June 9, 2026

Chapter 143: The Boy on the Milk Carton-The Disappearance of Eugene Martin

Chapter 143: The Boy on the Milk Carton-The Disappearance of Eugene Martin
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On August 12, 1984, 13-year-old Eugene Wade Martin vanished while delivering newspapers in Des Moines, Iowa. Just two years earlier, another paperboy, Johnny Gosch, disappeared under eerily similar circumstances only miles away.
Despite extensive investigations, countless theories, and decades of speculation, neither boy has ever been found. In Part One of The Paper Boy Abductions, I walk you through the mysterious disappearance of Eugene Martin, the haunting parallels to Johnny Gosch's case, and the questions that continue to surround two of Iowa's most infamous unsolved child disappearances.

Anyone with information about Eugene Martin is asked to call Det. Jeff Shannon at the Des Moines Police Department at (515) 283-4864. You may also call Det. Larry Penland at (515) 237-1550.

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Alex, T. (1984, August 16). Branstad gives moral support to Martin family. The Des Moines Register, 15A.
Alex, T. (2001, September 3). Officer who investigated missing carrier retires. The Des Moines Register, 2B.
Beedle, D. (2020, September 15). Eugene Wade Martin. Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/215645180/martin
COLD CASE SPOTLIGHT: Johnny Gosch. (2015, June 11). NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/cold-case-spotlight/cold-case-spotlight-johnny-gosch-n234291
D.M. police don’t know where to search. (1984, August 19). The Des Moines Register, 1B-3B.
EUGENE WADE MARTIN | Missing Person Information Clearinghouse. (n.d.). https://missingpersons.iowa.gov/divisions/criminal-investigation/missing-persons/eugene-wade-martin
Gene didn’t run away. . .his birthday was coming. (1984, September 2). The Des Moines Register, 1A-7A.I
owa Cold Cases, Inc. (2026, March 28). Eugene Martin | Iowa Cold cases. Iowa Cold Cases. https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/eugene-martin/
Krenz, A. (2015, November 6). Eugene Martin case remains open after 31 years. weareiowa.com. https://www.weareiowa.com/article/news/local/eugene-martin-case-remains-open-after-31-years/524-02cb76a5-43bd-4297-af0d-5275df5aee9e
Mokrzycki, P. (2015). Lost in the Heartland: Childhood, Region, and Iowa’s Missing Paperboys. Annals of Iowa, 74(1), 29–69. https://doi.org/10.17077/0003-4827.12170
Santiago, F. (1997, August 27). Gosch lives, mom is told. The Des Moines Register, 2A.
Santiago, F., & Alex, T. (1994, August 22). Private eye believes Martin disappearance was planned. The Des Moines Register, 2A.
Sederstrom, J. (2024, August 22). Why don’t missing kids appear on milk cartons anymore? Oxygen. https://www.oxygen.com/the-girl-on-the-milk-carton/crime-news/why-dont-missing-kids-appear-on-milk-cartons-anymore
Short, M. (2025, June 7). Eugene Martin: 1984 Disappearance of Iowa Paperboy Still Unsolved. Medium. https://medium.com/bizarre-unsolved-cases/eugene-martin-1984-disappearance-of-iowa-paperboy-still-unsolved-27d88991a6c1
Smith, G. (1985, August 10). Eugene Martin case no closer to solution. The Cedar Rapids Gazette, 5A.
Suk, T. (1990, March 27). D.M. officers follow Martin case to Mexico. The Des Moines Register, 9.
Tauscheck, M. (2017, October 9). Eugene Martin’s brother talks about hope case will be solved. KCCI. https://www.kcci.com/article/eugene-martin-s-brother-talks-about-hope-case-will-be-solved/6923136
The Associated Press. (1985, February 10). Parents heat up search. Quad City Times, 8A.
The disappearance of Eugene Martin. (2025, April 14). Crime and Coffee Couple. https://crimeandcoffeecouple.wordpress.com/2024/07/11/the-disappearance-of-eugene-martin/
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NAMUS). (n.d.). NamUs.gov. https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/6348?nav
VanBaale, K. W. (2025, September 22). The Legacy of the Paperboy Abductions | A&E. AETV. https://www.aetv.com/articles/paperboy-abductions-milk-carton

If you enjoyed the episode, consider leaving a review or rating! It helps more than you know!
If you have a case suggestion, or want attention brought to a loved one's case, email me at bookofthedeadpod@gmail.com with Case Suggestion in the subject line.

Stay safe, stay curious, and stay vigilant.
WEBVTT

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Every story has a beginning, but not everyone has an ending.

