I have decided to feature Doe Network missing persons cases each week. Although Forensic Writerfocuses on creative writing and forensics, I feel that the blog should also feature unresolved cases—both to help spread awareness and to promote the Doe Network’s amazing work.If you have a case you want featured, email me at forensic (dot) writer at gmail (dot) com.

This week, I want to focus on two cases in Iowa from the early 80s: Eugene Martin and John Gosch. Both boys went missing from their newspaper delivery routes in Polk County, Iowa. Gosch went missing at the age of 12 in 1982. Martin was 13 when he vanished in 1984.

Here are pictures of the two boys from the Doe Network website, including age progressions:

John David Gosch 
Missing since September 5, 1982 from West Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.

Left: Gosch, circa 1982; Right: Age-progressed to age 35 (circa 2005) source: doenetwork.org

Eugene Wade Martin 
Missing since August 12, 1984 from Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.

Right: Age-Progression to age 34 (circa 2004) source: doenetwork.org

I was just a kid when the Gosch case made headlines in Iowa. Gosch had gone missing while delivering newspapers on his regular morning route, and parents all over the state suddenly felt very squeamish about allowing their kids to sign up as newspaper delivery boys (yes, a decidedly non-gender-neutral term, but that’s how people talked in Iowa in the 1980s). My older sister wanted a paper route, but our dad promptly crushed those dreams, citing Johnny Gosch. I suppose I cannot blame him.

The Eugene Martin case seemed to confirm worries that Johnny Gosch was not an isolated incident. Innocent, sweet, safe Iowa no longer lived up to any of those images.

For some reason, though, the Johnny Gosch case cast the darkest shadows in Iowans’ psyches. I do not know why or how—maybe just because he hit the headlines first—but his case is iconic. Eugene Martin gets less coverage and recognition. However, the cases may actually be connected.

A case summary about Gosch on Iowa Cold Cases details how his mother, Noreen, has received mysterious photographs of her son in captivity (warning: images are disturbing). According to Noreen’s Johnny Gosch Foundation website, those photographs indicate that her son was taken captive by a human-trafficking ring. Forensic experts have verified that the photos are of Johnny Gosch, and evidence indicates he is still alive—but in hiding to protect his life. 

Noreen also indicates that she received a tipoff from a local private investigator about another newspaper delivery boy kidnapping that would occur. The tip said it would happen the second weekend of August 1984 in south Des Moines—the weekend and location of Eugene Martin’s disappearance. 

Take a look at these composite drawings released on Noreen’s website. Do you recognize this man? He may be involved in the Johnny Gosch kidnapping:

 Updated ten years after Johnny’s kidnapping:
 

From the Johnny Gosch foundation website: “The dark areas on his cheeks are “severe pock marks from acne scarring”. This has been consistent in the description given by all witness’s.”

Thank you to the Doe Network, Iowa Cold Cases and the Johnny Gosch Foundation for all that you do.