some of them are not quite clear on the order of what took place that morning.

Well I witnesses normally have the best intentions but.

If you ask me what I eat for breakfast yesterday I couldn't tell you one of the things that I think helps law enforcement in these cases is we should have an idea of when the papers were dropped off to the paper boy for him to then either wrap the papers or roll the papers up and so at least we have a starting point in these timelines yes we have a generalization.

Of some of these times and then the car information is helpful it doesn't seem to produce any leads but I think it helps when talking about theories and speculation.

In the Johnny gosh case so just like in the Danny Joe Eberley case that we reference earlier as the morning continues Johnny's parents the gosh is they begin receiving phone calls from customers along Johnny's route people are complaining that their newspapers had not been delivered.

And this is what's going to kick things into action Johnny's father went out for a quick search of the surrounding neighborhood so the route is nearby.

The streets are familiar to the father obviously and yet within minutes he found something that made the situation unmistakably wrong two blocks from their home.

John gosh found Johnny's little red wagon sitting abandoned it's was not empty it's still full of newspapers.

The Des Moines Sunday register that had never made it to the porches that Johnny was to deliver them to so this finding here captain tells a simple story with terrible implications.

The Johnny had made it out there started his route and something caused him to quit mid route after finishing just a couple of deliveries he had been interrupted by something but almost I want to point out almost immediately once he starts his route I think that could be key here in this disappearance case.

Yeah I think it shortens the time frame and then obviously that'd be my luck go out to get the paper.

It's not there I call to complain make it ask of myself just to find out that my paper boy has gone missing.

Johnny's parents John and Noreen gosh they contacted the West Des Moines police department and reported their son missing and later public statements his mother Noreen would be sharp

and it's really critical of what she saw as a slow initial response time by police she described a policy at the time that a child could not be classified as a missing person until 72 hours had passed and by her account police did not arrive to take their report for 45 minutes.

A stretch of time that in the case like this is going to feel like a lifetime to those involved now early on we have we have like police assumptions that seem very shifty in the Johnny gosh case you review some articles and it it sounds like he was initially viewed as a possible run away.

Other articles where police or law enforcement members are saying that I don't know we we don't believe that he's a run away he is simply a missing persons case right others saying we we have to wonder if he's been abducted or could be a kidnapping but it's just a missing persons case so it's really all over the map as to what they thought took place right out the gate.

Well my problem with this is to me this is stupidity because if we have a missing child that didn't collect the papers like I said to roll them or bag them no effort to deliver the papers then I think he could say hey maybe he ran away but when you have a wagon full of papers and no sign of this paper boy it makes zero sense I delivered three papers and I decided I'm going to run away it's stupidity in my.

Opinion well and given his age you know boys will be boys and I think that there was some thought by some not many that this could just simply be a prank that Johnny was pulling on people but right very quickly I believe this is the next day or within 48 hours the district circulation manager his name is Lou cook he said and this is something that Johnny's friends had said.

As well like we don't think he would have pulled a prank because if he did it wouldn't involve the newspaper or his paper route and okay so that's kids saying that but Lou cook the circulation manager had this to say he says.

This disappearance didn't fit the image of Johnny gosh of the kid that he knew he said Johnny didn't seem to him to be the type of kid that would just wonder off he says Johnny had quote never before not delivered his route.

And quote and cook goes on to say he was responsible with a strong service record and this is something that the carriers pointed out as well as the manager.

That if carriers missed a delivery if there was a paper that was not delivered on a Sunday the carriers themselves were charged 75 cents per paper that was not delivered meaning.

Johnny gosh if he were to pull a prank it would have cost him $27.75 right and as logic went no one thought a prank would be worth that to a boy 12 years old who is known to be responsible and hard working.

All right we are back cheers mates tall cans in the air make sure you tip your newspaper boy.

That's right don't know that they exist anymore simpler times my friend yeah yeah we you want to watch something interesting talk to the young person working the customer service desk and ask them.

Do you sell newspapers and then just see how that plays out.

So let's get into this timeline the best we can so the Des Moines register the same paper that our missing boy was delivering would later document the first frantic hours.

And type that captured both urgency and uncertainty regarding the missing boy the paper described how another carrier reported seeing Johnny talking with a man along the route.