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In the shadows of headlines and buried police reports lay

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the voices of the missing, the murdered, and the forgotten,

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waiting to be heard and have their stories told. This

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is The Book of the Dead, a true crime podcast

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where we remember forgotten victims of heinous crimes, reopen cold cases,

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re visit haunting disappearances, and uncover the truths buried beneath

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the years of silence. I'm your host, Courtney Liso, and

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every week we turn to another chapter, one victim, one mystery,

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one step closer to justice. Brought to you by Darkast

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Network INDEP Podcasts with the Twist. Hello, Hello, Welcome to

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the next chapter in the Book of the Dead. Back

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in January, I covered the murder of Kurn Perry, a

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seventeen year old woman from Creston, Iowa, who had seemingly

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vanished from her local laundromat, and after nineteen long months

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of searching, her remains were finally found. While the Perrys

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were ultimately able to bury their daughter, the mystery of

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what happened the night she disappeared and the person responsible

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for her death has never been solved. However, as I

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said when I originally covered her story, Karin was not

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the only person under the age of eighteen to go

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missing from Iowa in the nineteen eighties. Before Krinn came

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two other teens newspaper delivery boys who vanished while on

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their routes in Des Moines. Two years apart. These boys

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have never been found. And today I'll tell you about

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another one of Iowa's missing children and of his family

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still waiting for answers. Decades later, while Iowan's were still

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reeling over the loss of Johnny Gosh, who was the

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catalyst for what many referred to as Iowa's loss of innocence,

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According to an article for the Annals of Iowa written

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by Paul mccriskey, the loss of a second young boy

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altered the identity of how the rest of the country

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saw this Midwestern state. Gone was its feeling of americanness

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and normalcy, and in its place were political arguments about

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what challenged the typical view of a traditional American family

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and the potential dangers lurking in the shadows. This is

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the disappearance of Eugene Martin. Eugene Wade Martin was born

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on August seventeenth, nineteen seventy to Janie and Donald Martin

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in Des Moines, Iowa. He was the youngest of five children,

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and his brother Mike Delaca fondly remembered Eugene as a

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quote very shy, caring child. According to an article for KCCI,

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like any typical young boy, Eugene loved playing football, watching TV, fishing, skating,

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and playing video games. When Eugene was around eleven or

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twelve years old, Janis and Don divorced, according to an

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article for the Des Moines Register, and Janie began working

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as a bartender at the Sunrise Tap located at East

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forty second Street in Easton Boulevard in order to support

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her children. Don would soon remarry a woman named Sue,

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and they lived in a home in South Des Moines

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with her children. Eugene would spend the school year with

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his mother, and then in the summer he would spend

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time with his father. In the summer of nineteen eighty four,

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Eugene was staying with en Sue, and he had started

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working as a paper boy for the Des Moines Register

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along with his older stepbrother just a few months before.

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While approximately eight hundred people work on the paper between writing, editing,

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producing and selling ads for it, its readers relying on

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their seven thousand or so carriers to deliver it. Some

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of those carriers were as young as ten years old,

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and it was an easy way for boys and girls

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to make money. For decades, this system having neighborhood children

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deliver the papers worked very well, but then a young boy,

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Johnny Gosh, disappeared in nineteen eighty two. Of course, parents

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were scared for their children's safety, but by the time

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Eugene began his own route, adults were breathing a little easier,

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that initial fear starting to dissipate. That August, the Iowa

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State Fair was in town, and Eugene was saving up

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money for it. He was looking forward to all the

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fun he would have, and even more excited for all

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the things he could buy with his hard earned money.

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On August twelfth, nineteen eighty four, just five days before

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his fourteenth birthday, Eugene woke up and got ready for work,

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putting on a pair of blue jeans and a gray

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cutoff shirt with white stripes and red sleeves. He left

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the house at approximately five am, according to Iowa Coldcases

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dot Org, but this time, he was heading to work

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without his stepbrother. According to reports, his stepbrother was staying

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at a friend's house the night before, and Eugene, eager

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to make money for the Fair and Ever the reliable worker,

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had it out alone to make his deliveries. At about

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five fifteen am, Eugene picked up his newspapers from the

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delivery driver at the pickup spot on Southwest fourteenth Street

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in Highvee Drive. As he sat on the corner, folding

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his papers and putting them in his bag, he was

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seen by various people chatting to a man believed to

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be in his thirties. The conversation seemed friendly or even

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perhaps a conversation between a father and son. Don Martin

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was thirty eight years old himself at the time, and

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the man was described as Caucasian and clink cut. This

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conversation was believed to have been witnessed between five thirty

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and around six am. Janis Martin had had a long

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shift at Sunrise Tap the night before. She closed down

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the bar and finally managed to get to bed by

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three am, But just four hours later, at around seven

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on August twelfth, Janis was startled awake by a phone

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call from her sister in law, Linda. According to Linda,

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Eugene had disappeared on his paper route. Janie disoriented, remember

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needing a moment to process what Linda was saying. According

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to the Des Moines Register, she said, quote, it took

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a couple of seconds for it to connect. I knew

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he didn't run away. I talked to him that Tuesday.

