It's one of Iowa's longest running and most notorious mysteries. I think everybody wants to know what happened. So it doesn't happen again and we definitely want to know to what happened to Johnny Gosh. His family started asking that question 40 years ago today. And for decades later, Johnny's parents still face each day with that painful unknown when this happened and the realities funk in that these people took Johnny. I thought 48 hours will know something. Well, we didn't, I cannot believe that somebody has not come forward with information or whatever. Tonight, Casey ci visits the West des Moines neighborhood where johnny vanished while on his paper route, leaving his red wagon and bundles of newspapers behind it shaped just the rest of my life. Like you don't stop thinking about it. We'll take you inside the investor showing you what's still being done to this day to find johnny. This particular case, It is still open and active at this time. We also asked whether there's any connection between johnny Gosh and two other missing Iowa boys. Nothing just nothing. It was like, it never happened. It was like he never happened. That hurt as *** brother. The mystery that captivated central Iowa shattered *** sense of safety and may parents hold their Children *** little tighter starts right now. K. C. C. I ate news presents searching for johnny 40 years later. Good evening. I'm steve Karmen and I'm Stacy horse And we're at the corner of 42nd Street in Marquardt Lane in West des Moines the exact location of where 12 year old johnny Ghosh was last seen alive over the next hour. We will go over everything we have learned in the 40 years since johnny Gosh disappeared from this corner and the questions that still remain. And we begin tonight with how it all started. Police are looking for this boy. 12 year old johnny Gosh, he's the son of Mr and mrs john Gosh of 10 04 45th Street in West des Moines. The boy was last seen this morning about six o'clock as he began his paper route in front of Valley United Methodist Church at 42nd and Ashworth that was september 5th 1982. 40 years later, johnny Gosh is still missing. The case remains unsolved. At first, West des Moines, police treated the disappearance as an abduction and launched *** big search that included several law enforcement agencies. By the end of the first day, police said they no longer believed that it was an abduction and they started to treat the case as *** missing person or runaway incident. Three days after johnny's disappearance, reality set in for his parents, john and Noreen Gosh. Yet as they told K. C. C. I. 40 years ago, they were still hopeful their son would be found alive. Day one was shocked that this kind of atrocity could happen. It just doesn't seem like it could happen in your neighborhood, two blocks from your house the second day. You realize it really is happening. And finally by today it is, it's just gripping every single minute of the day worrying about his safety, whether he's warm, whether he's had food, all of these things that when days go by, you just wonder if he's even going to come back. *** couple of months into the search, investigators had *** composite sketch of *** man wanted for questioning but didn't release it to the public or to johnny's parents. So the gashes along with the private investigator they hired released their own composites in hopes of generating leaves And while they waited for those tips to come in, the first big family holiday without their son approached our mode of thinking for thanksgiving day in this house will not be *** negative tone. Will miss johnny, There's an empty chair and any time the family circle cannot be together, it's it's bad. It's sad, but we are going to remain thankful because we have not had *** dead body to contend with as they worked to bring johnny home. The Gosh has also lobbied locally and nationally to raise awareness about missing Children. Two years after johnny's disappearance, the Iowa Legislature passed the johnny Gosch's bill into law requiring law enforcement to immediately investigate missing child cases. Months later, the action went national when President Reagan signed the Missing Children's Act. Then three years later in 1988 the FBI provided *** new way to help find johnny for the first time. The investigators used face aging technology on *** missing person. That technology worked off the last picture taken of johnny combining some of his features with those of his parents. To create the picture, I've been thinking, what would it be like if he were brought into the room today? How is he gonna have changed? Will he have *** beard? Will he? You know, he would be obviously old enough to shave now. All these changes that other kids gradually go through. We will be faced with on the spot and it'll be *** shock for both he and us. If he is found alive, It's 1991 Nebraska prison inmate Paul Benassi comes forward with *** startling claim that *** network of pedophiles forced him to help abduct Johnny Gosh. Benassi was serving time for sexual assault on *** child Western boy police never did question Benassi on their own. Noreen. Gosh was called to testify in his 1999 trial and that's when she made *** bombshell claim of her own that Johnny visited her in her home two years earlier for about an hour. He told me how he was kidnapped at first he was so drugged that he didn't know where he was at, but he could then relate some of the names of the people that were around him that he was able to latch onto names. He told me