John was last seen delivering newspapers. Witnesses told authorities that John was seen speaking to a male suspect on 42nd Street and Marcourt Lane while delivering his newspapers. The man was driving a blue two-tone Ford Fairmunt, and John was apparently giving him directions. He has facial freckles, a gap between his front teeth, a birthmark on his left cheek, and a horseshoe-shaped scar on his tongue. He was wearing a white sweatshirt with "Kim's Academy" imprinted on the back, black sweatpants or cutoff jeans, and blue rubber sandals. John vanished from the same vicinity that Eugene Martin disappeared from in 1984. Both boys were newspaper carriers in the Des Moines area. John's photo on the right is shown age-progressed to 51 years.