In 1982, an Iowan boy, Johnny Gosch, from Des Moines disappeared while delivering mail on his route. He was delivering the Des Moines Sunday Register. Johnny Gosch’s face was soon copied onto Anderson Erickson milk cartoons. Autorites first thought that this Iowa boy was a runaway. Back then, nobody, especially authorities, thought that children could be kidnapped in the 22,000 population of Des Moines, Iowa. Due to this factor, a new law came into play. The law is that a missing child is treated like an missing adult. However, autorites have to wait 72 hours before declaring the child missing. They soon passed many laws to help other families trying to find missing children.The Gosch family spent most of their time looking for their son. They even advocated locally and nationally. However, their son, Johnny Gosch, has never been found, and the case went cold.
To this day, there are many conspiracy theories about what happened to Johnny Gosch. One conspiracy theory is that he was kidnapped and forced into a child-sex ring that was happening in Nebraska. Gosch’s mother believed this theory because she received pictures of a man tied up in a basement. From the picture, nobody could tell if it was truly Johnny or not. Another conspiracy theory is that the White House Reporter Jeff Gannon is Johnny Gosch. The only reason people came up with this conspiracy is because they have similar political characteristics. Overall, nobody has been able to prove or not to prove any of these conspiracy theories.
In my opinion, I think that it will be rare if anyone can prove what truly happened to Johnny Gosch. Especially since only 7% of police departments have a cold case unit according to the 2016 OJP’s Bureau of Justice Statistics. I think that the police officers did not have much evidence in order to find the person who did this.That can make this cold case even tougher to solve. I also think that conspiracy theories will always be a part of this case because nobody really knows what happened to this Iowan.
Overall, Johnny Gosch’s disappearance has had a big impact on not only Iowa, but the nation. His family has pushed many laws to be put into place in order to help missing children get the right attention they need from authorities. The conspiracy theories are still alive today. However, at the end of the day, Johnny Gosch is still considered a cold case.
Links:
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Photo Link-
https://mashable.com/2016/08/07/johnny-gosch/
Questions:
1.Which conspiracy theory was most likely to happen to Johnny Gosch to you? Explain your reasoning.
2.Do you think that if authorities would have treated this as a missing child's report when Johnny Gosch’s mother reported it to authorities, he could have been found by now? Explain your reasoning.
Replies
Great topic choice and super job overall Ryleigh!
Is kinda hard to tell which conspiracy is true because there is no real evidence about what really happens so it's hard to tell but if it is true I think they should've been able to find him if they would've taken advantage of the time they had to find him.
I agree that it is hard to believe in which conspiracy theories are true or not because there is no way to prove them. However, I think the child sex ring would be way more likely because of all the bad things that go on in the world. I agree that if they would have taken advantage of the time they had when Johnny's mother reported him missing, their odds of finding him probably would have been way higher.
I think that they should have looked for him right a way then they maybe could have found him because you can do a lot in 72 hours you could have gone to meny diffent states in that time so I think that they should have tryed to find him right a way but he is more then likely dead now
I agree that if authorities went and looked for him right away, they might have been able to find him sooner. I also agree that in 72 hours, a lot can happen. Especially in missing person cases. I think we can not say for sure if he is dead or not. I think it is just an opinion or an educated guess on if you think he's alive or not. I would like to think he is alive, but who really knows.
I don't know which conspiracy theory I would think is true, because they're just conspiracy theories meaning that there isn't enough or any evidence to back them up. he is more than likely dead at this point. I think he could have been found, because they would have immediately went looking for him, and could have possibly found him locked up in the kidnappers house.
I see how you are unsure which one to choose because they are conspiracy theories. However, the child sex one, to me, is way more likely to happen than the other conspiracy theory. I think Johnny could be dead or alive. At this point, no one really knows. I do agree that he could have been found if authorities went out and looked for him sooner.
I think that you are correct. Especially with the point of all the allegations that have come out over the past years. It would make total sense if he was kidnapped and put into a child sex ring. I also agree that who knows if the outcome would have been different if authorities treated this like a missing child's report. I also think they should have from the begining.
I think the conspiracy theory that was most likely to happen is the child-sex ring that was happening in Nebraska. To me that is what makes the most sense. There is a possibilty that he could of been found if the poilce treated it like a missing child report right away but there wasn't alot of evidence on what happend to Johnny so who really knows if they would of found him.
I agree that the conspiracy theory that was most likely to happen is the child sex ring that was happening in Nebraska. I also think it would make the most sense to what happened to him. I also agree with who really knows if they would have found him or not. There really wasn't a lot of evidence, and that makes solving cases harder than cases with more evidence.
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