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His birthday was coming up, and he told me he

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wanted a ghetto blaster like his brothers. According to Iowa

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coldcase dot Org, when customers failed to receive their morning paper,

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they called in to report it at around six fifteen,

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and the route manager headed to the pickup spot, thinking

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that perhaps Eugene had simply overslept. When he arrived, on

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the ground was Eugene's delivery bag with ten folded newspapers inside,

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but Eugene was nowhere to be found. The manager took

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the newspapers and delivered them himself before calling Don Martin

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to inform him that his son appeared to be missing.

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That fear that plagued the neighborhood after the disappearance of Johnny.

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Gosh came rushing back, and Don immediately went out to

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look for his son. After no trace could be found.

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After over an hour of searching, he called the police

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and reported Eugene missing at eight forty am. One of

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the biggest surprises to the Martin family was how quickly

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the police and even the community responded in the wake

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of Eugene going missing. When Johnny Gosh disappeared, investigators initially

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believed he was a runaway, and a proper investigation was

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not conducted until the chances of finding him had completely dwindled,

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much to the Gosh desire. That was not the case

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with Eugene, though, as the South de Woine police were

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not willing to make the same mistake. According to the

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Des Moines Register, Don said that their street was flooded

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with police cars who had rapidly responded to the call

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of a missing team, and their neighbors were just as

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quick to act. Someone living across the street from Don

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and Sioux arranged to have posters printed with Eugene's picture

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and description and had gathered a group of people to

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post them all over town. Within five hours of the

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report being made missing persons, flyers had gone up in

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grocery stores, gas stations, and even the airport, and a

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printer in the area had even provided thousands more copies

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to distribute, much to the mares very grateful surprise. They

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didn't even know most of these people, but the community

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had rallied to help them find their son. Part of

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the quick response came from the eerie similarities between Johnny

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Gosh's disappearance in Eugene Martin's. While we will eventually go

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into detail in a future episode about Johnny's case, it's

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impossible to mention Eugene's without briefly discussing it. On September fifth,

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nineteen eighty two, in West des Moines, just seven miles

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from where Eugene vanished, twelve year old Johnny Gosh grabbed

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his red wagon and his beloved dog, Wretchen, and set

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out to pick up his own copies of the Sunday

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edition of the Des Moines Register, just as Eugene would do.

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Two years later, he was seen at five point forty

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five am folding his papers with another boy and the

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two gate directions to a motorist riding by. A bit later,

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the same boy saw Johnny across the street speaking to

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a man, but this boy wasn't sure if it was

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the motorists they had spoken to, earlier, as in Eugene's case,

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when his customers failed to receive their morning papers, they

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reported it and Johnny's father was called. John Gosh set

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out to look for his son and soon came across

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Johnny's wagon with nine folded papers inside, abandoned on the

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corner where he had received them. Johnny and Gretchen, though,

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were nowhere to be found. While Gretchen would ultimately return home,

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she arrived with au Johnny, and he was reported missing

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by his mother, Noreen, at eight forty am. Because of

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these glaring similarities, the police immediately theorized that Eugene and

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Johnny's cases were connected, which helped prompt the very rapid response.

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Nourine and John Gosh were a huge source of support

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for the Martins, especially in the beginning of the investigation.

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They offered advice and help, creating a sense of stability

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for the Martins in the wake of the chaos that

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their lives had turned into. Also offering support was Governor

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Terry brind Hanstead, who told the Martins he had a

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personal interest in the case. According to the Des Moines Register,

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he told the Martins in a meeting quote, there is

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a substantial amount of information being pieced together, investigators are

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satisfied that under the circumstances, the investigation is going well.

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In the meeting, the Martins expressed praise for the Des

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Moines Police, but also made concerns known to the governor. Quote,

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my main concern is that we get some hints from

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you to get somebody to help us find our child.

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If somebody isn't doing something we want to say, do that.

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I don't want to have to hire a lawyer and

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a private investigator unless I have to. Responding just as

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quickly to aid in the investigation was the FBI, who

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agreed that the possibility of a connection between both boys

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disappearances was likely, as investigators canvassed the area and received

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witness statements about the man Eugene had been speaking to.