And how authorities were reluctant to call it a kidnapping right away publicly labeling it at least initially as a missing person incident while not ruling out abduction a police artist created a drawing of a quote mystery man.

But authorities declined to release it at the time citing uncertainty about whether it was even an accurate likeness of the mystery man.

The description in early reporting centered around a man wearing a baseball cap and driving a dark blue car who had asked for directions to 86th street and Hickman road.

That same man had reportedly asked two boys separately for directions to that same location in the same reporting the timeline tightened around the moment that.

Johnny gosh's family finally realized that Johnny was missing one of Johnny's 37 customers called the gosh home at 745 am to ask why.

The Sunday paper hadn't arrived again this was a customer who was saying that he received his paper daily on time every day so this was out of the ordinary and this person is on record saying that Johnny was this was unusual for Johnny who was.

Reliable and prompt with his paper delivery so dad John gosh checked Johnny's room first finding the bed empty then this is crazy to the dog by this point had returned home remember the dog went out with Johnny that morning and just so I'm clear we have eyewitnesses that have this guy wearing a baseball cap and a car asking for directions asking directions from from multiple paper boys.

And then there's another individual but do we think that there's two individuals or is it possible that that's what gets so confusing about this.

The details around the when I look at this case I think we're talking about a window of approximately 30 minutes or so between the time that Johnny arrives to the paper drop off rolls up the papers he's got his wagon ready to go he's got his bag ready to go and he's.

He sets off on his routes and we know that he only makes it two blocks from his home where the wagon is eventually found but through throughout all of these witness statements and some of these let's keep in mind will be second hand they'll be told second hand to.

This is family and this is information that they will then put into the public atmosphere right this is also information that comes from other sources that say they were told by paper carriers that morning that they saw this or they saw that our neighbor saw this or heard that what you ultimately end up with here captain is.

Potentially three individuals that are of question and two vehicles what so you have a driver and one vehicle driving another vehicle and then an individual that's on foot making it that more difficult to understand and explain the situation right again law enforcement doesn't know which individual these eyewitnesses are talking about so I think it would be difficult to come up with a composite sketch that you feel confident and.

Yes and they will eventually release a sketch to the public and we will go through that information as well now we should note here that if this time line is accurate to the minute mark I think it's a very accurate timeline I just wouldn't nail it down to a specific minute here but.

Roughly the family saying seven forty five is when they're notified that papers weren't delivered John gosh Johnny's father finds the wagon and during the time while police were contacted to come out to the area John gosh delivered the undelivered newspapers himself so if the timeline is correct this would put the police they're taking the report by eight thirty a.m. that morning now keep in mind it's reported that Johnny gosh would

have left his home just prior to six a.m. that morning so we have a good deal of time and if it was about a thirty minute window we have.

As I suspect roughly two hours before the police are there and on the scene well I think what makes this more complicated is like I said there's not a lot of individuals out.

So did these eyewitnesses see somebody that's involved in this kidnapping or did they see somebody out for a morning walk or jog and then if you're pleased you go well we have eyewitnesses saying that there's an individual asking for directions is he a part of it or is there somebody on his route because.

You might only have let's say thirty two a hundred and some customers but you might have a route that consists of two hundred houses.

Yeah and throughout this day this Sunday in September there the search will widen so eventually we will have involved here the West Des Moines Police Department the Polk County Sheriff's Department.

The Iowa Highway Patrol and it will go so far as to include off duty and reserve officers as well and of course we have family friends and neighbors that will get involved in actively searching the neighborhood and beyond on the Saturday.

The day search ran into rain in the afternoon complicating the situation we have volunteers that are soaked you know you're out there in the rain you're looking for a missing boy and it's that as the minutes turn into hours and the hours go by you're just building up with a deepening sense of dread.

We thought we would find this kid maybe we're not going to and this search continues with a lot of folks involved until dark that Sunday night.

Yeah I think the thing that's scary for law enforcement and for the community is if there's more than one individual involved then what are we dealing with.

By Monday so now day two of the search for 12 year old Johnny gosh we get thousands of volunteers but zero answers so this is Labor Day Monday September 6 1982 when the search intensified more than 1000 volunteers comb woods parks fields and ditches around West Des Moines.

