It is a strange and harrowing tale. I don’t know that I am ready to write my full thesis on the topic, so let me just start with this recent development in an old, disturbing case.

Johnny Gosch was delivering papers in 1982 when he was kidnapped. Noreen Gosch, his mother, has never stopped searching for what happened to him. In 1997 Johnny returned and revealed that he’d been forced into an elite, criminal pedophilia ring. He didn’t stick around to elaborate. After his disappearance, his mother continued on her indepedent investigation (after finding the FBI and local authorities both inept and dismissive she began her own).

Now, someone has sent her photos of her son, reopening old wounds and begging new questions:

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 told The Associated Press on 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.

Curious. Who would want those photos released? Maybe somebody is trying to help her out by shining a little more light on a dark, dark case.

How dark? Well, I guess you’ll have to wait. I’ll have more on the bizarre connections later.


 

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3 Responses to “Photos of missing child Johnny Gosch end up on his mom Noreen Gosch's front step 24 years later”

  1. Anonymous says:

    Sorry – but nicely fakedThe #15 shirt in the photo is a commonly available “retro” shirt I see at the local mall, and the boys have no shoes on which shows that the forgers could not find suitable “retro” shoes that had not been discolored by age – to go with the “vintage” jeans from the shots. poor quality – the only way this photo is real, is if the othe boys can be matched with known missing kids of the time. The public has continued to be duped by subjects inserting themselves into this case for benefits unknown. Sorry, but the reality is that only a few people benefit from these photos- they are designed to solve a problem of lack of attention given to the case and come at a odd time giving the ” released” kidnapped children cases we have seen in resent months worldwide.

  2. Vemrion says:

    anon: If I’m not mistaken, the photos have been authenticated. I’ve only seen one (with 3 boys bound and gagged), but apparently the other one is a b&w shot of Johnny Gosch with the same clothes he was wearing when kidnapped. If Noreen Gosch thinks it’s real, I’m inclined to agree.As for who the release of the photos helps, I think you may be right about publicity generation. But who is sending them? I tend to think that it’s some former victims who want more light shone on this matter. Certainly the fact that there are 3 kidnapped boys in that photo points to a larger conspiracy. If we’re dealing with a kidnapping ring rather than a “lone gunman” then we need to go back and have another look at this case (and probably many others).People seem to find the idea of lone nuts comforting, and the police certainly encourage this blindspot. But the reality seems to be that not all pedophile cases involve only one sicko. The fact that conspiracy may be involved should alert the media and the cops to the reality that their methods and assumptions may be quaint.

  3. yeahh. says:

    anon, you stated that if there were someone else identified, you’d be satisfied.new updates; both have been identified.one name released, the other, only a general area where he’s from.

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