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A nationwide bulletin went out for people to be on

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the lookout for a man between the ages of thirty

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to forty years old, five foot nine inches tall, clean shaven,

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and with a medium build. Herb Hawkins, a Special Agent

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in charge of the Nebraska Iowa FBI Field Office, said

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of the potential suspect, according to Iowa cold case quote,

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generally the person is an introvert, a loner who may

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or may not be extra guilt ridden on what he does,

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but will not turn himself in. Officer James Rowley, one

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of the first officers on the scene when Eugene was

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reported missing, remembered roadblocks and all points bulletins going up immediately.

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He told A and E quote a lot of shoe

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leather went into the canvases because his then lieutenant didn't

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want another West of Wine deal with the botched investigation.

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As police continued to canvass the area, there received reports

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that a green car had been seen idling on the

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street where Egiene had last been seen. The driver was

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Caucasian with short, dark hair and in his twenties or thirties,

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and he was believed to have been the same man

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that had been spotted following some young girls earlier. However,

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this man was tracked down and explained to police that

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he was dropping his wife off at work, a story

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that turned out to be true. Six days after Eugene disappeared,

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the Des Moines Police Department asked for community volunteers to

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search for the missing teen in a field of seven

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foot tall stocks of corns south of Ankenny. According to

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the Des Moines Register Police were sent out to search

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from midnight to three thirty am that same day on

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the alleged advice of a psychic, and they were in

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desperate need of assistance to cover more ground. The psychic,

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according to Dawn, claimed that quote, he could be found

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north of Inner State eighty near Highway one seventeen. She

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mentioned something about a Holland windmill. The psychic claimed that

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Eugene was alive, but he was thirsty and badly beaten.

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One of the thirty five volunteers was a sixty five

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year old Stanley C. Johnson, a retired insurance salesman, who

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expressed regrets that he had enjoined the search for Johnny Gosh,

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but also expressed his despair that another child had gone

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missing from the community. Quote, the fact that this has

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happened again makes you even more concerned. We've been prying

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for them, but sometimes prying is not enough. We need

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to pitch in. Sometimes I'm not very good at expressing

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myself when it comes to something like this, but that's

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the way I feel. Well. Nothing a value was found

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to aid in the investigation. Assistance in the search for

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Eugene and even Johnny Gosh, whose disappearance was thrust back

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into the spotlight in the wake of Eugene's vanishing, was

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not localized to Des Moines or even Iowa. Two hundred

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and fifty miles away. In Palmira, Missouri, a chief of

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the volunteer fire Department, Corbyn Jacobs, requested missing persons fliers

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of both boys that they plastered all over western Illinois

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and eastern Missouri. During the search, two investigators who specialized

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in finding missing children came forward and and said that

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they believed that the abduction of both Eugene and Johnny

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was likely planned. Dennis Wheelan, a private investigator who had

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been previously hired by the Goshes, told the Des Moines Register, quote,

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my guess is that these kids were staked out and

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put under surveillance. The person who did it knew them,

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and I think it's a person within the community. Jay Howell,

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executive director for the Center for Missing and Exploited Children,

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agreed that this was likely a calculated attack. Quote to me,

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the cases suggests more of a plan. It's a lot

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less spontaneous than the public situations at carnivals and shopping

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centers where children had been abducted. Whalen also speculated that

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the perpetrator had possibly disguised themselves in some way, perhaps

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dressing as a police officer or a member of the

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newspaper to gain the boys trust. Investigators did go through

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names of the employees of the Des Moines Register, and

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while a few names had stuck out and were followed

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up on, thing panned out. Around the same time, Sue

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claimed to the Des Moines Register that a representative of Springfield,

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Virginia's Children in Distress, Paul Bishop, called her to inform

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her that Eugene had been spotted in Gallup, New Mexico.

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Paul had allegedly heard this information from a woman and

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was sending out private investigators to look for Eugene in

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the New Mexico and Arizona area. According to Paul Bishop,

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Eugene had been spotted in a dark green nineteen seventy

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eight Plymouth fury with Arizona license plate, and the first

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letter of the plate was a While De Wine Police

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sergeant Bill Mullen said that they would investigate thoroughly. Gallup

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Police spokesperson Daniel Bowman told the Register that no one

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at the department had been contacted about this alleged sighting. Now,

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while the investigation had kicked off immediately and tips were

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flooding in, none of the leaves panned out, and Eugene

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nor the man he had been speaking to were found.

