The Edge Of Sanity: The Boys With The Brands

by Kevin Curriston

In 1982, twelve-year-old Des Moines newspaper boy Johnny Gosch disappeared, and his mother and father, Noreen and Leonard Gosch, disputed with the West Des Moines Police Department about whether it was an "abduction" or a runaway, in which case the department required seventy-two hours to act. Noreen Gosch pushed through a bill adopted in several Midwestern states, requiring the police to act immediately. The Johnny Gosch Foundation was formed, and a national media campaign ensued. Two years later, a second Des Moines newspaper boy, Eugene Martin, disappeared, but it was immediately treated as an abduction. The Des Moines Police Department turned up very little evidence, and no one was ever arrested.



But up in Milwaukee, Craig Green and Jimmy Gibson were pulled into a child trafficking and drug distribution ring, in which all these boys were brought together at kingpin Charlie Kerr's Sioux City Farm. Scott Allen was actually abducted by Michael J. Devlin in a suburb of St. Louis, and he's now serving a life sentence in a Missouri state prison for kidnapping and child molestation. He was brought into the ring, as well as Brett McCumber, whose drug-addicted mother sold him to Emilio Hernandez, Charlie's Caldwell, Idaho partner when he was six years old.



Wisconsin Senator Herb Kohl, the founder of Kohl's Department Stores and part of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was a client of both Charlie Kerr and Emilio Hernandez, repeatedly sexually molested and drugged the boys, and was instrumental in their being inculcated into remote viewing, deception, and compromise training-tools of MKUltra-at Mountain Home Air Force Base and other locales. They were later brought into Secretary of State James Baker's secretive OPUS Baker program as PSYOPs operatives. After many years of being sexually and drug-abused, physically and emotionally scarred, and used in human cloning studies by the military without any knowledge or consent, they want to tell their story in their own words and get some accountability.

440 pages, Hardcover

Published February 11, 2026

Reviews

[Lila · Rating 1 out of 5]

This version of events completely flips the long-standing narrative around Johnny Gosch and the Franklin scandal on its head. Instead of the familiar story that’s been pushed for decades, largely by Noreen Gosch, this book presents a chaotic, deeply personal, and at times bitter account that shifts blame inward, especially toward family. The tone is raw, angry, and often erratic. There are wild allegations, contradictions of previously accepted “facts,” and moments that feel almost surreal in how casually they’re presented.
What stood out most to me wasn’t just the claims themselves, but the tone.

The voice attributed to Johnny is resentful, mocking, and openly hostile toward his mother. If authentic, it radically changes how readers would interpret the past 40+ years of advocacy and media appearances. If not authentic, it raises even bigger questions about motive and credibility.
I’m not fully convinced this is actually Johnny speaking. But if you take it at face value, parts of this narrative feel more internally consistent than the sprawling conspiracy web that’s surrounded the case for decades and that’s not exactly high praise. It’s less cinematic thriller and more dysfunctional, messy human story.
Whether you believe it or not, this book forces you to confront how unstable the “official” narrative has always been. At the very least, it complicates everything we thought we knew.
Definitely not an easy read and not one you can take at face value without serious critical thinking.

[Tami · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mind blowing, heavy, a long read.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was a leetle rough and tumble. Im very sorry for all involved. But yeah. I read starfire. I read decamp. I use the web to see this stuff because I found out there is a reincarnation or prophecy trope with abusing kids. Im not sure I would feel comfortable in any position to do with this book, but I applaud the bravery and the characters leaking. There sometimes is a bit of character which makes this one of the lesser of the franklin scandal mentions, but im sad to say maybe being an asset means you are forced to do stuff or walk a thin line. Whatever it takes, keep ur heart and soul clean and pure and wish well. In the end, bed bound and sick, you will have ur life flash a little so. Just stay chill. Oh yeah. There is cussing in this. I dont think all details are fun in this franklin scandal stuff so please stay cool or keep it away from kids learning to read. As in lock it up. Cuz curiosity is really dangerous.