how they traveled all over the country. They were used for pornography, prostitution, compromising businessmen and politicians, sexually. These kids were used in *** royal fashion like none of us Whatever dream of *** Western boy. Police officer said that Noreen had told similar stories before only to recant them later. There were never any witnesses that verified her claim. John Gosh, who by then was divorced from Noreen has said he's not sure that visit ever happened 40 years later, Johnny Gosh is still missing. And if johnny is still alive, he would be 52 years old. And this is what the National Center for Missing and exploited Children thinks he could look like. You see *** middle aged man with light brown hair graying at the temples, wrinkles on his face with blue eyes. It's in stark contrast to the picture on the left. The one we all know 12 year johnny Gosh. *** young boy frozen in time. The lives of Noreen. Gosh and john Gosh have been frozen too. In *** way, their world forever changed. When johnny never returned home from his paper route, john and Noreen Gosh told K. C. C. I. S. Todd. Mengel, how they've moved forward without their son after 40 years. What goes through my mind at this point in time? 40 years at this is What did I miss? What thing would there have been that might have changed the course of the investigation. I still think of Johnny as *** 12 year old. I don't think of him as *** 50 year old adult adult. Now. What I think of most is that I cannot believe that somebody has not come forward With information or whatever. John and Maureen Gosh are living with *** painful 40 year old mystery. *** mystery that may never be solved. What happened to their 12 year old son Johnny on *** quiet Sunday morning in 1982. My belief is based on what I've learned through the information we got that we could verify and that was that he was kidnapped off the street while doing his paper route and he was put into what they now call human trafficking and everybody wants to know. You want to know. It's just such *** mystery. What do you think happened to him? I have no idea. No idea. John and Noreen, Gosh no longer live in this western boy neighborhood. They've been divorced for years. Noreen lives in Northeast Iowa Now john lives in Arizona that he drove to *** nearby cell phone tower to get enough bandwidth to do *** zoom interview with us. Probably chances are pretty, pretty high that he never will be found along with lots of other kids. Will he ever be found? I don't know that he would, I don't. And at this very second. I don't know if he's alive or not right now. What is life like now for John and Noreen, it crosses my mind usually some part of every day, but I have *** life too and 40 years also means everything slows down. There isn't the day to day need for action. I think about it all the time. Every time I'm driving, if I see something white in the ditch, my eyes go directly toward it. It um, he was wearing *** white sweatshirt, kim's Academy sweatshirt apparently when he was taken and so that is locked into my, my brain, something white out there that I looked at all the time when days go by. You just wonder if he's going to come back after johnny disappeared. The gashes became known worldwide. The investigation continued for days, weeks, months now, decades, they worked nonstop trying to find their son. 40 years later, life has calmed down and now I'm at *** point in my life where I can have *** life and some happiness and some good times too and and it it makes *** difference, It helps. They wonder what johnny would be like at age 52 what he missed after 40 years. It's just hard to even think that way. Um, hoping that he would, he would have went through college like his brother and sister did and all that stuff, but um just, It just stops at 12 years old to say they will never give up hope and time does have *** way of healing their wounds. The hope is pretty well gone. I just would like to have *** closure before I, I die, you know, but you just, you just don't know and I would like to hope that johnny would be still alive and I would be able to spend some time with him before my demise actually. Um, it's more than just hope. It is *** real wish to have that happen. Noreen said it, she is holding out hope that johnny is still alive. But if he is, why hasn't he come forward? Noreen shares her theory later in this hour. But coming up next, we're taking you inside the investigation to find answers for decades later how that effort has changed over the years and what Western police are still to this day to find johnny Gosh! Plus for the first time ever see inside the evidence room where decades of clues have been collected and *** little later from quiet to *** crime scene. This west boy neighborhood looks pretty typical. Unless you know what happened here, we'll hear from some of the people who know johnny as more than just *** face on *** flyer. He was the paper delivery boy down the street. I would like to speak directly to the people who are holding our son, contact us please. We'll meet your demands. This is *** plea for you to release our son safely to return him to us alive and well when johnny Gosh first disappeared, the Western Point Police Department launched *** huge search and investigation early on jOHn and Marine Gosh criticized the department and hired their own private investigators to try to bring johnny home KCC Eyes Todd model shows us what's being done 40 years later to find closure. Our ultimate goal is to bring closure to everybody