Search lines formed with people spaced out about five feet apart moving through wet grass and brush looking for anything a newspaper bag the shoes or flip flops clothing any trace that could say where Johnny gosh had gone.

Others drove slowly along rural roads and Polk County and Dallas counties scanning ditches and roadside edges still more volunteers crews nearby highways.

At south woods park searchers moved through nats and mosquitoes having to deal with that and at one point there were some items that prompted calls to authorities one was a Kleenex.

And the other was a set of footprints but these findings while they you know increase the level of uncertainty they these seem to not produce any leads and neither of these have ever been described as evidence just possible just things that were found during the search so.

Right fortunately we're left with authorities having found no clues and then once again on day two.

The search is called off at dark this circles back to some of the statements by witnesses or potential witnesses as well as what law enforcement is describing the case so officials publicly.

You know on the record they described the case in careful terms let's say that careful terms I think is accurate they said that there's no clear indications of a kidnapping so no evidence no actual evidence that there is a kidnapping they're also saying.

There's no evidence or great reason to suspect that Johnny had run away right now they did what they were clear on here captain is.

They are looking for the vehicles and the people seen near the time johnny vanished alright so the dark blue car connected to the man asking for directions and also a silver late model for fair mod described as having a wide black stripe on it.

Police said they wanted to speak to the drivers because they might have witnessed something even stating publicly that they were not necessarily treating them as suspect vehicles simply witness vehicles as the official investigation continued anxiety spread through the communities families parents of other paper carriers talked about their children no longer going out alone on their routes.

District circulation managers called carriers and their parents calling the carriers parents with warnings saying you know you got to be cautious do not get into any cars if something feels strange go to a customer's door and knock on the door and tell the customer to notify the authorities.

So this disappearance very quickly change the emotional map of a place that it assumed that those early morning hours were safe on we have evidence of that we have a driver asking kids for directions and multiple kids trying to give that individual directions yeah well let's get let's get into that description there and I think after all this time we got to say suspect description here right.

Yeah well I was going to say it's laughable when they it's like the Delphi case well we're not saying the guy on the bridge is a suspect but we'd love to talk to him and that's what we hear in all these cases like that's true but within the first 48 72 and even I would say even you know the first 48 72 hours even the first week there is some strategy involved in that statement because what you're hoping and it wouldn't be the first time it's ready.

But it wouldn't be the first time that you publicly announce hey a person that looks like this or a vehicle that looks like that was seen in the area at the time in question we want to know what that person may have seen or heard if they have further information that might help us find this person or find the offender and in some cases the actual offender will come forward with the belief that they can get in front of it.

Right and give you some kind of story and and and also it may it may put a little paranoia on that individual thinking oh I was seen there.

It's only a matter of time before they figure out it was me I better get there and tell them why I was there and what you know make up something that I saw or I I was there but I didn't see anything and in fact we know that in the Delphi case Richard Allen who was there

Richard Allen who would later be convicted of those murders did come forward and talk to somebody saying that he was there that day but didn't see really anything going off right this portion though also don't let it be lost on you garage friends.

There's a bit of a theory of coordination here in this abduction right so over time the case developed additional public details including a composite sketch that we've discussed briefly.

A suspect description later released to the public the suspect was described as a man around five foot nine inches tall approximately 175 pounds with dark eyes black eyebrows black hair combed back.

A black mustache appearing to be in his mid 40s with a heavy beard or unshaven appearance okay now keep in mind it's still not light out when this witness sees this and is giving this description later and is giving this description of saying I saw this person at a distance right so where the heavy beard to unshaven appearance sound strange.

I don't think they were able to fully articulate 100% what they remember seeing as far as when when they what was it a beard or was he just look like he didn't shave for a couple days many of the descriptions also include this saying that it possibly of Latin appearance the vehicle often associated with this individual is described as a two tone blue mid size car potentially a nineteen.

79 to 81 model that is described as clean on the outside possibly clean interior and an Iowa license plate here's where things get a little twisted and it might be twisted for a good reason and in the right direction it's hard to say when we sit here all these years later with so many questions hard to say no ring gosh Johnny's mother later would publicly describe what.

