IA IA - Johnny Gosch, 12, West Des Moines, 5 Sept 1982 #4

[ClockworkLemon]

The Netflix documentary, produced in 2014, may convince you to give more consideration to the theory.

I wish the documentary was available in Netflix still. It’s an interesting story, a tragic story.

 

[pillywiggin]

I wish the documentary was available in Netflix still. It’s an interesting story, a tragic story.

It might still be available on Amazon.com. I don't know if is a Prime video, but I saw it a few months ago.

 

[bears10]

Stumbled on this thread because it was in the “new posts” list. As a child of the 80s, I know all too well about poor Johnny’s kidnapping.

I mean maybe I’m just a pessimist but I feel like the theories about him being alive, visiting Noreen, etc, are so far fetched that I’m surprised these are still well believed theories.

Sadly, imo, Occam’s razor is that he was murdered shortly after being abducted. Like Jacob wetterling. But I guess until either 1) a body is found or 2) he comes forward to confirm he’s alive.. we will never know. If he somehow is still alive though, he can always privately tell LE he is alive and isn’t a missing person. My heart goes out to his mom, but I feel like she’s either embellished or perhaps even lied about certain things. I can’t criticize her for it too much, because I would never want to be in her situation. I’m sure Johnny’s father is also forever grieving, yet she seemed to try to blame him.

Just a bunch of assorted ramblings.

 

[YESorNO]

Website lists Iowa missing persons

"OTTUMWA — Nearly 400 missing Iowans have not been found, and that number remains steady as old cases are closed and new cases are filed, according to Medina Rahmanovic, manager of the Missing Person Information Clearinghouse.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety, which maintains the Clearinghouse, listed 204 missing males and 192 missing females — 248 of them under the age of 18 — on its website Thursday morning.

Some of the cases are old and well-known. Jodi Huisentruit, an anchor with KIMT television in Mason City, disappeared June 27, 1995. She was 27 at the time. Huisentruit is believed to have been abducted in the parking lot of her apartment complex as she was leaving for work around 4 a.m.

Johnny Gosch was 12 years old in September 1982 when he disappeared while delivering newspapers in West Des Moines. As dictated by law at the time, police waited 72 hours before declaring Gosch missing. In 1984, Iowa passed the Johnny Gosch Bill requiring police to investigate missing child cases immediately....

“It’s an educational tool so the public is aware who’s missing in the state of Iowa,” Rahmanovic said. “We are one of the few states in the U.S. that … shares that information.”

The database allows the public to assist law enforcement in finding missing people. “You may see somebody, and you may know somebody who is on our website, and you can call in to the local law enforcement agency,” Rahmanovic said....

To find a list of missing persons in Iowa, visit Missing Persons. The website updates every four hours."

Website lists Iowa missing persons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[nedflanders1980]

For new info on the Johnny Gosch case I strongly recommend the podcast Faded Out. I think it is excellent. I'm about halfway through and am curios if anyone else is familiar with it?

 

[Fukiyama]

@GoBuckeyes I have read that the Register is criticized in some circles not because Johnny was a paperboy for it, but because it ignored the story or downplayed it at the same time the police were not putting much effort into it. Conspiracy stuff like that.

 

[Richard]

Bumping...

 

[GoBuckeyes]

According to people claiming to be involved in the pedo ring, Johnny was kept alive because he was so much in the media limelight. He was the "Golden Boy" or "Media Boy." Then he ran away and escaped. Neither Eugene Martin nor Marc James-Allen had the same publicity as Johnny, so IF Johnny is alive and IF the others were abducted into the same organization and are dead, then one could justify it in this way.

The only reasons I can think of that would keep a grown man from resurfacing and reconnecting with family are 1) the family had something to do with the abduction (John Leonard Gosch?), or 2) the now grown man has had done some pretty bad things that are against the law, and stepping forward might cause him to have to answer to those bad things. What else could keep a 40-something man from stepping forward and saying, "Hey. I'm John Gosch, and this is what happened to me when I was 12."

Never underestimate the power of fear.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Someone living in a different country would not need a US SSN.

Also, persons of certain religious sects in the United States do not have social security numbers.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I have read everything I can about this case and still don't know what I truly believe. However, I have noticed something about the pictures that seems odd to me. There are, I think, two pictures of the boy tied up and a cat can be seen in the background. In one of the pics the cat is actually grooming itself. It is not typical behavior for a cat. What I mean is that animals can sense when something is wrong, especially emotional extremes. I would think that if this boy had just been bound and forced to pose for some sick monster, he would have been screaming, crying, etc. No cat would stick around while this was happening, much less be grooming itself. What I'm saying is that the setting seems much "calmer" than you would expect given what is supposedly happening.

