Episode 380 Johnny Gosch · Part II — “Photos, Affidavits & a Story That Grew”

The morning at the corner never answered the central question—so the case grew. In Part II, we follow Johnny’s file as it leaves West Des Moines and enters a national spotlight. We examine the photographs that ignited debate—where they surfaced, how analysts tried to date and contextualize them, and what a still image can and cannot prove. We unpack sworn statements and affidavits, including how investigators separate method from authorship and why civil outcomes aren’t criminal proof. We also cover the alleged late-night visit recounted by Johnny’s mother and the law-enforcement posture that kept it in the realm of claim rather than evidence. Throughout, we draw a bright line between record and allegation, ending with what still stands under weight after decades of attention.

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Episode 37, Johnny Gosch · Part I —

West Des Moines, Iowa—September 5, 1982. Twelve-year-old paperboy Johnny Gosch heads out before dawn for his Sunday route—a morning that, for the first time, he’s running alone. At the bundle drop, other carriers fold and band papers as a car idles, loops back, and a man asks for directions through a passenger window. Minutes later, Johnny’s wagon and undelivered papers are found near the corner—without Johnny. This opening chapter reconstructs the morning step by step: the route choreography, the change in routine, Noreen’s first call to police, and the measured early response roughly forty-five minutes later. We unpack how that tempo set the stage for an immediate split between the family and West Des Moines PD leadership, then lay out the overlapping eyewitness accounts from paperboys and neighbors that anchor the timeline. Finally, we pare the day down to what can be said with certainty—what’s fixed, what isn’t, and why the silence at the corner still matters.

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Episode 36-The Disappearance of Genette Tate

19 August 1978, Aylesbeare, Devon. Thirteen-year-old papergirl Genette Tate rounds a bend on Within Lane—and vanishes. Minutes later, two friends find her blue Dawes bicycle on its side, the front wheel still spinning and newspapers scattered across the tarmac. No shout, no tire marks, no witnesses.

In this investigation, The Midnight Mystery Archive reconstructs the timeline minute by minute, follows the massive search that scoured hedgerows, ponds and quarries, and explains why detectives came to believe Genette was taken rapidly into a vehicle. We unpack the decades-long inquiry, the cold-case overhaul known as Operation Lester, and the circumstantial case that made delivery driver Robert Black the prime suspect—right up until his death halted a decision on prosecution. Along the way, we examine what 1970s forensics couldn’t do, what modern science might still reveal, and how one lane became a memorial to a girl who never came home.

If you were on the A3052 that afternoon, worked on PD&S vans, or remember a vehicle parked oddly on Within Lane, police still want to hear from you.

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