that knew and loved johnny johnny Gosh has been missing for 40 years, vanished from his sunday morning paper route in West des Moines since that day in 1982. West des Moines police have been working to find him. It's one of the oldest investigations in the department's history in this particular case. It is still open and active at this time. Um, we do have detectives that are assigned to this case and they do periodically still review that case file. Um, We do receive tips and leads occasionally multiple times *** year. Um of course we have to vet those tips and make sure that they're credible. We need to look through all of those things. Um, *** lot of times they end up not being credible or they could be here say, um, and sometimes their tips and leads that we've already followed up on in the past that the public may not be aware of. So there's *** lot of aspects to this case that we can't really comment on because the case is still open. Police can't say what those tips are, they can't say if they think johnny is still alive. They can't say if they have any theories about what happened that day being, as the case is still open and detectives and the other law enforcement agencies are still actively working it. We don't comment on any theories that we might have in the case at this time. It's no surprise that after 40 years, West Des Moines police have *** lot of evidence in the johnny Gosch's case. They can't show us that evidence, but for the first time in four decades, they can show us where that evidence is right. Here in the West des Moines Police Department, here's an exclusive look at the secure West des Moines Police evidence room inside on *** top shelf, 20 ft in the air Force storage boxes marked johnny Gosh, each filled with physical evidence from that september day in 1982 and days, weeks, months years. Since then, it's *** powerful reminder that the investigation is an old case, but not *** cold case. These cases are very important to keep that evidence intact and to keep it preserved. We may end up getting *** lead at some point in the future where that evidence is critical to bring closure to this case. But West des Moines Police Sergeant Jason Heights admits solving the Gosh case is *** challenge with the size of this case in the, in the time span that's gone by since this case began. Sometimes it take it's *** long time to go through those case files and many of our detectives now are retired or deceased or they're aging and those resources are starting to disappear. That had intimate knowledge of the case in the past. So it does take *** little more effort. But with technology and digitizing these cases now, we're working on those things and trying to keep it moving as efficiently as we can. We do have an active case for johnny Gosh, here at the National Center for Missing exploited Children. John Bishop is vice president of Missing Children at the National Center for Missing and exploited Children. The Johnny Gosch's case is one of many that prompted Congress to form the nonprofit organization in 1984. It works hand in hand with law enforcement and Bischoff says many law enforcement techniques and technologies have changed since then. Time is of the essence and it is one of the bigger things that have changed over the years. But believe it or not, even today, we're fighting with that perception from the public that there is some perceived waiting period when that is absolutely not the case. Noreen Gosh, lobby the Iowa legislature to force police to act more quickly after johnny's disappearance. It's called the johnny Gosh bill and that ensures that there's an immediate Investigation No more waiting 72 hours. You don't do that on *** bank robbery. Why would you, for *** human being? It's very critical to try to find *** child or *** missing person within that 1st 24 hours is really the window and to work on that and those things have changed over time. Things are different now, investigative practices are different now and reporting is different. Now, another big change instead of milk cartons and signs painted on trucks. The internet and other high tech tools have revolutionized the way missing kids are investigated back then. It was difficult to share information in an expedited fashion. Now, we have certain things such as amber alerts, We have the National Center for Missing and exploited Children. We have social media outlets and *** whole host of other technology that can help us work these cases in *** more expedited fashion. In the last 30 years, the FBI reports, missing Children cases have dropped by 40% but that's cold comfort when so many cases remain unsolved, it doesn't matter that 40 years have passed. We'll still continue to look for johnny Gosh. Uh, and until told otherwise until proven otherwise, we won't stop. The goal that we have is to bring him home and reunite him with his family. And we hope that someday that happens and we'll do everything that we can to assist that process. Johnny's disappearance happened really close to those who would investigate his case. The Western one police station back then was less than *** mile from here at the corner of Valley West Drive and Ashworth Road and for those in this neighborhood september 5th 1982 is *** day that seemed to change everything still ahead. We're hearing from people Who saw the case play out firsthand 40 years ago, right in front of their homes and he went from reporter to Confidante, standing by the Gosh is all these years next. What he's helped them achieve over 