She said witnesses tell her that they saw the paper drop off right she says that a driver pulls up shuts off his engine so keep in mind there would be multiple paper carriers here from all the descriptions I read it sounds like there were we're about three boys here maybe two.

At this spot but as she tells it the driver pulls up shuts off the engine to the vehicle opens up the passenger door and started having a conversation asking for directions and her retelling she says that Johnny turned to one of the other carriers another boy and said that he was afraid he said that he was done loading his papers and he was going to get out of there and he might even head back home.

So Johnny leaves as Noreen said she says that about the same time the driver pulled out to but not before detail that she says stuck in her mind as extremely significant she says that the driver before pulling off before driving off he flicked the dome light three times before driving away so you can usually typically reach up and you could.

There's a switch where you could set the dome light to be on off or when the car door opens trigger it to turn on and she is saying that one of the witnesses has told her that the man reached up and using the switch flicked the dome light to the vehicle on and off three times but what does that mean it's hard to say and again if if you want to look at this and read read between the

lines of a possible coordinated abduction this obviously would be some kind of signal or trigger to somebody right or is it possible that like you said there's multiple settings and if they turned on their light for some reason and then they scroll back or not scroll back but they flip back to make it only open when the door does it flicker in between well and yeah the other thing too is.

Often times leave it to me to get hung up on something that might not be much of a big deal at all but I don't know I think it's fair I think where someone could point to that and say well this man clearly was signaling somebody and when given Noreen's description and absolutely sounds that way and she could be absolutely right I want to be clear about that but I cannot tell you how many times I've reached up to turn that dome light on and I turn it off you know or or I go to turn.

I go to turn it on and I turn it to the open setting where the car door would trigger it or I go to turn it off and I turn it to open in the back on you know you you can't the thing is when that light is not on and that you don't really know the switches little especially those old cars that that age of vehicle 79 to 81 model it would be common for somebody to turn the switch multiple times before getting it to the actual setting that they want.

But also sometimes the switch isn't not on the light it's near the wheel somewhere the yeah the other thing let's throw another wrench in this whole portion of the story some of the witness descriptions of this man remember he's asking for directions and he asked more than one individual for directions so.

Some of these descriptions not all say that the man was his speech was slurred so there are some police officers that believe that this guy was just a drunk driver that was probably actually lost and looking for some direction to get where he needed to go.

Yeah that makes sense it does make some sense but then when you want to the flip side of that coin is the officers the officers that are suspicious of this vehicle because well we gave out the description of the vehicle and the man and he never came forward to talk to us to tell us if he saw.

So it's this is a very difficult case obviously yeah but hold on second if he was drunk driving he might not come forward for that reason.

True but I would hope that in a situation this severe that you would be like you'd be willing to go we appreciate you coming forward right do not drink and drive anymore.

I it would be I think it would be a little despicable if they're like all right well you just confess to he also doesn't have to confess to drinking and driving to come forward right I was out driving that night.

Are that kids that I slurred my speech was that kid know. Yeah he didn't have to include that part if it was part of it. Okay so like we said this detail with many others in the Johnny Gash case can be argued and theorized a number of different ways and of course Noreen has said publicly for a long time she believes her view of this is that this was some kind of signal.

The dome light action was a signal to someone watching nearby someone who then later grabbed Johnny because we know he walked away from this location unharmed alive and well now she also described that one paper boy reportedly.

Saw a tall man step out from between two houses and then follow behind Johnny now police at the time described in one account this is by West Des Moines police lieutenant Miller so.

He's actually a rookie at this time but later he's he's on record regurgitating this portion of the story once he reaches lieutenant years later right he saying.

You know we called in for additional help we did canvassing we went door to door we went searching for witnesses and he said we just keep running into dead ends for all the manpower and urgency no one found Johnny gosh and along those years.

Sightings investigators and public pressure were mounting in the months and years that follow the story did not end Noreen gosh stated that a few months after the disappearance that Johnny was allegedly seen in Tulsa Oklahoma and she describes this disturbing incident in which a boy repeatedly yelled to a woman for help before being dragged away by two men.

The case also drew the attention of private investigators who worked with the gosh family.

Among those who assisted Johnny's parents were Jim Rothstein who is described as a retired New York City police detective and Ted Gunderson described as a retired chief of the FBI's Los Angeles field office now this mother's grief would turn.

