Johnny David Gosch

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Federal Bureau Of Investigation Des Moines Ra (IA)

Missing From:

West Des Moines, Iowa

Summary:

John David Gosch, born November 12, 1969, was a paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, who vanished on the morning of September 5, 1982, between 6 and 7 a.m. His disappearance is widely believed to be a kidnapping. Despite extensive investigation, as of 2024, no arrests have been made, and the case remains unsolved, though still open.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On September 5, 1982, 12-year-old Johnny Gosch left his house in the suburb of West Des Moines, Iowa, with a canvas delivery bag, red wagon and his dog, Gretchen, shortly after 5:45 a.m. to deliver Sunday editions of the Des Moines Register. Around 6 a.m., Johnny arrived at a street corner where a delivery van dropped off bundles of newspapers, and he and another paperboy began to sort and fold them. After giving directions to a passing motorist, the boys separated on their respective routes. According to the initial police report, witnesses said they had seen Johnny talking to a man in a car described as a blue Ford Fairmont, apparently giving directions. Moments later, two other paper carriers saw Johnny on Marcourt Lane. For reasons not made clear in the police report, Johnny stopped pulling his wagon and sat down. When the other carriers picked up their papers and returned to the same place, Johnny's wagon was still there. But Johnny was gone. Another witness looked out his bedroom window and saw what may have been a silver and black Ford Fairmont running a stop sign, turning left on 42nd Street, and heading north toward the interstate. Gosch's parents, John and Noreen, began receiving phone calls from customers along their son's route, complaining of undelivered papers. John performed a cursory search of the neighborhood around 6 a.m. He immediately found Gosch's wagon, still full of newspapers, two blocks from their home. The Gosches immediately contacted West Des Moines police and reported their son's disappearance. The dog came home on its own, investigators say. Johnny never did.

Additional Details:

Noreen, in her public statements and her book Why Johnny Can't Come Home, has been critical of what she perceives as a slow reaction time from authorities, and of the policy at the time that Gosch could not be classified as a missing person until 72 hours had passed. By her estimation, the police did not arrive to take her report for a full 45 minutes. Gosch's picture was among the first to be featured on milk cartons as part of a campaign to find missing children. A $400,000 donation from a group of unidentified businessmen boosted the reward fund for missing paperboy Johnny Gosch to more than $500,000, the child's mother said Monday. In March 1997, Noreen Gosch awoke to a knock on her door at 2:30 a.m. She opened the door to see a strange man standing with then-27-year-old Johnny Gosch. Gosch said she immediately recognized her son, who opened his shirt to reveal a birthmark on his chest. "We talked about an hour or an hour and a half. He was with another man, but I have no idea who the person was. Johnny would look over to the other person for approval to speak," says Gosch. "He didn't say where he is living or where he was going." Gosch's father, John, divorced from Noreen since 1993, has publicly stated that he is not sure whether such a visit actually occurred. The case received renewed publicity in 2006 when Noreen reported she had found photographs on her doorstep depicting Gosch in captivity. Some of the photos received were said to be children from a case in Florida; however, one boy in the photos was never identified. Noreen insists that boy is Johnny. As of 2026, there have been no arrests made; the case is now considered cold but remains open. In 1984, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill requiring an immediate investigation into cases involving missing children.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 03, 2026