Johnny Gosch

Who is Johnny Gosch?

John David "Johnny" Gosch was a 12-year-old paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, when he disappeared on September 5, 1982 and was presumed kidnapped. His case and the subsequent publicity played an important part in the growing public awareness of missing children cases in the 1980s.

His mother, Noreen Gosch, maintains that Johnny Gosch escaped from his captors and visited her in 1997, but now fears for his life and lives under an assumed identity. Gosch's father, John, divorced from Noreen since 1993, has publicly stated that he was not sure whether or not such a visit actually occurred. Authorities have not located Gosch or confirmed Ms. Gosch's account, and his fate continues to be the subject of speculation, conspiracy theories, and dispute.

The case received publicity in 2006 when his mother claimed to have found photographs depicting Gosch in captivity on her doorstep. The photos were later shown to be not of her son.