Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 4 /// Milk Carton Kids

Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 4 /// Milk Carton Kids

From True Crime Garage by TRUE CRIME GARAGE

April 15, 2026 · 1h 6m

About this episode

This episode discusses the tragic disappearances of newspaper boys in the early 1980s in middle America, focusing on several key cases and the subsequent use of milk cartons to raise awareness.

In the early eighties middle America experienced tragedies that no parent could imagine. Newspaper boys were disappearing. They would step out into the dark of the early morning hours to deliver the daily news to their neighborhoods and some of them did not return. It started in Iowa and then moved to Nebraska. Kids were plucked off the street just a few steps into their routes and some have vanished forever. In less than two years time - Johnny Gosch went missing in Iowa, Danny Joe Eberle was abducted in Nebraska, Christopher Walden was abducted in Nebraska, and then tragedy befell Iowa once again in August of 1984. 13 year old Eugene Martin disappeared during his early morning paper route. After Eugene vanished the Anderson Erickson Dairy company began printing black and white photos and bios on the sides of Milk Cartons distributed across the state of Iowa.

People in this episode

Host: TRUE CRIME GARAGE

Topics covered

  • missing children
  • abductions
  • milk carton kids
  • true crime
  • 1980s America

Keywords

  • missing paperboys
  • abduction cases
  • milk carton kids
  • true crime
  • Iowa
  • Nebraska
  • 1980s

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Anderson Erickson Dairy

Places: Iowa, Nebraska

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