Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Thursday, September 05, 2024
Missing. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Every detail matters when building a winning game plan. That's why the Cyclones and Hawkeyes rely on better, cleaner now biodiesel to power their team buses on game day. Delivering success on the field, in the field, and in the environment. Make biodiesel part of your winning game plan by visiting iasoybeans.com. Biodiesel. Grow it. Request it. Use it. This message brought to you by the Iowa Soybean Association and the Soybean Check-Off. On Sunday, September 5, 1982, 12-year-old John David Gosh left his home before dawn to deliver the Des Moines Sunday Register. He took the family dog along with him. He met other newspaper carriers at the paper drop site, then started on his paper route. He never finished the route that day. His parents John and Noreen Gosh started getting phone calls from customers complaining their papers weren't delivered. They found his wagon full of papers only two blocks from their home, but Johnny Gosh was nowhere to be found. Police believe Gosh was kidnapped, but other than one neighbor who saw Johnny talking with a stocky man in a car with Nebraska license plates, they had few leads. The case drew national attention as Gosh's photo was one of the first to be printed on milk cartons, along with those of other missing children. What happened to Johnny Gosh remains unknown. His mother says he came to her home 15 years later with another man. She believes he was abducted and used in a teenage prostitution ring and is living under an assumed identity today in fear for his life. Less than two years later, another register paperboy Eugene Martin disappeared under similar circumstances. The case remains the subject of speculation and dispute, but there is no dispute that West Des Moines paperboy Johnny Gosh disappeared on this date in 1982. And that's Iowa Almanac for September 5th. Follow us on Twitter @IowaAlmanac. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.