IA IA - Johnny Gosch, 12, West Des Moines, 5 Sept 1982 #4

[christine2448]

Please continue here.

 

[SnowAngels]

All right....I hope we can all agree that Paul Bonacci is definitely NOT Johnny.....and neither is Jeff Gannon.

 

[youshouldveknown]

Technically, Jeff Gannon is still up in the air.

 

[Mr. E]

I suppose technically, barring a DNA test, Gannon is up in the air, but I really don't think he is Johnny. Isn't there proof that Gannon was alive and well (last name Guckert) before Johnny was even abducted? School records and whatnot...

 

[youshouldveknown]

I hadn't heard that, Mr. E. I don't think he's Johnny either. But I do find his stipulations of taking a DNA test to be quite odd.

 

[Mr. E]

I couldn't link you to the direct evidence eliminating Gannon, but I recall reading it somewhere. Maybe someone else has got the evidence.

I always thought Gannon's hemming and hawing was just his way of staying in the media's eye. Also, there is the cost of DNA testing. Was the Johnny Gosch Foundation willing to pay for it?

 

[Chicken Hawk]

I remember reading the same thing Mr. E about Gannon, that there were school records for him after Johnny was abducted. I can't remember where I read about it though.

 

[youshouldveknown]

Noreen was willing to pay for it. I believe you, in regards to the evidence. No need to link me

 

[Dr. Doogie]

Here is an update concerning the composite now associated with both the Gosch and Garecht cases:

This info has been passed on to the Hayward investigator in charge of the Garecht case. There has been an alleged identification of the man in the composite based on a tipster involved with the Gosch case including a name. I have researched this man and he was in Omaha, NE when Johnny was kidnapped in 1982 and was in CA when Michaela was kidnapped in 1988. He also had a vehicle that seems to match the car seen in the Garecht kidnapping.

That being said, he also has no known criminal record or any indication of being a predator. On the surface, he seems to be just an average guy living a middle-class suburban life. Something may lie underneath that surface, but I have yet to find it.

I have not heard anything back from Hayward LE - probably because there was a new investigator assigned to the case recently and he is trying to clear several filing cabinets worth of tips that have remained unchecked for decades. This tip was probably just tossed into that same pile to be looked at once earlier tips have been exhausted.

Meanwhile, I continue to try to follow this lead. There are three men who have first-hand knowledge of this case (or, at least, claim to): Paul Bonacci, Jimmy Gibson and David Shurter. Paul supplied the first name for the composite, David supplied the last name given to LE and Jimmy has supplied a different last name. I have had varying degrees of contact with all three men and am attempting to verify and reconcile the conflicting information.

By the way: both Paul and Jimmy claim to have been in regular and recent contact with a very-much-alive Johnny Gosch. If this is true, then Johnny may ultimately be the one to solve his own disappearance.

 

[thefragile7393]

Fascinating. Very fascinating. I'm not sure what to make of it at all.....unless this person has somehow managed to stay under the radar with the crimes. I look forward to more updates. Incidentally, Dr. D, did you say you were in contact with someone who claimed to be Johnny, in thread 3?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

...Dr. D, did you say you were in contact with someone who claimed to be Johnny, in thread 3?

No, I don't recall the specific post, but I probably said that I was in contact with someone who claims to have been in contact with Johnny. I was referring to one of the men mentioned above.

 

[thefragile7393]

I found the post here http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3099417&postcount=509 that I was thinking of and you are correct, my memory was bad. Can't wait for more developments!

Incidentally, I was remembering some years ago on either Oprah or Montel Williams the whole show was dedicated to a young man (late teens, early 20's) who was lured into a pedo ring via the internet..at the time he was in his early teens I believe. A detective managed to help get him out and he and the detective were on the show (whichever it was) to get the word out to parents to be careful with their children and the internet. He was helping the police identify some children/teens that were in confiscated pictures and naming names to the authourities. It wasn't very long ago, sometime in the 2000's. He was on without any disguises or anything to hide his identity. He did say he had recieved death threats. I guess my point is that it seems now likely that something like this very well could have happened to Johnny.

 

[Mr. E]

Dr. Doogie, does the Tony you are investing have two brothers named Emilio and Michael?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

There definitely is a Michael who is a brother or maybe a cousin. The existence of Emilio is less definite. There does not appear to be an Emilio listed anywhere on the Internet with the same last name. It has been claimed that investigators for the JG Foundation had found where all three brothers were mentioned as alumni of an elementary school, but that it was removed shortly after they saw it. I personally did not see it so I cannot confirm the correctness of this report.

What I do know is that every reference of a person's existence cannot be removed from every possible source. For example, a person could theoritically deleted from Classmates.com, but it would be nearly impossible to hunt down every high school yearbook that every alumni of that school that might mention a person. It is believed that Emilio died a few years ago, but older references to him must exist out there somewhere.

 

[Mr. E]

I've heard a rumor that 2009 is the year that Johnny will choose to surface. Why this would be the magic year, I don't know. Would any of those who claim to know a very-much-alive Johnny have any inside knowledge to verify or dispel this rumor?

 

[SnowAngels]

I've heard a rumor that 2009 is the year that Johnny will choose to surface. Why this would be the magic year, I don't know. Would any of those who claim to know a very-much-alive Johnny have any inside knowledge to verify or dispel this rumor?

I'm not sure about that.....but apparently Paul Bonacci posts on the FranklineFiles website...and says he knows for a fact Johnny is alive. Very intriguing.

I have to say, I am starting to think he is indeed alive.

 

[wanttohelp]

I found the post here http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3099417&postcount=509 that I was thinking of and you are correct, my memory was bad. Can't wait for more developments!

Incidentally, I was remembering some years ago on either Oprah or Montel Williams the whole show was dedicated to a young man (late teens, early 20's) who was lured into a pedo ring via the internet..at the time he was in his early teens I believe. A detective managed to help get him out and he and the detective were on the show (whichever it was) to get the word out to parents to be careful with their children and the internet. He was helping the police identify some children/teens that were in confiscated pictures and naming names to the authourities. It wasn't very long ago, sometime in the 2000's. He was on without any disguises or anything to hide his identity. He did say he had recieved death threats. I guess my point is that it seems now likely that something like this very well could have happened to Johnny.

I remember this! It was awhile ago and Im pretty sure it was Oprah.

 

[Mr. E]

I'm not sure about that.....but apparently Paul Bonacci posts on the FranklineFiles website...and says he knows for a fact Johnny is alive. Very intriguing.

I have to say, I am starting to think he is indeed alive.

If he is alive, I don't understand why he is in hiding. Paul Bonacci was a part of the same ring, he claims, and he is not in hiding.

I suppose the fact that Johnny Gosch is such a high-profile abduction means that his existence would blow the whole thing wide open. If what is being said is even close to being true, I imagine there are many who would want to be sure that Johnny did not come forward.

However, wouldn't the perpetrators be elderly or dead by now? These events happened in the 80s. How much of a threat could they be?

 

[Dr. Doogie]

One of the things that I would like to accomplish is to make direct contact with Johnny (or John, as I understand he prefers to be called) and to find out exactly why he has chosen to stay hidden and what would it take for him to come "above ground". My understanding through second-hand sources is that he wants to avoid the circus that his reappearance would undoubtably cause. I would like to hear his exact concerns and to see if they can be addressed in a manner that would allow him to resrface.

 

[JusticeForAll]

What about Eugene Martin and Marc James Warren-Allen also missing from Des Moines? Doesn't seem more likely a serial pedophile was involved in all the cases?