40 years of searching for Johnny. We'll start fanning out. But law enforcement agents are still waiting for some solid leads, including information about the two cars seen in the area of john's disappearance. Sunday morning officers say the investigation will continue. We'll continue on. We've got *** lot of information we're sorting through, our teams are checking out leads as they come in. I'm sure the search will continue. Tomorrow is still being treated as *** missing persons case at this point. Yes, it is. You don't think it's *** kidnapping? I'm not ruling out anything, but I have nothing to indicate that it was *** kidnapping. You think you would have heard from the kidnappers by now if it was *** kidnapping, I would state that normally, yes, one local journalist who covered this story ended up becoming dear friends with the Gosh is Ron Sampson covered this story from the start. He shared with K C C. I. S Todd mangle the memories he's collected over the years of advocating for finding johnny. Gosh, just the fact that you can be two blocks from your house Shortly and not one clue in 40 years. There's just no describing it. Still Ron Sampson has spent 40 years trying to describe the case of johnny. Gosh, My notes to myself from the very first time I met john and Maureen. Sampson still has briefcases full of files filled with Gosh information. Sampson was *** young columnist for *** suburban weekly newspaper when he filed his first report on the Gosh case. I was asked to come over and interview jOHn and Marine by one of my readers of the Ankeny Press Citizen and I gladly did it and I was hooked. He was hooked by the agonizing mystery. The papers were still there, the wagon was still there. The rubber bands were still there. Gretchen, the docks had walked home without him. That's it. That's your first clue. I mean, in other words, there is no clue. He remembers the frustration well, the thing that probably was most wrong is that it was the first time for anything like this for anybody. Nobody in this area had any expertise on this. He not only reported on the news story. He and his wife became friends with the gashes. What I learned is that we didn't know much and we were, and john and Maureen were plowing new ground as far as searches. As far as legislation. Uh, this is just something nobody had experienced. And so we were, we were desperate for information. Eventually the missing persons case took on *** life of its own. Johnny appeared on *** milk carton, I think *** approached us first and that was *** first anywhere nationally. *** trucker asked to put johnny's face on his big rig. And then uh, we were approached by *** trucker here in the de Moines market that wanted to uh Uh, put it on the side of his truck and drive it across the country. Sampson says one of his most satisfying moments was see the guy has helped create new legislation to speed up the process of finding missing kids. You don't wait 24 hours. You don't wait 48 hours. You don't wait 72 hours. The police have to get on any kind of *** report of *** missing child. People probably don't remember that. That was kind of the norm of the day, but we didn't know any better and we learned the hard way that it is the better way to do it back in 2017. John gosh, lent johnny's red wagon to Samson to display at the Iowa state fair. It's the same wagon found on the sidewalk the day he disappeared. *** piece of central Iowa history. This is the last thing that johnny touched It is what john found when johnny hadn't delivered his papers. Think of the significance of that wagon. I mean, I'm getting the chills sitting here and it's 100 and five degrees. What does he think happened? My story was, he was taken on *** sunday morning And he's never been heard from since and we don't know who took him. We don't know why they took him. We don't know if it was *** pedophile or molester. We don't know anything. If it was just somebody who took him for *** few minutes or somebody we just don't know. Samson is worried. He may never know what happened to Johnny. Gosh, Okay. I'm 70 years old. Gonna be 70 years old here shortly. I've been doing this now for 40 years over half of my life. I've raised my sons, my wife and I have been friends of Gosh is it has been part of our lives and there isn't *** day that goes by obviously that I don't think about it. Iowa journalists have covered this mystery endlessly. Many have retired without ever knowing the fate of Johnny. Gosh, they say time heals all wounds. I don't think it heals this one next we will talk with current and former K. C. C. I. Journalists who have covered every twist and turn of this disappearance and *** neighborhood forever changed. See the search for johnny through the eyes of those who watched it first hand and the little moments they'll never forget 40 years later with little to go on police turn and I An early morning routine exactly to the hour when 12 year old John Gosh suddenly vanished on his paper out one week ago. Officers stopped motorists at several intersections to see if they routinely drove in the neighborhood just before dawn police were looking for possible witnesses or for any suspicious activities. Authorities learned nothing new and say they still have no solid evidence. The boy was abducted. Nevertheless, many parents who ordinarily wouldn't accompany their Children did so today. Also, the paper kept closer tabs today on its 2000 de Moines carriers. How does that happen in our neighborhood? It affected all of us. This felt like the safest