What Would Missing West Des Moines Paperboy Johnny Gosch Look Like Today?

Missing paperboy Johnny Gosch, who disappeared 30 years ago while delivering newspapers in his quiet West Des Moines neighborhood, would look significantly different than he did when he vanished on Sept. 5, 1982, according to a photo created and released by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

If he is still alive, Gosch is 42 now.

Officials with the center believe he would be about 5-feet, 7-inches tall and weigh about 140 pounds. They say distinguishing features include facial freckles, a birthmark on his left cheek and a horseshoe-shaped scar on his tongue, the Des Moines Register reported.

His mother, Noreen Gosch, believes he was kidnapped and sold into a human trafficking network. His disappearance is listed as a non-family abduction.

The Register said interest has been renewed in the case since last month’s disappearance of two Evansdale cousins last month. Elizabeth Collins, 9, and Lyric Morrissey-Cook, 12, have not been seen since July 13 when they went for a bike ride. Authorities are investigating their disappearance as a kidnapping.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was created in 1984, two years after Gosch’s disappearance.