Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 1 /// Johnny Gosch | Forensic Files

[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> 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 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°. But none of that mattered 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 Gosch. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> 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 18th, 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 caused them
to have great concern and they all agreed is very, very strange, very, very scary stuff right off the rip. So, this
is from Peter Kliesmet'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 Eberle got up early as he always did and headed down to a nearby
convenience store to pick up his supply of 70, 7-0, 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 Kliesmet writes, much like Johnny Gosch did a year before. And the
parallels, he says were eerily similar. No clues were found despite a search by over a hundred towns
people 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. And 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 Eberle 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 Sarpy County Sheriff's Office. Herb Hawkins and John Evans get a local
agent Peter Kliesmet 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 mind hunters, Robert Ressler. 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 1 year prior about another missing paper boy,
12-year-old Johnny Gosch. 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. And >> 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 Gosch 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 Gosch.
Again, it's just 130 miles away. It took place about 1 year prior. In today's trailer, we talked about the newspaper
headline and details that were on the front page of the Des Moines Register newspaper, the very
papers that Johnny Gosch was out delivering on the day he went missing. Right. Now,
the next day, the headline was "Police [snorts] Hunt Missing West Des Moines Boy" with an article featuring a school
picture of the missing youngster, Johnny Gosch. 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 Gosch, a 12-year-old Des Moines Register paperboy, 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 Gosch home, this was usually a familiar ritual. Johnny often would get his father up, wake him up. John Gosch
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 family's dog. This is a small
miniature dachshund. 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 paperboys 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 individual's 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 paperboys 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 paperboys were a little older than they were in the '80s. Right. And as you
said, that paper route, very important for folks to know that it was either very near the delivery boy's home or the
delivery boy's 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. The it was about half or maybe
a third received the paper daily. Yeah, and with the Sunday papers, they normally had ads. So, they'd be heavier
papers, but >> Mhm. 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'd 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 paperboys, this is
both occurring on a Sunday, so the busy day for these delivery boys, and the day
that the paperboys 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 Gosch
was wearing when he set out that day to deliver the papers. Now, Johnny Gosch is on foot,
where Danny Joe Eberle 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 Gosch 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 of that delivery bag. His route began near the area later associated with what would be
suspected as the abduction site or near the abduction site. So, this is around 42nd Street and
Marcourt 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 Gosch's morning. Not
long after, something happened that several people would remember in fragments and uneasy
impressions. Another paperboy, 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 paperboys that had comments or said that they may have seen
something were not identified to the public by name. Yeah, cuz law enforcement was afraid that they would
be targeted. >> Exactly. This paperboy, named Mike, later reported that he saw Johnny talking with a stocky man
who was near a blue two-tone car. Now, a second witness, his name, John Rossi, also saw a 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," end quote, but they never did. Right. 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 paperboy noticed something else. Johnny appeared 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 uh 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 Gosch's wagon, would become one of the most haunting physical And we know because we were both
paperboys, but I didn't remember or I don't remember seeing other paperboys 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 cuz you're delivering the papers before work and before school.
Yeah, you would often during the week would it would be a little more typical that you might see somebody out uh 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 this, 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. Yeah. >> And
at most during the week, most days, the only thing I would encounter would be a 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 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
Gosch case that we have some of these eyewitnesses and then potential earwitness. But I I will say this,
Captain, that Yeah. 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,
eyewitnesses normally have the best intentions, but if you ask me what I ate for breakfast
yesterday, I couldn't tell you. One of the things 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 Gosch case. So just like in the Danny Joe Eberle case
that we referenced earlier, as the morning continues, Johnny's parents, the Gosches, 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 Gosch found Johnny's
little red wagon sitting abandoned. It's was not empty. It's still full of newspapers. Not a good sign. 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. That 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 an ass of myself. Just to find out that my paper boy has
gone missing. Johnny's parents, John and Noreen Gosch, they contacted the West Des Moines Police Department and
reported their son missing. In later public statements, his mother, Noreen, would be sharply 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 a case like this is going [snorts] 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 Gosch case. You review some articles and it it sounds like he
was initially viewed as a possible runaway. Other articles where police or law enforcement members are saying that oh
no, we we don't believe that he's a runaway. He's it's simply a missing person's 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
person's 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 you 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. Oh, I I delivered three papers and then I decided I'm going to run