neighborhood ever. You just didn't come out at night anymore. It just seemed there was just *** real fear. Johnny Gosh grew up where so many parents would love to raise their kids in suburban surroundings at the end of *** quiet street and that's how this west my neighborhood remains today. But as KCC eyes eric Hanson shows us the people who lived here know that can change in an instinct. Just north of Ashworth Road in west des Moines, 45th street is *** one block long cul de sac with only 10 homes. Do you remember that including the one on the west side where jerry are shambo and her husband moved in the late seventies. There were no trees were all putting trees in. I planted every tree on that lot because back then this neighborhood, just *** few blocks west of Valley High School was the very edge of the metro. Brand new. The whole block was filled with young families about the same age. So we were also social, we would come out at night and stand around drinking beer and talking, which is when jerry met her neighbors. Two doors down john and Noreen. Gosh. The couples had kids the same age. If she had an engagement to go to, I would take care of johnny and if I had something to do, she'd take care of jeans. Today. The neighborhood is full of mature trees. Back in the early eighties, the trees in this neighborhood were smaller and the cars were bigger. How many memories, jerry's daughter, Sherry was *** junior in high school. We used to put *** basketball court, one of those portable ones in the cul de sac and everybody came out including johnny, the boy everyone around here knew for running around the neighborhood and for his job as the morning paper boy, johnny used to take his way again and then you had to fold your own papers and rubber band them and I only know that because we all subbed on that paper route when johnny would be gone or out of town, everybody would fill in. We knew pretty much everyone on our street, john Litvack knew the routine. His route was just *** few blocks east. You go knocking on the door once *** month and try to catch him at home and collect their $3.75 for *** month's worth of papers or whatever. He delivered to about 40 neighbors and never thought twice about leaving home alone at four a.m. yep, totally safe. We could leave the house, ride our bikes take off until it was *** sunday morning september 5th 1982 headlines about the U. S. D. ***. We're not big but no one here saw them. My husband was furious, he hadn't gotten the paper, he was an early riser up at four o'clock, no paper until johnny's dad john delivered them. But there were plenty of cops right at sunrise. I said Bill there's something going on. But our focus was to get to church, we went to church, came home and then more police cars and then everybody's coming outside of their house is trying to figure out what's going on. I went out in the garage to get *** sara lee coffee cake and I looked out the side door and I saw an arena there talking to what I know now we're the FBI agents. And I came in and said to my husband I said I need to go see if we can help. He says go ahead And he gave me *** big hug. That's when I found out johnny was gone johnny's dog. Gretchen had been with him and she had walked, the dog had walked home and just as the day went on it was like oh surely hope he'll show up and come back wherever he wandered off to. We never did finish making breakfast. We told the girls we were gonna be gone all day and they had to finish making breakfast, we wanted to help. I remember walking cornfields and we all were in *** row so nobody missed anything. And and you just walked and walked thinking that he was out there in those cornfields that first day. Some thought he'd run away. Everybody asked me what did you think? And I said, I think he's been abducted. He was the biggest kid on the corner. Johnny was very big for his age. Exactly what johnny's mom, two doors down thought to our son was taken Off the corner of 42nd. I don't believe for one minute that he ran away or walked voluntarily with anyone. My evening, everyone in town was suddenly scared. My grandma called my parents right away when she heard it on the news later that day or that night and she heard about this paper boy named John that was gone missing. So she freaked out and called mom and dad, you know that settled that right away. Her west point paperboy named john was safe. But within days 2000 carriers all over the metro suddenly had parent chaperones back on 45th. It just changed the neighborhood completely. We were very supportive trying to help in any way we could, but people just didn't come out of their houses anymore. Sherry didn't even like coming home from valley football games after dark. The house has changed now, but it used to have the brick arch and I always thought somebody was lurking inside that I just didn't want to get out of the car today. Ring doorbells record every movement, but back then clues weren't captured and that unknown freaked everyone out. But then it just became *** thing like we have to be safe, this has to be locked up so that the boogeyman can't come get you remember the fear of the following year, They had the kids tied to them unleashes. I mean it changed the whole world. It's hard to believe 40 years Lee Dunham moved to the corner of 42nd in Mark eight years ago, 32 years after Johnny's Red Wagon was found here. No, I didn't realize that until that first summer that we lived here, that somebody stopped and was saying that this was kind of *** sad little