Tss5078 In 1982, missing children reports were so rare, that often times the local authorities didn't take them seriously. Most of these kids were considered runaways, as authorities at the time couldn't even fathom the depths of depravity that some people are capable of sinking to. In the case of Johnny Gosch, not only wasn't he a runaway, the compelling documentary, Who Took Johnny?, and the subsequent books by his mother, Noreen, have shown that not only may Johnny still be alive 35 years later, but he may have suffered more torture than anyone in the history of this planet. On September 5, 1982, Johnny Gosch, a local paperboy was abducted from Des Moines, Iowa. Despite eyewitness statements, the local police, considered him to be a runaway. Over the years evidence and even a witness go to the FBI to say that Johnny was used for human trafficking. Pictures have turned up and even his mother claims, Johnny stopped by the house for a brief time, 15 years after he'd disappeared. The documentary shows how the local authorities, didn't care and mishandled the case right from the very beginning, and how the FBI kept the family completely in the dark. To this day, despite the fact that her son could be god-knows-where, Noreen Gosch has become an outspoken defender for missing children and the rights of their parents. There is no doubt that this documentary is anything but unbiased and impartial, and while I'm not sure I believe everything Mrs. Gosch says, when taken as a whole, one can't ignore everything that happened in this case. The other side of this gave blanket statements or declined to be interviewed, which tells me, she's right about more than a few things, and even if a third of this is true, it's appalling. When catastrophe strikes, we rely on those in power to take care of us and make things right, but what happens if they just don't want to? This documentary is truly eye-opening and provides plenty of ammunition to victims rights advocates.

Walter Sobchak This is a very good documentary that unfortunately only scratches the surface of what would become known as the Franklin cover-up. This documentary should be mandatory viewing for everyone. Unfortunately the facts of child kidnapping from Boy's Town by Lawrence E King Jr. are missing from this documentary which would lend more credibility to the claims of Paul Bonacci. Paul Bonacci also help expose the child sex-ring in Washington D.C. which was outlined in the Washington Post and corroborated by actual receipts. Those facts were missing from the documentary and lend credibility his testimony. Unfortunately Rumor did not release this to Netflix where it would get mass exposure and opted to go the rental route which is a horrible mistake and hurts the cause terribly. Unfortunately human trafficking(slavery) still very much exists and due to the mass media black out of films like this and Conspiracy of Silence the problem will only get worse.

g_cupec I have been reading about this case heavily since I retired several years back along with two others closer to my home. The reason they seem hard to believe is they seem to incredible to be true.They say knowledge is power. This documentary brings together years of information from Noreen Gosch and others and presents it in a digestible, yet, scary format. Human trafficking has been going on we have been doing see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. That does not work anymore. Whether or not you have children this is a documentary that will give a baptism into the world of Noreen Gosch and the outright defiance she faced in getting even the slightest bit of help for her son. Yet, she persevered so other did not have to suffer her boy's fate. I highly recommend watching this documentary, it is eye opening and inspirational.

SLUGMagazineFilms Who Took Johnny? is a spooky time. This documentary reaches back to 1982, when Johnny Gosch, a West Des Moines, Iowa paper boy, was abducted. Noreen, his mother, has powered on with the search since then up until now. The film initially follows the inaction on part of the local law enforcement to effectively identify Johnny as a missing person (the law used to require 72 hours for the kid to be gone), and initially wrote his disappearance off as him running away. After a couple years of the community turning up nothing, the imprisoned Paul Bonacci turned up to say that he had helped kidnap Johnny into the horrendous world of child sex trafficking. Because he was diagnosed with Multiple Personality Disorder, however, law enforcement eschewed this lead and never questioned him, despite the facts he knew about Johnny's body that convinced his parents that this was indeed what happened to their son. The Devil's in the details with this one, as the world of child sex trafficking becomes exposed and entangled in the different facets of the investigation, centered in Omaha, Neb., 10 hours away. Who Took Johnny? has an Unsolved Mysteries vibe to it (creepy, I know), scary as much as it is informative about the issue of missing children. It's definitely worth a watch if you can see it.