To advocacy and a mission just one month after Johnny's disappearance Noreen gosh.

Founded the Johnny gosh foundation and developed a program called in defense of children the work grew into a national campaign she toured widely.

Making nearly 1000 personal appearances often alongside law enforcement missing persons organizations and groups concerned with human trafficking she pressed a message that came from the most personal source possible children could vanish quickly even in quote safe places and systems needed and systems were needed to respond immediately.

And this circles back to the problem with hey you know at this time period a person isn't missing a kid isn't missing until it's been 72 hours so then in October of 1982 president Ronald Reagan signed the missing children's act described as an effort to address the tragedy of missing children and reassure parents that every effort would be made to find them.

In this story and in others the environment of the early 1980s was simple I mean in many cases there's no national headlines and many cases there's no national hotlines tip lines to call no amber alerts no rapid deployment infrastructure no DNA databases the resources that we have today and the things that have been put in place since kids like Johnny went missing.

Have grown over the years only to the betterment of locating the child or locating the reason why.

They didn't come home as years went on the public visibility of Johnny's case.

Grue in 1984 Johnny gosh's photograph appeared on milk cartons produced by the Des Moines based Anderson Erickson dairy company his picture was placed alongside the photo of another Des Moines register paper boy.

We will discuss in this series his name is Eugene Martin.

Who went missing in 1984 Johnny was among the first missing children to have a disappearance publicized in that manner the image traveling into kitchens and grocery stores and everyday reminder that the boy had not been located.

People often wonder why a case resonates with the nation and why other cases don't but it's simple in this case.

Most people had a paper boy so most people can relate something to this case if you can relate something to the case in your own life becomes more important to well and we've reviewed a lot of these cases and what we typically see is there's and there's many different avenues that a grieving parent can go down.

When they are dealing with this situation this very unfortunate scenario right and some of them go heavy into mission oriented or advocacy and in that regard norin gosh is one hell of a force and that's also a reason why Johnny gosh's case is so publicized and so remembered and still being discussed in places like the garage here today.

In fact I mean this is just another part of her actions in July of 1984.

She authored a bill the Johnny gosh bill was passed into a hot into Iowa law.

It mandated immediate police involvement whenever a child went missing and according to the report the approach was subsequently adopted by eight additional states.

That same year 1984 norin gosh travel to Washington DC and testified before Congress she later stated that her testimony led to her receiving death threats.

How does that make any sense well she was she was on the forefront of people talking about human trafficking and something that is difficult to understand today and nearly impossible to understand in the early 80s.

So she saying that that led to death threats I I don't think that that's people you know typical mom and dad in the public calling her up or sending a death threat saying hey you better shut your mouth.

I think she's what she's saying without saying it is people that are involved in this criminals that are involved in things like this were the types that were threatening her and and that's her way of pointing out there's more people potentially involved in these sort of actions.

Then anybody in the public even people in law enforcement may be aware of and keep in mind her actions and her loud mouth and I want to be clear I don't mean that as a criticism.

I mean that as if everybody could have a bullhorn that have had to face supreme difficulty like this or unimaginable tragedy.

If everybody had a bullhorn and everybody and people opened up their earballs open up your ear holes everyone. Yeah.

It's her actions that you know we talk about the washes and so many other people but it wasn't the washes just alone.

It was people like no rain gosh that helped to eventually establish the national center for missing and exploited children Nick Mech as we often say here in the garage.

And a big part of that too was President Reagan opening up his ear holes and listening to these parents that were saying look in my area we have a problem my kids not the only one look at look at what's happened in Florida what happened here in Iowa what happened in California Texas and suddenly you realize these are not all just one offs.

These are unfortunately not unique situations and the 70s in the early 80s the child abduction rates especially what is is stranger on stranger crimes the rates were much higher back then.

Yeah what I was going to say is these aren't one of one these crimes aren't one of one but these criminals are not one of one.

I think you could take it step further it's like yeah there's Dahmer is a unique serial killer but there's thousands of them when you think of these kidnappers or human traffickers they're not one of one it's not a rare situation.

If this is happening in this state this is happening in every state so how many of these sick individuals are out there and how many of them are working together.