corner and I said why is that? And they said this is where johnny Gosh was kidnapped from the mystery he'd followed when he'd lived on Des Moines. Southside was suddenly right outside his door. Even today we have *** little kids bus pick up and I get up real early in the morning and I always sat in their drink my coffee and keep it out. It's hard to look at that house and not think of everything that happened where they watched the gashes do so many interviews. We admired Noreen. It took somebody like her to keep her goal was to keep Johnny's name at the top of the list, especially on the anniversaries. She's been pretty successful. Returning home to 45th Street for me brings back all these memories. What happened here is why decades later Sherry didn't let her boys ride bikes to elementary school alone. It shaped just the rest my life like you don't stop thinking about it. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. They changed just like this neighborhood. Great neighborhood now. But it happened here. It's it's just unbelievable that it happened here and it affected all of us. Eric Hanson Casey C. I. *** news. How does that happen in our neighborhood? I was news leader. What's striking about this corner where johnny disappeared is that it's so ordinary. No plaque or marker to indicate. This is where one of Iowa's biggest mysteries began. While there is no official marker here. Journalists who covered this story for four decades need no reminder tonight. We talked to two veteran K. C. C. I. Journalists about covering the twists and turns of such *** high profile case. Well, I think I was the first journalist by happenstance to find out about the story simply because my wife and I were on our way to church that morning And, and as I drove past the corner of 42nd and Mark or to our church, one block from that intersection I saw *** number of people standing around *** number of police cars, number of police officers outside the vehicles pulled into the church parking lot. My wife went inside the church. I walked over being *** nosy reporter to find out what was going on. And I would say things were calm, but I asked somebody, I don't even remember if it was an officer or *** neighbor, hey, what's going on? Well, the paper boy didn't come home when *** story breaks sometimes it can be difficult to recognize how big it will become. Former K. C. C. I news director Dave Bucyk covered thousands of stories before he retired from horrible plane crashes to the floods of 93 has seen it all. He wasn't sure how this story would play out at the time. We had *** reporter, photographer on, on that sunday and suggested they come on out and at least get some video of the scene. You know, if the kid comes home, it's not *** story. Um, but if the kid doesn't come home, it's probably gonna be *** story turns out the kid didn't come home and it's *** story after the boy folded his papers and loaded his wagon, he walked *** block north on 42nd Street and turned here at Marquardt Lane *** while later, the boy's father found the wagon with newspapers blowing in the wind and journalists stayed on the story for days weeks, months and eventually years as time went on and johnny didn't return, Not the first day, not the second day, not the third day, not *** month later, not *** year later. Clearly, there were, there was *** great deal of concern, concern not only for johnny, gosh, but also for the kids who were still delivering newspapers steve ramos, Metro circulation manager ordered the department's 49 supervisors to drive through their districts and oversee morning deliveries. It cuts close to home for me because seven years before johnny went missing, I was *** des Moines register newspaper carrier with the same sunday morning route in my neighborhood. And you know, in those days you just kind of um take things for granted and that you're gonna be fine. But now that I think about it, you know, I was *** paper boy seven years before he went missing. And Wow, that's *** hard reality to think about it. Casey Ci photojournalist Courtney Kinser began his career when he was just 17 years old. He says he can't compare this cold case to any others he's seen through the years, nothing to this, absolutely nothing to this magnitude that the story that's gone on this long. Uh and then it's just been *** cold cold case. I mean, it's the mystery of mysteries. This is an important story and I hope one day this community gets to find out what happened to say. There has now been *** total complete break with the Western mind. Police Department, they say the Department's lack of experience in child abduction cases has resulted in uncooperative nous and *** failure to do many basic things that were needed. Journalists were well aware of the conflict between johnny's parents and police and it became *** big part of the story. The Police chief in West mine at the time, guy by the name of Orval Cooney was kind of an old school guy who had come up through the ranks and he and Maureen were like oil and water. Um, Noreen's emotions are very much out out front or balcony, didn't react to that kind of thing. So I think that there was, um, *** sense that they were getting beat up by Noreen by the media and and, and police, uh, kind of pulled the ranks in *** little bit tighter and and kept her at bay. So it really was just *** bad situation in terms of easy flow of communication. There was not *** lot of trust between the family and the Police Department out there and that didn't serve any of those