Missing Carton Kids

The Girl That Saved Her Own Life

Before the era of and GPS tracking, child abduction cases were really hard to crack in the 1980s. There was no way to create a general public awareness of these abductions, and it used to take years for the police to even get a headstart on a case. So, the authorities and family members tried to think of a better way to let people know. One of the most innovative ways was to place the photo of the missing child on milk cartons. Known as the "Missing Children Milk Carton Campaign," it was developed so everyone who purchases a milk carton would get all the details of the missing child. They can call and alert the authorities if they learn something. Johnny Gosch, 13, disappeared from his hometown, Des Moines, Iowa, in 1982. He was delivering newspapers on his daily route when he went missing. He left his red wagon full of newspapers abandoned on a sidewalk. When Johnny went missing, the Missing Children Milk Carton Campaign did not exist. But just two years later, another paperboy, Eugene, went missing. This time, in September 1984, Anderson & Erickson Dairy printed the images of Eugene and Johnny as an advertisement on their milk cartons. While the majority of the featured children were never found, Bonnie Lohman was reunited with her father through one such advertisement. Bonnie was abducted by her mother and stepfather. She is one of the very few success stories of the missing children milk carton campaign.