Yes and if it happened if it can happen in Los Angeles California it can happen in Des Moines Iowa and look a lot of this will you will see how these actions in these communities and these parents coming together with community leaders will change future cases that are similar so in October of 1982 President Ronald Reagan signed the missing children act.

This is an effort to address the tragedy of missing children and reassure parents that every effort would be made to find them okay so we've already mentioned that but what it what it directly means is that the FBI would expand.

To becoming more involved in local homicide cases local abduction cases missing persons cases it wouldn't just be when they are called in because a ransom demand or state lines were crossed right.

The case file details here before we were at captain at the time of his disappearance now of course this is over 40 years ago but Johnny was described as a Caucasian male with brown hair and blue eyes approximately 67 inches tall which would be.

Five foot seven inches tall about 140 pounds at the time that he disappeared I want to point out something here that is noteworthy and I think it adds to the credibility of the possible suspect composite and description that we discussed earlier.

One of the witnesses that provided details about that composite that helped put that composite together and the description of that person together.

Simply stated that even from a distance I'm basing the height and weight of the individual off of Johnny's because Johnny was standing near this person and he said the guy was slightly bigger than Johnny was.

Slightly taller slightly heavier than Johnny was so that that's very helpful for the description there but this makes it difficult to because if we don't have a solid age range then you could go well this guy could have been in his late teens correct but this witness is saying that he believed the individual to be in his 40s.

Now regarding Johnny marks noted for identification purposes include a birthmark on his left cheek and a horseshoe shaped scar on his tongue the last confirmed date he was seen of course was September 5th 1982 the investigation began with the West Des Moines police department and later involved the FBI dental records were made available and entered into databases the.

Familiar DNA samples were submitted and are available for possible future identification and later commentary John Walsh the longtime host of America's most wanted and father of Adam Walsh is quoted reflecting on the Johnny goshcase and the lack of resolution saying nobody no suspects no clear answers very sad he stated his belief that a serial pedophile kidnapper may have been.

Active in the area at that time and he also emphasized the cruelty of uncertainty saying quote not knowing is the worst part for families.

The disappearance did not only remove a child from a household it reshaped the household that remained the long strain on the gosh family resulted in Noreen and John eventually divorcing.

They have both expressed differing feelings opinions and theories about the case publicly since their boy was lost the story of missing paper boy Johnny gosh does not end but.

This is what the terrifying story leaves us with online as Iowa cold case dot org describes it the gosh missing persons case it's a story that shocked communities and catapulted Iowa into the national spotlight it changed state law and forever change why parents monitored their children's activities and how they did so where the story leaves off.

Johnny gosh went missing September of nineteen eighty two delivering newspapers a good timeline the best we could put together about five forty five a.m. Johnny leaves his home in West Des Moines with his dog Gretchen and a red wagon to deliver the Des Moines register Sunday edition.

Six a.m. he meets another paper boy at a drop off point near the Valley United Methodist Church this is at forty second and ashworth to sort bundles of papers the final sighting witnesses report seeing Johnny talking to a man in a blue to tone car and a silver car is also noted by another witness and this would be shortly after.

Just prior to leaving the meet-up spot and shortly after leaving the meet-up spot and as we said after seven a.m. it's when calls start going to the gosh home about undelivered newspapers.

How the story stands today way back in nineteen eighty two Johnny gosh's red wagon was found abandoned.

With newspapers still in it untouched witnesses described a man in a blue car asking for directions a possible second follower and a vehicle speeding away.

Massive searches and multiple agencies produced no definitive break in the case the cases become a catalyst for policy changes and child safety advocacy.

But did not deliver the one thing the family and the community needed the most proof of what happened to Johnny gosh.

And where he went after those last confirmed moments at that paper drop off near the start of his route despite all of the extensive physical searches and interviews the investigation produced little physical evidence and no suspects were arrested in connection with Johnny's disappearance.

The case quickly became not only a family tragedy but a community tragedy and for many a twelve year old paper boy frozen in time.

Then as years passed the Johnny gosh disappearance became a national reference point and now today it's a cold case one that is of the most haunting kind.

One thing everybody for joining us here in the garage each and every week so much more to get to and this series stick around and until then be good be kind.

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