I'm not familiar with cats. Would this hold true if the cat were deaf? Just a thought...

 

[Trackergd]

Frightened humans emit pheromones that animals can smell. A child that has been conditioned or has become accustomed to their situation may not emit these pheromones to the same degree. Another thought is the cat may have become used to these pheromones.

 

[BethAnn777]

Frightened humans emit pheromones that animals can smell. A child that has been conditioned or has become accustomed to their situation may not emit these pheromones to the same degree. Another thought is the cat may have become used to these pheromones.

I was thinking the same thing. Either this was not a new situation or it was a hoax. I think the original poster was very astute for noticing the cat and reflecting upon that observation.

 

[moonstone angel]

I suppose technically, barring a DNA test, Gannon is up in the air, but I really don't think he is Johnny. Isn't there proof that Gannon was alive and well (last name Guckert) before Johnny was even abducted? School records and whatnot...

I dont think Gannon is Johnny Gosch either, but his back round is very strange.

 

[moonstone angel]

If he is alive, I don't understand why he is in hiding. Paul Bonacci was a part of the same ring, he claims, and he is not in hiding.

I suppose the fact that Johnny Gosch is such a high-profile abduction means that his existence would blow the whole thing wide open. If what is being said is even close to being true, I imagine there are many who would want to be sure that Johnny did not come forward.

However, wouldn't the perpetrators be elderly or dead by now? These events happened in the 80s. How much of a threat could they be?

Johnny Gosch can't come out because he is frightened and scared and also he himself has been made to do things that would put him away for a very long time..........

 

[Lavender Moon]

I'm not familiar with cats. Would this hold true if the cat were deaf? Just a thought...

Yes, I think even if a cat were deaf s/he
would not sit and groom in an environment where people were suffering.

 

[moonstone angel]

We also have to remember that Johnny would be a very damaged human being and may not be ready to face the outside world......

 

[TaylorCallum]

John Joubert was totally cleared of involvement in this case, wasn't he? Do you think it would be pointless to look into a connection between him and Johnny again (since I know he's long been executed) or does anyone think it would be worth another investigation?

 

[Dragonfyree]

John Joubert was totally cleared of involvement in this case, wasn't he? Do you think it would be pointless to look into a connection between him and Johnny again (since I know he's long been executed) or does anyone think it would be worth another investigation?

I don't think so. Joubert was murdering his first victim in Maine on 8/22/82 and Johnny went missing on 9/5/82.

I find it hard to believe he left Maine went to Iowa and killed Johnny and then went back to Maine in two weeks? He wasn't in Omaha yet. His first killing here was 12/2/83,

I haven't read all 30 pages of this so don't know if it's been mentioned before. I think Johnny's case is more connected to the Eugene Martin case in Des Moines. He was also a newspaper boy who disappeared on his route 8/12/84 and has never been seen since.

I feel very sorry for Mrs. Gosch but I think she just can't admit that her son is probably dead. I don't believe the rest of the family believes any of the conspiracy claims.

 

[WildDasia]

I dont think Gannon is Johnny Gosch either, but his back round is very strange.

I cannot let this one go as being possible. I am normally really dismissive of conspiracy theories. Everything about the idea Gannon is Gosch seems ridiculous on the surface. But, I don't think Gannon has ever produced anything to indicate evidence of a life before he was Guckert. I believe he indicated at one point that he would introduce parents or family members to the media but that never happened. He also said he would take a DNA test and never did. Look, if he is Johnny Gosch and has his reasons for not wanting to come forward I don't think anyone should pressure him too. But, this theory, that seems so crazy, yet given the details of the case is plausible, is out there. And I can conceive of reasons he might not want to take a DNA test or bring family members into this. But no one in the media ever found a family member. And if you wanted to test someone's DNA it's not illegal to use their trash or any discarded refuse of their's to do so. I can't believe Noreen wouldn't have tried this already. Unless she has nothing with Johnny's DNA on it to compare it to. In which case why haven't the police given it a try? DNA obtained in the April Tinsley case was obtained without a warrant, simply by intercepting the 2 remaining suspects trash. I know it's a crazy theory but everything about this case is crazy. The part of me that wants to know what happened to Johnny Gosch really wants someone to do a DNA test. The part of me that doesn't want to see someone thrust into the spotlight unwillingly, if they are Gosch, knows it should be left alone. For me, it will just always be something that hangs over this case. And I think it's possibly true.

 

[Cappuccino]

Jeff Gannon, real name James Guckert, is not Johnny Gosch. He's more than ten years older than Gosch and graduated college in 1980, two years before Gosch was kidnapped. His college graduation photos were floating round at one point, if you search through the earlier threads on Gosch on here you'll probably find them, along with a few thorough debunkings of the various conspiracy theories that have plagued this case.