Johnny Gosch Photos received by Mother is a hoax and a “Terrible Prank”
At first it was believed that the photos that were left on the doorstep of Johnny Grosch’s mother were that of the missing boy. Now it looks like the matter is a hoax and a terrible sick prank.
What were believed to be new photographs of a boy kidnapped nearly 25 years ago, have turned out to be a hoax.
Johnny Gosch, 12, disappeared back in 1982 while delivering newspapers on his daily route. Authorities concluded that he had been kidnapped, although his body was never found. His photo was became one of the first of a missing child to be put on a milk carton. A couple of weeks ago, someone left a set of photographs in an envelope on the doorstep of Gosch’s mother.
(KUTV)
Police now say that the photo’s in question originally believe to be Johnny Grosch, who went missing in 1982, actually date back to the 1970’s.
Police are investigating a lead out of Florida that the pictures recently delivered to his mother’s front door date back to the 1970s. A retired investigator from the Hillsborough County sheriff’s office in Tampa says the photos of boys tied up and gagged are not Gosch. The sheriff’s office is now going through every roll of microfilm in its archives to find the police report, which has the photos attached.
(WHO TV)
Photos said not to depict missing boy
DES MOINES, Iowa – The photos of bound and gagged boys that were sent to an Iowa woman whose son disappeared 24 years ago were investigated in the late 1970s and are not her missing son, a retired Florida sheriff‘s investigators said Wednesday.
“I remember this case,” he said. “I identified the kids portrayed in the photos. It was definitely investigated by me several years prior to the disappearance of Johnny Gosch.”
Noreen Gosch posted new information on her website today at http://www.johnnygosch.com. She states that the investigator only ID’d the photo with the three boys, not the one of the single child, who she still believes is her son. There were also other pictures included in the packet, some of which she has posted, including one of a man with a ligature around his neck apparently deceased.
What’s important to remember here is that the media does like to “out-scoop” each other, and that while we may get part of the story, we often don’t get all of it. The crime lab in Iowa is still investigating the photos, and Johnny Gosch is still missing, and so is Eugene Martin, and who knows how many more?
Comment by Tia | September 15, 2006