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Don and Sue were warned that things would be emotionally

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crazy for a long time, with many highs and lows,

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and according to the Des Moines Register, their first taste

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of the emotional crash came when, just two weeks after

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Eugene disappeared, his name started fading out of the papers.

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Sue said, quote, it's been two weeks and you've already

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written him off. Janie herself was dealing with the anger

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of community members who seemed to blame her for her

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son's disappearance. She said, quote, I've had six or seven

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calls saying things like if Jean had been home where

279
00:17:34.839 --> 00:17:39.279
he belongs, he'd be here today. Everyone has their theories,

280
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but no call to hard facts. I guess you could

281
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say there is no trace. I wonder where he's at,

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what he's doing, whether he's asking for me and his dad.

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Three weeks into the investigation, the Des Moines City Council

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voted to contribute twenty five thousand dollars to the reward

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fund for Eugene and Johnny, pushing the total to one

286
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hundred and eleven thousand dollars. There were also various changes

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in the community as well. The Martins, who had received

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endless support from the Goshas, had begun locking their doors

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at night, something they had never felt the need to

290
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do before. Sue's sixteen year old son was also given

291
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a very strict curfew of ten pm, when prior to

292
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his stepbrother's disappearance, he had spent many late nights running

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around town. The Des Moines Register was also looking at

294
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making changes in an effort to boose safety for their

295
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young couriers. Eight top executives of the newspaper were meeting

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every other day to stay up to date on Eugene's

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investigation and to determine if changes needed to be made

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in how they operated. The paper's publisher, Gary Gurlock, said

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that he had received many letters from readers saying that

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the job was too dangerous for children to do, but

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other adults quote view it as a very valuable experience

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for their kids. I would have no hesitancy in sending

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my own children out on any route in Des Moines

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with proper supervision and proper training. The Des Moines Register

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editor James Gannon said, carrying newspapers is quote a really

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American tradition sort of thing. So many people have done

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it as youths, or have kids who do it or

308
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did it. It's kind of an introduction to the world

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of capitalism and work. It's the violation that makes people

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so angry. Gannon himself was furious about the target that

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had seemingly bloomed over his beloved Midwestern community, and he

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was not shy about voicing this rage in an editorial

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quoted in the Annals of Iowa. Quote, somebody has singled

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out to Moine, Iowa for a special brand of terror.

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Here in the normally safe and sane heartland of Middle America,

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where a clean living, neighborliness and a sense of security

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are supposed to prevail, a sinister shadow darkens our doorways,

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in our lives. These incidents raised questions that violate everything

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we hold dear about living in this comfortable, contented community.

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Is it no longer saved to let our youngsters walk

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our neighborhood streets? Will Des Moine as if it were

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Detroit or Newark or Chicago? Shut itself behind closed doors

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and seed the streets to the shadowy threat of terror.

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This sentiment was echoed by countless people who wrote in

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to voice their opinion in the quote paperboy disappearances, likening

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the cases to acts of terrorism that had, in their view,

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altered the nation's opinion of the Midwest in a profoundly

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negative way. In an effort to keep their children safe,

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the neighborhood watch programs that had cropped up in the

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sixties had our resurgence. According to the Annals of Iowa,

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President Ronald Reagan stated that by September of eighty four,

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just a few weeks after Eugene disappeared quote, each of

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Iyah's ninety nine counties had established a crime prevention citizens

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Watch program, which he praised as an accomplishment that few

335
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states can match. Also started that September, in part with

336
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the help of the God was the program's Stranger Danger

337
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:08.240
initiated by the Iowa State Patrol. This initiative included a

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discussion for children with a patrol officer, a film emphasizing

339
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the dangers of speaking to strangers, as well as a

340
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wallet sized card with safety tips. Started the month after

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00:21:19.640 --> 00:21:22.799
by the Johnston Police Department was a similar program called

342
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Operation Kids, and the Des Moines Register used advertising space

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to help her new interest in their Hope program. To

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keep their couriers safe, they also printed reminders for subscribers

345
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to leap a porch light on to light the wave

346
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for their carriers. One of the more well known initiatives

347
00:21:40.839 --> 00:21:43.759
to be started in the weeks after Eugene disappeared was

348
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the Missing Children Milk carton program, though it wasn't called

349
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that initially. Originally, Eugene and Johnny's pictures were printed along

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with the reward information on paper bags used in a

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00:21:55.359 --> 00:21:59.519
Des Moines grocery store. Then, after a suggestion was made

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by a friend Kine of the Martin family who worked

353
00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:05.759
for the Anderson Erickson Dairy Company, their pictures were printed

354
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along with short bios on their half gallon milk cartons.

