Mom gets photos of son missing for 24 years

[mountainvue]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/01/missing.boy.photos.ap/index.html

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- 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 September 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.

(snip)

[Ezlivin]

1. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2030825

[bananas]

3. NB: That was in GD and didn't have the CNN link. nt

[Ezlivin]

11. Okay

Not that I'm going to have self-esteem issues over this or anything.

[bananas]

13. I didn't want a moderator to move it.

I saw that happen once. :)

[bananas]

2. self-delete

meant to reply to "dupe"

[yurbud]

4. weird. Is it Jeff Gannon? Maybe it's a message to Bushies--we'll air

your dirty laundry if you go too far.

[Samurai_Writer]

5. Jeff Gannon is too told to be this boy

This boy is 12 years old in 1982, which would make him 36. Jeff Gannon is in his mid-40s.

[Lenore]

6. Actually,

There is a lot of speculation concerning a Gosch/Gannon connection...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Gosch+gannon

[yurbud]

8. gannon could be that young

[bananas]

7. The photo is on the other thread.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2030825&mesg_id=2031075

[Gin]

9. what is the Gannon connection? I hope they catch the SOB.....

how unbelievably cruel..

[Divine Discontent]

16. Gannon/Gosch?

Ex-FBI Gunderson: Gannon is Gosch
Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Ted Gunderson, formerly the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angles office, and for more than 25 years a private investigator, appeared on the "Mysteries of the Mind" radio program March 8 where he confirmed that he has "a credible, reliable source" that says "Jeff Gannon" is indeed kidnapped paperboy Johnny Gosch.
Gunderson claimed that "Gannon" has scar on right cheek; and Noreen Gosch has looked at the mark on "Gannon" in photographs and said it was the same as that as on her son.
Gunderson agrees with analysis on the Internet that a birthmark (Gosch's is said to be in the "shape of South America") looks to have been removed from Gannon's chest.
Gunderson said, "I think Jeff Gannon is Johnny Gosch, and I think he planned this to get even with them for screwing up his life from age 12 on." Gunderson suspects Gannon's planned book, as reported by the Russian press, "will be truthful and he will expose these people."
Later in the program, host Alex Merklinger, a long time correspondent of Mrs. Gosch, received an email from Noreen Gosch wherein she said that "Jeff Gannon" is living in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, DC and is not in hiding. She asked Gunderson's opinion of "Gannon"'s safety.
Here's the audio; Gunderson calls in about 29:40 into the program:
(Windows Media Player) | Listen here via: MP3 Stream | Listen here via: MP3 Download
http://www.total411.info/2005/03/ex-fbi-gunderson-gannon-is-gosch.html

[Raine]

10. Awful for the mother

I don't understand how people can be so cruel as to taunt the poor woman after all these years. :cry:

[Julius Civitatus]

12. That is horrible. Absolutely disturbing.

Words truly fail me. What a horrific story.

I am a very peaceful type of fellow, but whoever did that... and then brought the photos to further inflict pain on this family... whoever did that needs to fry, slowly and painfully fry.

This is one horrific tale. Monsters like that need to be removed from society.

I'm too sad and horrified to make any sense right now.

:cry:

[zreosumgame]

14. this really creeps me out too

but then I think about that one kid who wandered home after being abducted 7 years before (cannot recall the name, but a movie for TV was made about it) and wonder if this just possibly be the kid who was kidnapped trying in the only way he can to try to re-approach. Can only hope for the best no matter what I guess...

[Raine]

17. That was Steven Stayner

a very tragic story, the kidnapped boy's brother later became a serial killer...

Steven Stayner
http://origin-www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/kenneth_parnell/index.html

Cary Stayner
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/stayner/update_4.html

[LibraLiz1973]

18. Ack- that family

To have your son kidnapped and molested for YEARS
and then have him come home- and later die- must have been so traumatic.
Add to that your other son becoming a serial killer...
What the hell happened in that house that made him like that?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. Did the parents of the other children receive pictures too?

I hope they can learn something from the photos.
That poor woman...Those poor kids...

[Mabus]

19. On Noreen's website she asking for help in identifying the other two

This whole episode reminds me of BTK's tautings right before he was caught. It is so sickening and cruel. Hopefully people will recognize the other two children and the parents will be notified. But, my god, what a horrible thing to find out. Yes, my child was kept alive, bound and gagged and who knows what else.

[CornField]

20. Who are the other two?

It seems to me, if you can learn the identity of the other two, you might be another step closer into figuring out what happened. Weren't there a series of missing boys around the same time as Gosch?

[Bluzmann57]

21. If memory serves

There was a kid who was also a paperboy by the name of Martin or something like that. This kid was also from Des Moines and I don't think his abduction was ever solved either.

[Blue Gardener]

22. Eugene Martin

He was abducted after Johnny Gosch. I believe his picture is still on the website for missing and exploited chidren.

[Blue Gardener]

23. This has been such a bizarre mystery

Why leave the pictures now? If it's true that the people that abducted him have very high-level connections in Washington, is someone trying to send a message?

[Catherine Vincent]

24. Video here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2045716&mesg_id=2045716