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
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he belongs, he'd be here today. Everyone has their theories,
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but no call to hard facts. I guess you could
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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
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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
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do before. Sue's sixteen year old son was also given
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a very strict curfew of ten pm, when prior to
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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
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making changes in an effort to boose safety for their
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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
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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
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states can match. Also started that September, in part with
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the help of the God was the program's Stranger Danger
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initiated by the Iowa State Patrol. This initiative included a
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discussion for children with a patrol officer, a film emphasizing
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the dangers of speaking to strangers, as well as a
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wallet sized card with safety tips. Started the month after
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by the Johnston Police Department was a similar program called
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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
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to leap a porch light on to light the wave
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for their carriers. One of the more well known initiatives
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to be started in the weeks after Eugene disappeared was
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the Missing Children Milk carton program, though it wasn't called
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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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Des Moines grocery store. Then, after a suggestion was made
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by a friend Kine of the Martin family who worked
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for the Anderson Erickson Dairy Company, their pictures were printed
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along with short bios on their half gallon milk cartons.
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The following week, according to A and E, another dairy
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company in Des Moines began printing the images on their
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milk cartons, and soon companies across Illinois and California followed suit.
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By January of nineteen eighty five, it was a nationwide
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program initiated by the National Child Safety Council. A precursor
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to the more effective Amber Alert. The faces and the
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milk cartons faded out in the late eighties as companies
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transitioned to plastic milk jugs. The program was also phased
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out because, while at least marginally helpful, the slow distribution
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process meant that it took far longer for news of
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missing children to land on the shelves. Of course, there
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were other reasons for the program to be shelved, like
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some believing it was frightening for children to see these
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images of missing peers. But while it was active, it
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was a pivotal way for the word to get out
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about missing children, for the public to be on the lookout.
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For a year on, even after countless tips came in
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and searches were conducted, the police were no closer to
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finding Eugene. By this point, the tips that it seemed
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almost endless, had dried up and there was no information
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coming in that could point investigators in the right direction.
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Des Moin Police sergeant Jim Toma told the Cita Rapids
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Gazec quote, We're no closer now than a year ago.
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We get reports of sightings, it's basically a standstill. There's
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nothing developing. Additionally, while it was so widely speculated that
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Johnny and Eugene's cases were connected in some way, authorities
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were unable to establish a link to the two boys.
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The Martins, by this point were rarely leaving the house,
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worried about missing a possible call from the police that
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Eugene had been found, or even a call from Eugene himself.
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Don said, quote, we used to go out every weekend,
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but now if we go out, we come right back
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to be by the phone. I do think he's alive somewhere,
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mainly because we haven't heard otherwise. I want to believe
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he's alive and coming home. I'm just sitting back, hoping
390
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and praying. While it had been a year of disappointments
391
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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
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for Eugene, a former police officer, but they would ultimately
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fire him for failing to turn up leeds and for
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how expensive his services were. If you listen to my
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copverage on carin Perry. This was a common fear that
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various organizations had when it came to aiding in the
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search of missing children. While private investigators could absolutely be helpful,
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there was no telling if it would ultimately be a
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waste of resources that could be put to use elsewhere,
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as well as an additional source of heartbreak for family members.
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The few tips that had trickled down and led police nowhere.
403
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Eugene had allegedly been seen in Seattle in a red
404
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Mercury marquee with a man and woman. He had been
405
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seen in Tucson with another boy. Nothing panned out, unfortunately,
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like the Goshes. After constant disappointment, the Martins were vocal
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about their displeasure with the police. Sue told the Cedar
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Rapids Gazek quote, they're no farther along than day one
409
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as far as we're concerned. They're not even looking down.
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For his part, believed that even the FBI wasn't taking
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tips that were coming in seriously, an accusation vehemently refuted
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by FBI spokesperson Charles Wiley. Quote, we have sightings of
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Martin and Gosh almost on a daily basis. We run
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those down with every available man power and woman power
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to make sure it doesn't check out. We would like
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to find young Martin as well as Gosh whenever you
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get information, no matter how nebulous, we run it down.
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Sue in particular, was critical when the Wine police were
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seemingly reluctant to follow a tip given by a psychic
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that even the Martins believed is very credible. Sue went
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to Carlisle, where the psychic indicated herself, but found nothing
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there of the psychic's tip and assistance from them in general.
