Gosch and more

As you probably know, Noreen Gosch, mother of Johnny Gosch -- the Des Moines paperboy kidnapped in 1982 -- received a disturbing package which re-awakened the lingering mystery. The photos depict Gosch (on the right) bound and gagged; one of the photos shows him with two unidentified youngsters, while the other -- it is thought -- shows a mark, possibly a brand, on one arm, near the shoulder.

At first, I did not want to reproduce these disturbing images here, but Noreen Gosch has done so on her site, probably in the hope that someone might recognise the other boys. She says that the first photo depicts her son wearing the clothing he wore on the day of his disappearance. I see no immediate signs of fakery in either photo, although I'd like to have a better view of the shadow behind the head in the black-and-white picture. (There seems to be a shadow on the wall but not on the sheet; a more detailed reproduction might resolve this issue.)

Huff's Crime Blog offers this quote from the AP account:

The boy is wearing the same sweatpants Johnny was wearing when he disappeared while delivering newspapers on the morning of Sept. 5, 1982, his mother said...

But are those actually sweatpants? See here.

Why would the perpetrator -- or someone else with inside knowledge of the crime -- make these images available now? An older description of Johnny's clothing held that he wore a "white sweatshirt with Kim’s Academy imprinted on the back, warm-up pants and blue rubber thong sandals." I can visualize a youngster wearing a sweatshirt over a football jersey or a t-shirt, but what 12-year-old would wear thick white socks with rubber thongs? (They look like socks to me, although some might see them as white tennis shoes.)

And why would the perpetrator buy a darker pair of sweat pants for him for the second photo?

For years, the Gosch kidnapping has been linked to long-standing rumors of high-level pedophile rings serving what some call, rather too vaguely, "the elite." The evidence in favor of this proposition remains inconclusive. Noreen Gosch testifies that she received an 1997 visit by a man claiming to be her son, accompanied by an unidentified individual. He said that he had been targeted and had spent ten years as a sex slave, and that he was now permanently in hiding. I do not doubt that she met a man who made such claims, but the example of the Tichborne claimant and other impostures forces us to take a cautious attitude. (Oddly, Noreen did not tell Johnny's father about this 1997 encounter.)

Gosch was also linked to the Franklin Case, based on the testimony on Paul Bonacci and the "investigations" of the notorious Ted Gunderson. I will not go into the Franklin imbroglio here, except to say that I cannot accept the word of Bonacci, who was influenced by a conspiracy-addicted right-wing minister. Although I suspect that something terrible did happen to him, many sufferers from Dissociative Identity Disorder -- as perhaps doc elsewhere may be able to confirm -- cannot distinguish between personal experience and the imagined. (Yes, I've read De Camp's book. Yes, I know about the judgment; see here for the truth about that case. Yes, I've seen Conspiracy of Silence. I have also spoken at length with an investigator who worked on that film, who showed me documentation you probably don't know about.)

What, then, to make of the current development in the Gosch case?

Those of a conspiratorial turn of mind have already latched onto two incompatible scenarios:

1. "They" (with a capital T) released this photo to distract everyone from larger political issues, such as the upcoming attack on Iran.

2. Someone who knows about the alleged child prostitution rings is manipulating "Them" by dribbling out pieces of the truth. Perhaps this "someone" is doing so in order to stop the bad guys from doing something really bad -- like attacking Iran.

Oddly, the John Mark Karr case fits into both scenarios. The link to scenario 1 should be obvious. As for the second possibility, take another look at what I consider the most haunting words ever uttered by the puzzling Mr. Karr:

"I may or may not have ever been to her grave, I may or may have not ever been to her house."

"Maybe that person who did that ... thinks it's important that someone confesses... And he's chosen that other person to do that in his place ..."

Karr did not make this statement after his story fell apart. He said those words well before he became known to the public, in recorded interviews with former confidant Wendy Hutchens.

Coincidentally or otherwise, violent pedophilia -- and the rumors which have always surrounded such crimes -- have twice commanded the public's attention in the same month. Not long ago, similar stories made a huge splash in Mexico. Perhaps a big break is imminent in this country.

Nota bene: The new Gosch photos have also revived interest in the alleged Gosch/Guckert/Gannon connection, which is one of those unkillable memes.

The loopy theory that Johnny Gosch became "Jeff Gannon" was disproved some time ago. The ages don't match (Guckert is roughly a dozen years older), and a high school yearbook proves that Gannon/Guckert went to high school -- as Johnny Gosch probably did not -- and really is the age he claims to be. You can see here the whole story of how the yearbook evidence was uncovered. (Warning: You'll have to make your way through several very long threads.)

Not that mere proof will deter anyone who is determined to keep the Gosch-2-Guckert legend alive. As the Crime Blog puts it,

This is where I predict that I will receive at least one rather heated comment or e-mail arguing all the reasons Guckert is Gosch, because people really love their delusions, especially if political agendas are bound up in the fabric of those delusions. Go ahead and call me a tool of the vast right-wing conspiracy, if you wish — the Gosch/Guckert thing is a load of bull.