Iowa mom gets photos of son missing 24 years

Iowa mom gets photos of son missing 24 years
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DES MOINES - The mother of a boy abducted 24 years ago said she's bewildered by two photographs left at her front door, apparently showing her son and two other children bound and gagged.

The old photos appear to show 12-year-old Johnny Gosch with his mouth gagged and his hands and feet tied. The boy is wearing the same sweatpants Johnny was wearing when he disappeared while delivering newspapers on the morning of Sept. 5, 1982, his mother said.

"It's like reliving it," Noreen Gosch said Thursday night. "But the bigger picture is, 'Why are they doing this?'

"Whoever had these photos had them for 24 years. I don't understand why they would do this now. It must be some kind of message."

Gosch said investigators confirmed the photos were authentic and likely taken within "hours or days" of the abduction. She said they were checking for fingerprints that could lead them to the source and possibly a breakthrough in a case that has long baffled authorities.

The other boys in the photo were unidentified.

"We are in the process of researching where they [the photos] came from and whether they've been doctored up," West Des Moines police Lt. Jeff Miller told the Des Moines Register.

Johnny's disappearance triggered nationwide fears of child abductions. He was one of the first faces of a missing or abducted child to appear on milk cartons across the country.

Originally published on September 2, 2006

For Background and a Poster on Johnny click Here.