people well. While journalists tried to detach their own feelings from *** story, both music and kinser say after so many years, that's nearly impossible as *** photojournalist. You know, you do have to separate yourself emotionally, but at the same time, you're human and you can't help but feel for the parents and just think about, wow, what if that was, you know, my child, you just can't even imagine uh, going through that I know I can't still can't well, um personally, I've always cared about the story. I've always cared about Noreen. I think that she has helped Other families who've gone through this. I think that she's been *** rock. I had hoped by the end of my career *** couple of years ago, that maybe something would be known about this case. Um, but it hasn't happened. The world has changed *** lot in so many ways over 40 years. And yet this pain of *** parent losing *** child is something everyone can relate to. And it's just, it's just *** horrible tragedy. Um, that for everyone's sake, I wish there could be some information that would at least give people some closure on it. But here we are. The fact that we're talking about it some 40 years later, it's an open wound on this community. It's certainly an open wound for that family. And um, I don't know that it's ever gonna completely heal over. They say time heals all wounds. I don't think it heals this one, Johnny Gosh was the first of three boys to disappear in the Des Moines area in the 1980s when we come back. The similar circumstances that let these kids missing and whether the cases could be connected. Plus Noreen, Gosh still has hope that she will see her son before she dies. Why? She thinks he can't come home if he's still alive in *** news conference today. Gosh, is say they recently learned of 25 leads. The police department had never told them about. They say it's crucial. They know about the leads. I personally do not think that any law enforcement agent in this country has *** right to sign the death warrant on any child. If there's *** lead that comes in from the missing children's center in Washington, it may be *** good lead. And the law enforcement, especially Western Police Department does not check it out. We know that our private investigators will check it out. Other police departments, sit down with the parents and go over things. So there is communication. So the parents know that something is being done for their child. Two other boys roughly the same age. Eugene martin and Mark Allen disappeared within *** couple of years of johnny in des Moines. Neither case was ever solved and neither case got the same kind of attention that the, gosh case did. K. C. C. I. S. James Stratton takes *** look at why And we'll hear from their families nearly 40 years after they disappeared. Why don't people remember the name Mark Allen? Because it never got in publicity. Um, it never got treated seriously. I mean, it was like it happened and then it was over. It was just that fast. There was no uh, to my knowledge, there was no no news. Uh, broadcasting's, there was, you know, nothing in the paper. There was, you know, nothing, just nothing. It was like it never happened. It was like he never happened that hurt as *** brother. 36 years after his brother, Mark Allen disappeared. It's hard to even find photos of the 13 year old. It seems like every single one that we did that I did find it was the back head, the back of his head or something. But *** younger brother doesn't forget the memories of his older one, including the day he was last seen in March 1986. I can remember the feeling of desperation in the house and not knowing where he was. Allen was heading to *** friend's house from his on Emma Avenue on the south side and never showed up, never returned and was never seen again with Mark Allen's case. It started off his runaway and then over time you look at it and say this, something else is going on here, that something else is *** missing boy who likely isn't *** runaway. I don't know if I, if I lose hope. I just, I just recently decided, you know, I want answers. Mark Allen vanished four years after johnny Gosh. And two years after Eugene martin, another paper boy who disappeared this time near southwest 14th street in Highview Drive. He's always there. We're talking about about him every day. Anyway, we don't forget him. I don't think we ever will, no matter what happens KCC. I was there as Eugene martin's family gathered for their first christmas without him. They've since been through 36 more. We kept christmas presents from him for almost 56 years. We just kept them, martin was delivering papers on *** sunday morning and like, Gosh was never seen again. I want to believe that he's still alive and whoever's got him, all they have to do is let us know where he's at and we'll go get him and bring him home. But if he is dead, I still want to know so we can bring him home and give him *** decent burial. That closure never came for the Martin family, his sister, Kim Diehl, Aka still longs for it and it's just like *** weird nightmare. You think it's just *** bad dream at first and then you realize, I don't know, it's not *** bad dream that really happened and he's gone. Kim was 16 when that weird nightmare of her brother disappearing happened. But she still holds out hope that he's still out there. Maybe he would see it. That's why I came out to interview des Moines Police say they followed every lead. They could, it fills an entire filing cabinet *** full size office filing cabinet. Those tips