
Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 6 /// The Lost Boys
From True Crime Garage by TRUE CRIME GARAGE
April 22, 2026 · 1h 10m
About this episode
This episode discusses the mysterious disappearances of newspaper boys in the early 1980s in Iowa and Nebraska.
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. Johnny Gosch went missing from Des Moines, Iowa in September of 1982. In August of 1984, 13 year old Eugene Martin disappeared during his early morning Des Moines Register 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. In March of 1986 Marc Allen became the third boy to vanish from the streets of Des Moines.
People in this episode
Host: TRUE CRIME GARAGE
Topics covered
- missing children
- true crime
- 1980s
- newspaper delivery
- Iowa
Keywords
- missing paperboys
- Johnny Gosch
- Eugene Martin
- Marc Allen
- true crime
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Des Moines, Iowa, Iowa, Nebraska
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