Full-Length Feature Film Examines Disappearance of Johnny Gosch

A full-length documentary film examining the disappearance 31 years ago of Johnny Gosch, whose mother says he was kidnapped into the child sex trade, is expected to be released in early 2014, the Des Moines Register reports.

The film, “Who Took Johnny,” is the project of Rumor studios, the Brooklyn, NY, company that produced a 2012 special, “Missing Johnny,” for MSNBC.

Johnny Gosch was 12 when he failed to return to his West Des Moines home from his paper route on Sept. 5, 1982.  Gosch told Patch in 2012 that witnesses at the scene reported that he was forced into a car, but said police failed to follow up on those leads.

The producers of “Who Took Johnny” used additional footage shot for the MSNBC special and raised the $15,000 necessary to complete the feature-length film, according to the Register report.

Read West Des Moines Patch’s exclusive series published in 2012 on the 30th anniversary of Johnny Gosch’s disappearance:

Part 1: 30 Years After Johnny Gosch Vanished, Iowa’s Innocence Abducted

Part 2: Innocence Abducted: Noreen Gosch Blinded by Ugly World of Child Sex Trade

Part 3: Johnny Gosch’s Mom ‘a Pioneer’ in Protecting Children

Opinion: What I Learned About Us From Noreen Gosch: Editor’s Notebook

David Beilinson, one of the filmmakers, said he became interested in the mystery surrounding Johnny’s disappearance a decade ago when he and his partners — Michael Galinksy and Suki Hawley – met Nick Bryant, the author of “The Franklin Scandal,” which included interviews with Noreen Gosch.