have filled to the brim The one question on everyone's mind are the disappearances of johnny got Mark Allen and Eugene martin possibly connected. That's one of the questions that just pounds on us that we would love to have an answer for. If you could connect the cases, it might make the investigation go *** little quicker in one direction or another. But so far investigators with all the information sharing we've done, we've not found *** connection both cases now more than 30 years later are cold according to sergeant paul, Perisic they go cold because the lack of information coming in. So you always hope that there's that one piece that we're looking for. Yeah, they did that one piece, that one something to solve these two cases. We still think about him, you know, daily one way or another, just one culture. My mom and dad never gave up hope on it. So as long as they thought he was still out there then I was, I was doing the same thing hoping that yet another news story, another sharing of their story that could lead to *** cold case getting solved. Noreen, Gosh still believes johnny was kidnapped and forced into *** child trafficking operation. Some people say if he's still alive, why didn't he just call for help or run? Noreen says it's not that simple. I don't know for certain if he is living. The one thing I do know from talking to other victims of this type of crime is that some of the other young men and there are men now said that they would never come back out in the public and be known. It's too hard for them because everybody, if there's been much of *** search, everybody knows exactly what happened to them and they would be very afraid to be out in that type of an arena and they would certainly draw *** lot of attention and they don't want that, you know. Uh there was *** group of the boys and I was working with an investigator who had been um *** detective in new york. And during his years there, this was his specific job was the trafficking and he thought that johnny's case met that criteria. So when he retired, he then had time and he really helped me. Well, we came upon information where there was *** group of the boys at that time, they were much younger and we offered them protection. If they would come forward and tell their stories, johnny was among them. There was about eight boys and they all knew one another because they were kept prisoner in different locations together. So they got to know each other. Not one of them said that they would come forward even with *** guarantee as best we could to offer them protection because they were afraid that if they tried to come forth with what they knew that their families would die or they would because those were the threats they received To all their years. So if you take *** child, 10-12 years old out of their environment at home, no school or no friends, not even anything that they owned, would they have with them and they put you put them in that type of situation where they're threatened every day of their life. If you run, if you try to contact your family will kill you or we'll kill your mother, your brother, your sister, whatever you have. And some of the kids that have been in that situation have told me that's the threats they lived with every day. Well after *** while, you become pretty afraid of anything that moves, you wouldn't take *** risk. So I think that's the mindset with *** lot of them. While there are many theories about what could have happened to johnny, we still don't have the answers coming up next. How many Children are reported missing every month in the United States and the resources available to families, It's every parent's nightmare, *** child who fails to come home after school, anytime *** child turns up missing. The frightening cases of johnny Gash and Eugene martin come to mind. But the majority of Iowa's missing Children are runaways and most of them eventually are found. Whether or not *** child is considered *** runaway though, *** new law, the so called johnny Gash law says, police must investigate immediately. Just wanted some type of uniform system so that whenever *** child was missing, each child would get that attention, not one child get more attention than another because our organization believes that no matter if *** child is *** runaway or abducted, that child is missing and that child is in danger and they need to be found before we go tonight, we do want to acknowledge that while the disappearance of johnny Ghosh is tragic, mysterious and unsettling. He is just one missing child creating heartache for his family. According to the latest numbers from the FBI, there are more than 30,000 Children under the age of 18 who go missing in the United States every month. There are many reasons for their disappearances from Children with autism who just wander away to sex trafficking to family abductions and more. The National Center for missing and exploited Children has resources for families to help prevent tragedies like this. As for Johnny Gosh, his family has gone 40 years waiting for answers and they are still hoping to see him again. If you have *** tip that can help bring Johnny home, contact the Western Moines police. Their number is 515-222-3399. Thanks. Thanks for watching this. K. C. C. I ate news special searching for johnny 40 years later. If you've missed any part of this special or if you'd like to watch it again, you can do so at K C C I dot com or at K C C I is very local streaming app. Thank you for joining us and have *** good evening