Johnny Gosch was a few years older than me when he vanished back in 1982. Like many other children in the American Midwest, fears surrounding his disappearance never quite subsided.
His parents have continued to search for clues related to his disappearance over the past 37 years. Husband Mark and I watched a documentary about the Gosch case -- titled "Who Took Johnny" -- four years ago. In that movie, Noreen Gosch shared her belief that Johnny and several other boys and girls throughout the Midwest are victims of a powerful ring of pedophiles.
Noreen has also claimed that she briefly reunited with Johnny back in 1997. She says that he threatened to leave if she contacted anyone else, so she chose to stay and listen to his account of what happened before he slipped away again. Essentially, he was kidnapped, raped, and groomed for future involvement with the above-referenced ring.
West Des Moines police still treat Gosch's disappearance as an open case.