Johnny Gosch

On the early morning of September 5, 1982, twelve-year-old Johnny David Gosch left his West Des Moines, Iowa home at approximately 5:45 a.m. to deliver newspapers on his Des Moines Register route, accompanied by his dachshund. He was never seen again. His red wagon full of undelivered newspapers was found several blocks from his home.

Witnesses reported seeing a man in a blue car approach Johnny and possibly force him into the vehicle. The West Des Moines police initially classified the case as a runaway, delaying the investigation. This mishandling of the case by local police became a landmark example of how law enforcement failures could impede missing children investigations.

Johnny's mother, Noreen Gosch, became one of America's most prominent missing children advocates. She was instrumental in the passage of the Johnny Gosch Bill in Iowa, which required law enforcement to immediately begin investigations of missing children rather than imposing a waiting period.

In 1999, Noreen Gosch claimed that Johnny had visited her briefly in the middle of the night, telling her he had been kidnapped and held by a pedophile ring. This claim was unverified. Despite decades of investigation, tips, and conspiracy theories, Johnny Gosch has never been found.