September 5 marks 44 years since 12-year-old Johnny Gosch disappeared while delivering newspapers in West Des Moines.
Gosch was a Des Moines Register paperboy. On the morning of September 5, 1982, he left his home to deliver newspapers. His father later found Johnny’s red wagon still loaded with newspapers along his route. Johnny’s dog had also returned home without him.
A large search effort followed. Police, state authorities, sheriff’s deputies and hundreds of volunteers searched neighborhoods, fields, wooded areas and other locations for Johnny and any evidence that could lead to his whereabouts…