355
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The following week, according to A and E, another dairy

356
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company in Des Moines began printing the images on their

357
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milk cartons, and soon companies across Illinois and California followed suit.

358
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By January of nineteen eighty five, it was a nationwide

359
00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:33.359
program initiated by the National Child Safety Council. A precursor

360
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:36.160
to the more effective Amber Alert. The faces and the

361
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:39.160
milk cartons faded out in the late eighties as companies

362
00:22:39.200 --> 00:22:43.440
transitioned to plastic milk jugs. The program was also phased

363
00:22:43.480 --> 00:22:48.039
out because, while at least marginally helpful, the slow distribution

364
00:22:48.160 --> 00:22:50.799
process meant that it took far longer for news of

365
00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:55.079
missing children to land on the shelves. Of course, there

366
00:22:55.119 --> 00:22:57.680
were other reasons for the program to be shelved, like

367
00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:00.359
some believing it was frightening for children to see these

368
00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:03.960
images of missing peers. But while it was active, it

369
00:23:04.039 --> 00:23:05.920
was a pivotal way for the word to get out

370
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about missing children, for the public to be on the lookout.

371
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For a year on, even after countless tips came in

372
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and searches were conducted, the police were no closer to

373
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finding Eugene. By this point, the tips that it seemed

374
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:23.519
almost endless, had dried up and there was no information

375
00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:26.279
coming in that could point investigators in the right direction.

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Des Moin Police sergeant Jim Toma told the Cita Rapids

377
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Gazec quote, We're no closer now than a year ago.

378
00:23:33.640 --> 00:23:37.880
We get reports of sightings, it's basically a standstill. There's

379
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nothing developing. Additionally, while it was so widely speculated that

380
00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.640
Johnny and Eugene's cases were connected in some way, authorities

381
00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:50.000
were unable to establish a link to the two boys.

382
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The Martins, by this point were rarely leaving the house,

383
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worried about missing a possible call from the police that

384
00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.160
Eugene had been found, or even a call from Eugene himself.

385
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:03.880
Don said, quote, we used to go out every weekend,

386
00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:06.160
but now if we go out, we come right back

387
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to be by the phone. I do think he's alive somewhere,

388
00:24:09.880 --> 00:24:13.279
mainly because we haven't heard otherwise. I want to believe

389
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he's alive and coming home. I'm just sitting back, hoping

390
00:24:16.680 --> 00:24:20.240
and praying. While it had been a year of disappointments

391
00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:23.119
and longing, that's not to say that things hadn't been happening.

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Don and Sue had hired a private investigator to look

393
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for Eugene, a former police officer, but they would ultimately

394
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fire him for failing to turn up leeds and for

395
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:36.680
how expensive his services were. If you listen to my

396
00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:39.480
copverage on carin Perry. This was a common fear that

397
00:24:39.640 --> 00:24:42.319
various organizations had when it came to aiding in the

398
00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:47.759
search of missing children. While private investigators could absolutely be helpful,

399
00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.400
there was no telling if it would ultimately be a

400
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:53.359
waste of resources that could be put to use elsewhere,

401
00:24:54.079 --> 00:24:56.960
as well as an additional source of heartbreak for family members.

402
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The few tips that had trickled down and led police nowhere.

403
00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:04.799
Eugene had allegedly been seen in Seattle in a red

404
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.759
Mercury marquee with a man and woman. He had been

405
00:25:07.799 --> 00:25:13.079
seen in Tucson with another boy. Nothing panned out, unfortunately,

406
00:25:13.440 --> 00:25:17.400
like the Goshes. After constant disappointment, the Martins were vocal

407
00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:21.039
about their displeasure with the police. Sue told the Cedar

408
00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:24.160
Rapids Gazek quote, they're no farther along than day one

409
00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:29.200
as far as we're concerned. They're not even looking down.

410
00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:32.039
For his part, believed that even the FBI wasn't taking

411
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:36.119
tips that were coming in seriously, an accusation vehemently refuted

412
00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:40.359
by FBI spokesperson Charles Wiley. Quote, we have sightings of

413
00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:43.799
Martin and Gosh almost on a daily basis. We run

414
00:25:43.839 --> 00:25:46.799
those down with every available man power and woman power

415
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:49.599
to make sure it doesn't check out. We would like

416
00:25:49.640 --> 00:25:52.599
to find young Martin as well as Gosh whenever you

417
00:25:52.599 --> 00:25:55.720
get information, no matter how nebulous, we run it down.