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She told the Quad City Times quote, a lot of
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people just don't believe in psychic leads, but we believed
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those should be followed up. As the years passed, the
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Martins worked tirelessly to find Eugene, raising money to try
427
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and keep his name in the news and keep the
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public interested in his case. While investigators were still actively searching,
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the tips and leads had dried up and nothing was
430
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coming in that could aid in the investigation. In nineteen ninety,
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a cousin of Eugene's was vacationing in Cancoon when she
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spotted a young man that looked like the missing boy,
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who would have been twenty years old at this point.
434
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Two police officers were sent to investigate the sighting, as
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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
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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
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ultimately determined that the young man was not Eugene Martin.
443
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In two thousand and one, almost seventeen years after Eugene disappeared,
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James Rally, the lead detective on his case, retired after
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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
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more than eighty percent of them. Eugene's case, though, was
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the one that haunted him. Since Eugene disappeared, his missing
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poster had hung in Rally's cubicle, and after his retirement,
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he brought that poster home with him. While he and
452
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Don Martin had their differences in the beginning of the investigation,
453
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they had grown to like one another and become friends.
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Don said, quote Jim Raley and I worked through a
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few rough spots in the beginning, but we've become good
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friends over time. Jim's been working real close with me.
457
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He's done everything he could legally do well. Raley has
458
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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
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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
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responsible for the boy's disappearances. Raley, however, did question how
464
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the two cases were linked. If it was the same perpetrator,
465
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why did they wait two years between attacks and where
466
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did he go after nineteen eighty four. By twenty ten,
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Janice had passed due to complications from diabetes, without ever
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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
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colon cancer. His sister, Jeanie McDowell, said that her brother
471
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changed completely after Eugene disappeared. He was the baby of
472
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the family and Don suffered greatly from the loss. Quote
473
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when he left, it just killed my brother. He was
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withdrawn and spent all of his time trying to find Eugene.
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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 a51200:31:33.960 --> 00:31:35.880
scar on his right knee, and he was wearing a51300:31:35.960 --> 00:31:40.119
cast on his right wrist after recently breaking it. Anyone51400:31:40.200 --> 00:31:43.119
with information about Eugene Martin is asked to call Detective51500:31:43.200 --> 00:31:46.039
Jeff Shannon at the Des Moines Police Department at five51600:31:46.119 --> 00:31:50.279
one five two eight three four eight sixty four. You51700:31:50.319 --> 00:31:53.400
can also call Detective Larry Penland at five one five51800:31:53.839 --> 00:31:58.799
two three seven one five five zero. Again, this is51900:31:58.960 --> 00:32:03.079
technically part one of the paper Boy disappearances, but we52000:32:03.160 --> 00:32:07.240
won't cover Johnny Gosh for a while yet. That rabbit52100:32:07.279 --> 00:32:11.799
hole is even deeper than this one. As always, I52200:32:11.960 --> 00:32:14.799
thank you so much for listening, and I hope you52300:32:14.960 --> 00:32:20.559
have a wonderful week and I will see you in52400:32:20.640 --> 00:32:24.839
the next chapter of the Book of the Dead. Bye, guys,52500:32:26.200 --> 00:32:31.200
Another page closed, But the story isn't over. For the52600:32:31.240 --> 00:32:35.640
families left behind. The pain doesn't end when the headline's fade.52700:32:35.680 --> 00:32:38.640
And for the victims, we owe them more than silence52800:32:39.799 --> 00:32:43.880
for our unsolved cases. If you have any information, please52900:32:43.920 --> 00:32:46.640
reach out to local authorities or visit our show notes53000:32:46.640 --> 00:32:52.519
for links and resources. Someone out there knows something, maybe53100:32:52.599 --> 00:32:56.480
it's you. Thank you for listening to the book. Of53200:32:56.480 --> 00:32:59.559
the dead. If this story moved or spoke to you53300:32:59.640 --> 00:33:03.519
in some way, talk about it, share it, keep their53400:33:03.640 --> 00:33:11.240
names alive. Until next time, I'm Courtney Liso. Stay safe,53500:33:11.799 --> 00:33:16.440
stay curious, and stay vigilant, and remember the dead may53600:33:16.480 --> 00:33:19.799
be gone, but their stories will not be forgotten.
