by fuziononline » Thu Sep 14, 2006 11:50 pm
Surfaced photos are too old to be Gosch, official says<br>By LEE ROOD<br>REGISTER STAFF WRITER<br><br>September 14, 2006<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>SOURCE:</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609140393">www.desmoinesregister.com...6609140393</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>A Florida investigator said Wednesday photos that surfaced late last month of three bound-and-gagged teenage boys were taken before the disappearance of paperboy Johnny Gosch in 1982, in spite of new assertions by Noreen Gosch that they "absolutely" include her son.<br><br>"Certainly, our hearts go out to her because she's the boy's mother," said Nelson Zalva, an investigator for the Florida state attorney's office, who said he investigated the origins of the photos in 1979. "But I feel very certain these photos were from the case I investigated."<br><br>Noreen Gosch and several other people told The Des Moines Register that they received copies of the photos the last weekend in August, which prompted local and federal authorities to pursue them as a new lead in the long-cold case. National media attention that followed the Register story apparently led an anonymous tipster in Tampa, Fla., to send a letter to authorities informing them that the pictures were connected to the long-closed Florida case.<br><br>Zalva worked that case while at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department, he said Wednesday. The boys involved said at the time that they had posed for the photographer voluntarily.<br><br>"I interviewed the kids, and they said there was no coercion or touching. ... I could never prove a crime," Zalva said.<br><br>However, Noreen Gosch told the Register that Zalva has yet to provide evidence the photos are not of her son, who vanished before dawn while readying for his paper route a couple blocks from the Gosch home in West Des Moines.<br><br>"One of the photos is definitely Johnny," she said. "I'm glad police are investigating, so we can find out who the other two kids are."<br><br>Florida authorities sifted through scores of records Wednesday, hunting for the police report and photos connected to the case that Zalva said he investigated. In the meantime, Iowa authorities said they were also tracing other connections to the photos.<br><br>One West Des Moines detective confirmed the images have appeared on a Web site that caters to people with bondage fetishes. Iowa officials have also enlisted the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in hopes of identifying the youths involved through archived photos.<br><br>Noreen Gosch told The Des Moines Register shortly after the photos surfaced that she found copies on her doorstep the morning of Aug. 27. However, e-mail files of photos that she forwarded to Jim Rothstein, a former New York detective, who had been helping her with the case appeared to show she received the photos by Aug. 26. That e-mail containing the digital images was forwarded to the Register by Rothstein.<br><br>Neither Gosch nor Rothstein could account for that discrepancy on Wednesday, however.<br><br>"I got up that (Sunday) morning, and when I clicked my computer on, I had three sets sent to me," Rothstein said. "I can't remember where they came from."<br><br>In spite of the e-mail, Gosch said she first saw the images on Sunday morning.<br><br>An official from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, which received the photos from the West Des Moines Police Department, said the agency is waiting for word on their authenticity from the state of Florida.<br><br>"We haven't verified or discounted anything," said John Quinn, a special agent in charge for the DCI.<br><br>Numerous theories have surfaced over the years since Johnny Gosch vanished on Sept. 5, 1982. He was last seen picking up copies of the Register for delivery. His wagon, full of papers, was found two blocks from the Gosches' home.<br><br>Police recovered little evidence after Gosch's disappearance and arrested no suspects in connection with his case.<br><br>The Register has not published the photos that Noreen Gosch said she received last month because it was not clear where the images came from or who the boys in the photos were. <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=fuziononline>fuziononline</A> at: 9/14/06 9:52 pm<br></i>