418
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Sue in particular, was critical when the Wine police were

419
00:26:00.279 --> 00:26:03.400
seemingly reluctant to follow a tip given by a psychic

420
00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:07.559
that even the Martins believed is very credible. Sue went

421
00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:11.640
to Carlisle, where the psychic indicated herself, but found nothing

422
00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:16.079
there of the psychic's tip and assistance from them in general.

423
00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:19.000
She told the Quad City Times quote, a lot of

424
00:26:19.039 --> 00:26:22.160
people just don't believe in psychic leads, but we believed

425
00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:25.359
those should be followed up. As the years passed, the

426
00:26:25.400 --> 00:26:29.160
Martins worked tirelessly to find Eugene, raising money to try

427
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:30.799
and keep his name in the news and keep the

428
00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:35.960
public interested in his case. While investigators were still actively searching,

429
00:26:36.119 --> 00:26:38.279
the tips and leads had dried up and nothing was

430
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:42.720
coming in that could aid in the investigation. In nineteen ninety,

431
00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:45.559
a cousin of Eugene's was vacationing in Cancoon when she

432
00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:48.200
spotted a young man that looked like the missing boy,

433
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:50.680
who would have been twenty years old at this point.

434
00:26:51.359 --> 00:26:54.519
Two police officers were sent to investigate the sighting, as

435
00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:56.599
a relative being the ones to make the tip made

436
00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:01.440
it more credible but also to ease the Martin's mind. However,

437
00:27:01.680 --> 00:27:04.160
the young man this woman saw did not really resemble

438
00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:07.640
the age progressed composite of Eugene, but rather he looked

439
00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:09.240
a bit like what he would have looked like hadd

440
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:13.839
he inherited more of Janis's features. While the police followed

441
00:27:13.920 --> 00:27:15.920
up on this lead as best they could, it was

442
00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:19.200
ultimately determined that the young man was not Eugene Martin.

443
00:27:20.200 --> 00:27:24.119
In two thousand and one, almost seventeen years after Eugene disappeared,

444
00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:28.319
James Rally, the lead detective on his case, retired after

445
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:33.039
dedicating a majority of his career on the case. According

446
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:35.960
to the Des Moines Register, Detective Rally worked on around

447
00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:39.599
two hundred homicide cases during his career and had solved

448
00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:43.519
more than eighty percent of them. Eugene's case, though, was

449
00:27:43.559 --> 00:27:48.119
the one that haunted him. Since Eugene disappeared, his missing

450
00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:52.240
poster had hung in Rally's cubicle, and after his retirement,

451
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:55.640
he brought that poster home with him. While he and

452
00:27:55.720 --> 00:27:58.440
Don Martin had their differences in the beginning of the investigation,

453
00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:01.519
they had grown to like one another and become friends.

454
00:28:02.279 --> 00:28:04.799
Don said, quote Jim Raley and I worked through a

455
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:07.359
few rough spots in the beginning, but we've become good

456
00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:10.680
friends over time. Jim's been working real close with me.

457
00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:14.599
He's done everything he could legally do well. Raley has

458
00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:18.319
thought about Eugene regularly. His running theory and his fear

459
00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:20.839
is that both Eugene and Johnny were victims of a

460
00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:24.599
child sex ring. This is the most common theory surrounding

461
00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:27.279
these cases, and there have been more than one predator

462
00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:30.000
over the course of decades that some believes were possibly

463
00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:35.039
responsible for the boy's disappearances. Raley, however, did question how

464
00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:38.680
the two cases were linked. If it was the same perpetrator,

465
00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:41.680
why did they wait two years between attacks and where

466
00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.480
did he go after nineteen eighty four. By twenty ten,

467
00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:49.000
Janice had passed due to complications from diabetes, without ever

468
00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:52.440
knowing what happened to her son. Don Martin would pass

469
00:28:52.480 --> 00:28:55.240
in December of that year after suffering from Alzheimer's and

470
00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:59.559
colon cancer. His sister, Jeanie McDowell, said that her brother

471
00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:03.680
changed completely after Eugene disappeared. He was the baby of

472
00:29:03.720 --> 00:29:07.720
the family and Don suffered greatly from the loss. Quote

473
00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:11.559
when he left, it just killed my brother. He was

474
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:15.079
withdrawn and spent all of his time trying to find Eugene.

475
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:18.559
Genie believed that her brother, even as hecrew weaker and weaker,

476
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:21.640
was holding on for some type of closure about his son.