away. It's stupidity in my opinion. Well, and in 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 Gosch, of the kid that he
knew." He said, "Johnny didn't seem to him to be the type of kid that would just wander 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 Gosch, 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 hardworking.
>> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> All right, we are back. Cheers, mates. Talk hands in the air. Make sure you tip
your newspaper [music] boy. That's right. Don't know if that they exist anymore. Simpler times, my friend. Yeah,
yeah, we uh 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 would 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 Gosch's family finally realized that Johnny
was missing. One of Johnny's 37 customers called the Gosch home at 7:45 a.m. 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. And 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 Gosch, checked Johnny's room first. Finding the bed empty,
then the This is crazy, too. 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. Mhm.
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 he's got his bag ready
to go, and he sets off on his route. 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 Gosch's 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 or a 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 in one vehicle, a driver in another vehicle, and then an
individual that's on foot, making it that more difficult to understand and explain the situation.
>> Right. And 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 in. 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 timeline 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 7:45 is when they're
notified that papers weren't delivered. John Gosch, Johnny's father, finds the wagon, and during the time while police
were contacted to come out to the area, John Gosch delivered the undelivered newspapers himself. So, if the timeline
is correct, this would put the police there taking the report by 8:30 a.m. that morning. Now, keep in mind, it's
reported that Johnny Gosch would have left his home just prior to 6:00 a.m. that morning. So, we have a good deal of
time, and if it was about a 30-minute window, we have as I suspect, roughly 2 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 a jog? And then, if you're police, you go,
"Well, we have eyewitnesses saying that there's a 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, 30 to 100 and some customers, but you might
have a route that consist of 200 houses. Mhm. Yeah, and throughout this day, this
Sunday in September, the 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's 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 the 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 Gosch, we get thousands of volunteers, but zero answers. So, this is Labor Day,
Monday, September 6th, 1982, when the search intensified. More than 1,000 volunteers combed woods, parks,
fields, and ditches around West Des Moines. Search lines formed with people spaced out about 5 ft 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 Gosch had gone. Others drove slowly along rural roads in
Polk County and Dallas counties, scanning ditches and roadside edges. Still more volunteers cruised nearby
highways. At Southwoods Park, searchers moved through gnats 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,
increased 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. >> Unfortunately, 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, for you know, on the record, they describe the case in careful terms.
Let's 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 no actual evidence that there was 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. All right, so the dark blue car connected to the man asking for
directions, and also a silver late-model Ford Fairmont, 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
witness vehicles. As the official investigation continued, anxiety spread through the communities,
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 and knock on the door and tell the customer to notify the authorities.
So, this disappearance very quickly changed the emotional map of a place that it assumed that those early morning
hours were were safe. Well, 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 to 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 rare, 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 and also it
may it may put a little paranoia on that individual thinking, "Oh, I was seen there.
It's only a matter 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 some 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 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 on. Right. This portion though also don't let it be lost
on you garage friends. Read between the lines. There's 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 5'9" tall approximately 175 lb 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 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 sounds strange to me 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 midsize car potentially a 1979 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. Noreen Goss Johnny's mother later would publicly
describe what she said witnesses tell her that they saw at the paper drop-off. Right.
>> She says that a a driver pulls up, shuts off his engine. So keep in mind there
would be multiple paper carriers here. From all the descriptions I've read it sounds like there were
were 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. In 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 too 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. Mhm. 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 or 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 no no no, I think it's fair. I I think where someone could point to that
and say, "Well, this man clearly was signaling somebody." And and when given Noreen's description it 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 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 to open and the back on, you
know, it you you can't The thing is when that light is not on and the you don't really know
the switch is little. Especially in 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 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 anything. So it's this is a very difficult case obviously. Yeah, but hold on a 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 I I It would be I think it would be a little despicable if they're like,
"All right, well, you just confessed to He also doesn't have to confess to drinking and driving to come forward,
right? I was out driving that night. Oh, that kid said I slurred my speech? Who's
that kid now?" Yeah. He He doesn'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 Goss 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 cuz 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 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's 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 kept running into dead ends. For all the manpower and urgency, no one
found Johnny Goss. And along those years sightings investigators and public pressure were
mounting. In the months and years that followed the story did not end. Noreen Goss
