http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/01/missing.boy.photos.ap/index.html

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- The mother of a boy abducted 24 years ago said
she's bewildered by two photographs left at her front door, apparently
showing her son and two other children bound and gagged.

The old photos appear to show 12-year-old Johnny Gosch with his mouth gagged
and his hands and feet tied. The boy is wearing the same sweatpants Johnny
was wearing when he disappeared while delivering newspapers on the morning
of September 5, 1982, his mother said.

"It's like reliving it," Noreen Gosch told The Associated Press on Thursday
night. "But the bigger picture is, 'Why are they doing this?'

"Whoever had these photos had them for 24 years. I don't understand why they
would do this now. It must be some kind of message."

Gosch said investigators confirmed the photos were authentic and likely
taken within "hours or days" of the abduction. She said they were checking
for fingerprints that could lead them to the source and possibly a
breakthrough in a case that has long baffled authorities. The other boys in
the photo were unidentified.

"We are in the process of researching where they came from and whether
they've been doctored up," West Des Moines police Lt. Jeff Miller told the
Des Moines Register.

Johnny's disappearance triggered nationwide fears of child abductions. He
was one of the first faces of missing or abducted children to appear on milk
cartons across the country.

Several theories have developed since he vanished before dawn while
delivering Sunday newspapers. His newspaper wagon was discovered near his
West Des Moines home, but few substantial clues have surfaced since then.

Gosch believes her son was taken by child pornographers. She told
authorities he briefly contacted her in 1997 but feared for his life and
declined to give details about where he was. She believes his abductors got
him involved in crimes, which is why he is hiding his identity.

The National Center for Missing Children is examining the other boys in the
photograph and trying to match it with its database of missing children.

"These kids have parents someplace," Gosch said. "I'm sure they feel the
same way I did. ... Hopefully we can do some good and give these parents
some peace."

Johnny was Gosch's youngest of three children, and she has devoted her life
to finding him, from raising money for private detectives to following her
own leads and prodded police to try harder.

She also wrote a book called "Why Johnny Can't Come Home." (BECAUSE THE
CHRISTIAN GOD IS A COLD-HEARTED *****, THAT'S WHY)