477
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:25.319
Some days, in moments of lucidity, the memory of what

478
00:29:25.480 --> 00:29:28.880
happened would flood back, and Don would grow angry and

479
00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:33.960
sometimes even violent, demanding to know where Eugene was. While

480
00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:37.839
it's been over forty years since Eugene Martin disappeared, spokesman

481
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:41.200
for the Des Moines Police Department, Sergeant Scott Rohteba, said

482
00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:44.319
that cold cases are looked at regularly and there is

483
00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:47.200
a specific set of officers assigned to work on very

484
00:29:47.200 --> 00:29:51.680
old cases. They go through testimonies, witness statements, and have

485
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:56.119
evidence processed with new technology as advancements are made. He said,

486
00:29:56.200 --> 00:29:59.599
quote Certainly, the serious cases are extremely important to the

487
00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:03.160
Des Moin Police Department. Everything that could be done was

488
00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:06.039
done to take advantage of technology that exists now that

489
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:10.720
didn't exist maybe ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. If in

490
00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:13.279
any way we can develop a suspect and follow up

491
00:30:13.319 --> 00:30:16.880
on that, we certainly do. As I said, there have

492
00:30:17.000 --> 00:30:20.200
been countless theories over the years as to what happened

493
00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:23.480
to Eugene Martin and the ones that persist through theories

494
00:30:23.480 --> 00:30:27.200
of sex trafficking, rings, him being kidnapped by a predator

495
00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:30.799
and later killed, or he's even alive but living under

496
00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:34.599
a new identity. There's also a theory that a private

497
00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:38.960
investigator named Sam Soda, who allegedly predicted that another abduction

498
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:44.519
would occur after Johnny Gosh, was possibly involved. He supposedly

499
00:30:44.519 --> 00:30:48.720
injected himself into both investigations and his office was feed

500
00:30:48.759 --> 00:30:52.720
away from where Eugene was last seen. Some speculate that

501
00:30:52.799 --> 00:30:55.480
he was behind the kidnappings all along and pointed the

502
00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:59.240
finger at another predator, Frank Sikora, who was ultimately fired

503
00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:02.759
from the Des Moines Rediister due to his inappropriate interactions

504
00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:07.559
with multiple carriers for the paper. Some say Skora, who

505
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.519
was never connected to the abductions, really was involved and

506
00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:13.839
part of a child sex ring in Des Moines that

507
00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:18.640
targeted the boys. The theories are endless, and the rabbit

508
00:31:18.680 --> 00:31:21.640
hole even more so, but the bottom line is that

509
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:26.880
Eugene Martin went missing and has never been found. At

510
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.200
the time of his disappearance, Eugene Martin was thirteen years old,

511
00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:33.920
Caucasian with brown hair and brown eyes. He had a

512
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:35.880
scar on his right knee, and he was wearing a

513
00:31:35.960 --> 00:31:40.119
cast on his right wrist after recently breaking it. Anyone

514
00:31:40.200 --> 00:31:43.119
with information about Eugene Martin is asked to call Detective

515
00:31:43.200 --> 00:31:46.039
Jeff Shannon at the Des Moines Police Department at five

516
00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:50.279
one five two eight three four eight sixty four. You

517
00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:53.400
can also call Detective Larry Penland at five one five

518
00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:58.799
two three seven one five five zero. Again, this is

519
00:31:58.960 --> 00:32:03.079
technically part one of the paper Boy disappearances, but we

520
00:32:03.160 --> 00:32:07.240
won't cover Johnny Gosh for a while yet. That rabbit

521
00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:11.799
hole is even deeper than this one. As always, I

522
00:32:11.960 --> 00:32:14.799
thank you so much for listening, and I hope you

523
00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:20.559
have a wonderful week and I will see you in

524
00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:24.839
the next chapter of the Book of the Dead. Bye, guys,

525
00:32:26.200 --> 00:32:31.200
Another page closed, But the story isn't over. For the

526
00:32:31.240 --> 00:32:35.640
families left behind. The pain doesn't end when the headline's fade.

527
00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:38.640
And for the victims, we owe them more than silence

528
00:32:39.799 --> 00:32:43.880
for our unsolved cases. If you have any information, please

529
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.640
reach out to local authorities or visit our show notes

530
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:52.519
for links and resources. Someone out there knows something, maybe

531
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:56.480
it's you. Thank you for listening to the book. Of

532
00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:59.559
the dead. If this story moved or spoke to you

533
00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:03.519
in some way, talk about it, share it, keep their

534
00:33:03.640 --> 00:33:11.240
names alive. Until next time, I'm Courtney Liso. Stay safe,

535
00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:16.440
stay curious, and stay vigilant, and remember the dead may

536
00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:19.799
be gone, but their stories will not be forgotten.