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 Gosch 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 1 month after
Johnny's disappearance Noreen Gosch founded the Johnny Gosch Foundation and developed a program called In Defense of
Children. The work grew into a national campaign. She toured widely making nearly 1,000 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. In 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 the years went
on, the public visibility of Johnny's case grew. In 1984, Johnny Gosch'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 paperboy
who 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, an 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 paperboy, so most people can relate something to this case and if you can
relate something to the case in your own life, it becomes more important to Well,
and we've reviewed a lot of these cases and what we typically see is there's um 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, Noreen Gosch is one
hell of a force. And that's also a reason why Johnny Gosch'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 Gosch
Bill, was passed into Ohio 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, Noreen Gosch traveled to Washington, D.C. 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's 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 activities than anybody in
the public, even people in law enforcement, may be aware of. And keep in mind her actions and her loudmouth,
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 and people opened up their ear balls, open up your ear holes,
everyone. Yeah. Um it's her actions that, you know, we talk about the Walshes and so many other people, but it
wasn't the Walshes just alone. It was people like Noreen Gosch that helped to eventually establish the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children, Nick Mecca 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 kid's not the only one. Look at Look at what's happened in Florida, what happened here in Iowa,
what happened in California, Texas." And and suddenly you realize these are not all
just one-offs. These are unfortunately not unique situations. In 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-on-one.
These crimes aren't one-on-one, but these criminals are not one-on-one. I think you could take it a step further,
it's like, yeah, the 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-on-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
you 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's 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 [snorts] before we wrap capped in at the at the time of his disappearance. Now, of course, this is over 40 years
ago. Yeah. But Johnny was described as a Caucasian male with brown hair and blue
eyes, approximately 67 inches tall, which would be 5'7" inches tall and about 140 lb 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 I'm I'm basing the height and weight
of the individual off of Johnny's cuz Johnny was standing near this person. And he said that 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. Yeah, but this makes it difficult, too, 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, Mark's 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
familial DNA samples were submitted and are available for possible future identification.
In later commentary, John Walsh, the long-time host of America's Most Wanted and father of Adam Walsh, is quoted
reflecting on the Johnny Gosch case 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 Gosch 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 paperboy Johnny Gosch does not end, but this is what the terrifying story leaves
us with. Online, as iowacoldcase.org describes it, the Gosch missing persons case, it's a story that shocked
communities and catapulted Iowa into the national spotlight. It changed state law
and forever changed why parents monitored their children's activities and how they did so. Where the story
leaves off, Johnny Gosch went missing September of 19 82 delivering newspapers. A good
timeline, the best we could put together, about 5:45 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.
6:00 a.m., he meets another paperboy at a drop-off point near the Valley United Methodist Church. This is at 42nd and
Ashworth to sort bundles of papers. The final sighting, witnesses report seeing Johnny talking to a man in a blue
two-tone car, and a silver car is also noted by another witness. And this would be
shortly after uh the Just prior to leaving the meet-up spot and shortly after leaving the meet-up
spot. And as we said, after 7:00 a.m., it's when calls start going to the Gosch home about undelivered newspapers.
How the story stands today, way back in 1982, Johnny Gosch'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 in a vehicle speeding away. Massive searches and multiple agencies
produced no definitive break in the case. The case has become a catalyst for policy changes in child safety advocacy,
but did not deliver the one thing the family and the community needed the most, proof of what happened to Johnny
Gosch, and where he went after those last confirmed moments at that paper drop-off
near the start of his route. Despite all of the ex- 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 12-year-old paperboy frozen
in time. Then as years passed, the Johnny Gosch disappearance became a national reference point. And now, today, it's a
cold case. One that is of the most haunting kind. >> [music] [music] >> Want to thank everybody for joining us
here in the garage each and every week. So much more to get to in this series. Stick around and until [music] then, be
good, be kind, and don't litter. >> [music] [music]

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

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

In the early eighties middle America experienced tragedies that no parent could imagine, until it happened for the first time. Newspaper boys were disappearing. 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 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 Johnny Gosch.

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Brief Summary

This episode details the disappearances of paperboys Johnny Gosch and Danny Joe Eberle, exploring their cases and the resulting community advocacy.

Key points

The Disappearance of Paper Boys. In the early '80s, paper boys began to vanish from middle America, sparking fear.
Johnny Gosch's Last Delivery. On September 5, 1982, Johnny Gosch went missing while delivering papers, never to return.
Danny Joe Eberle's Mysterious Vanishing. Danny Joe Eberle disappeared on September 18, 1983, under eerily similar circumstances to Johnny Gosch.
Johnny's Uncharacteristic Disappearance. Lou Cook, the circulation manager, states that Johnny's disappearance was out of character.
The Search Intensifies. On Labor Day, thousands of volunteers searched for Johnny but found no clues.
Community's Sense of Safety Shattered. The disappearance of Johnny Gosch altered the community's perception of safety.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Vanished.

The boy was gone before sunrise.

2:51WatchApr 8, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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