MovieChat Forums > Who Took Johnny Discussion > Do you believe Noreen

Do you believe Noreen

posted 8 years ago by SilverGameDog
32 replies | jump to latest

When she says that she was visited by a grownup Johnny?
I honestly don't. And it makes me sad to say that. This woman has been through so much. I don't think I could personally be strong enough.
But I think something like this takes a toll on your sanity.
I think she created a meeting in her head and she believes it's real. It's her way of dealing with this and giving herself some closure.
I also don't think those photos of the boy tied and gagged are of Johnny. It really doesn't even look like him.
But I know she badl wants it to be him. In a strange way. In the same way that you just pray for answers - even if it means evidence that your son is dead.

What a sad and strange story.

[–] annie-905-19080 8 years ago

Sadly, I agree with you. I don't know what did happen, or who she saw (if anyone) but I don't believe it was her son. I do believe this woman has held up incredibly well under a horrific onslaught of craptasticness, but I also believe she's been targeted by some super-unscrupulous people who seriously need to reevaluate their life choices.

[–] rpressley 8 years ago

I don't believe her

[–] Carriexoc 8 years ago

Being the mama of two boys, I do believe her. I would do whatever it takes to protect my son.

[–] SilverGameDog 8 years ago

So you're saying that if your 12 year old son disappeared and then 20 years later he showed up at your front door, you would do nothing about? You would say nothing about it? Tell no one?
If I really believed that it was my son I would call the police.
My instinct would be to protect my son and the way to do that would be to remove him from what ever horrible situation he's in. Get him out of danger.
The authorities would protect him. And with Johnny's help and information the people behind this child sex ring could be caught and put away forever.
In fact I would go so far as to say that if Noreen really DiD see Johnny, she had a responsibility to tell someone.
But, like I said I don't believe she really saw him.

[–] canadian_whitewolf 8 years ago

"The authorities would protect him."
Going from their actions in this town, the police would be the last people I'd trust and may be involved with the kidnapping in the first place. The FBI seem useless as well. Maybe paid off with all that money that was embezzled.
He'd probably end up as just another mysterious death while in police custody.

There's not reason not to stay connected though, even if he is laying low and not speaking on the details of what happened.
She may still have contact and is helping him. Lying in the film to protect him, she said if she could do it over again she would lie about seeing him.

[–] blubird-1 8 years ago

See, think she isn't protecting him as much as she is lying to get the investigators, government to look into the sex ring. They weren't taking it very serious, so maybe in her grieving mind they would if she said she had seen him as an adult alive and still in it....or and this in my real belief, it was someone else posing as her son and she wanted to believe it was him. It could have been someone from a sex ring near the area wanting to keep her quite.

[–] lindseyd310 8 years ago

I'm kinda torn on it but I really don't think he really came to her house. I think this poor woman has gone through so much, and is so desperate to find her son after all of this time she convinced herself she saw and met with him. That is just my opinion, It is such a sad story, I do think he is alive somewhere though, and I do truly hope the someday find him, but im sure he has been so brainwashed by now he might not even know who he is

[–] ultravio13 8 years ago

I believe that she believes she met Johnny as an adult, but in reality it never happened. I feel so bad for her :-(

[–] Lapis_Lazuli_Blue 8 years ago

I believe that she believes she met Johnny as an adult...

I do, too. I don't know whether some guy played an incredibly cruel trick on her by pretending to be her son, or whether she imagined the whole thing, but I don't think she is deliberately lying. I think she absolutely believes in what she saw (or thinks she saw).

ETA: I don't think the bound boy in the picture is Johnny, either. He is a similar physical type and has similar hair color, but he has a different nose and jawline. That Noreen thinks it is him shows how desperate she is to have some knowledge about what happened to her son. Who can blame her, though?

[–] Clemencedane 8 years ago

The boy in the photo really didn't look like him.

[–] The_Boxing_Cat 8 years ago

I guess one may say that I have an agnostic view about the visit from the grown up Johnny, and the boy in the photos.

It seems with the way his captors gagged him - purposely obscuring his mouth/lips, scrunching up his face/cheeks and the way they angled the camera, makes me wonder that if the person who took those pictures were professionals, either a professional photographer or a professional in sex trafficking.
ONE thing for certain is the whoever took them are SICK.

Did anyone consider that the reason the cops didn't get off their asse$ and do their job is because they are part of the child sex ring, or someone put pressure on them "if they know what's good for you", you'll do what you are told.

I can certainly understand the possibility that the FBI could be involved. There was a movie made about an FBI agent who was a pedophile -it was a true account of how he raped his four daughters and beat his sons. The protagonist is played by Marlo Thomas. Sorry I don't recall the name of it.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the media was told to "gaslight" her, or skew the public's perception and
thus her credibility is in question.
If you have senators, judges and those higher up...what if they feared that their families could be harmed

[–] onecoolnic-370-870995 8 years ago

I thought the cops and FBI must be involved too. We are talking people in high places and with big money who can hush things up really fast.

[–] waterandafter 8 years ago

Look into the Franklin cover-up. Child sex trafficking goes up to the highest levels of government.

[–] mattbear78 8 years ago

The documentary neglected to mention that the authorities know for sure who was in those pictures. The pictures date from the 1970s when some kids were playing "escape artist" in Florida and taking pictures of it. It was thoroughly investigated and never had anything to do with any crimes. In the documentary they made it look like a detective didn't believe that no crime happened, but if you do some research online, it's been thoroughly debunked. It wasn't Johnny. It wasn't anyone being kidnapped or molested. It was kids messing around, playing a game.

[–] waterandafter 8 years ago

I'm not sure it was her son, but I do believe she was visited by someone. In fact, she's comfortable talking about it now. That makes me think she still has contact with him and he's probably in a safe place.
If you look at how the Omaha cops and Omaha justice system went after Paul (and the other throw away kids), and look at the walls that the WDM police and FBI put up the whole time, even in the face of possible new evidence, would you trust them with this info or protection?

[–] backofthevan 8 years ago

I tend to believe he visited her, but can't understand why, if it really was him, she just let him go again. As said previously, she could have kept him safe and tried to help put an end to the paedophile ring. As it is now, it's probably continuing to this day and, for all we know, Johnny might be part of it.

I would think that since she's now talking about his visit, she must know he's safe. But how is it "in his best interest" to let him continue in whatever he's doing now? I just hope he's safe and out of that life now.

[–] blacknyellowsquid 8 years ago

I'm really on the fence as is everyone else. About the whole show...whether to believe Bonacci or not, whether the kid visited...maybe, maybe not...yes, hoax, imagined...

But this, I agree! This is the last thing that crossed my mind:

In fact, she's comfortable talking about it now. That makes me think she still has contact with him and he's probably in a safe place.

As she was saying that stuff at the end, calmly...suddenly I had the lightbulb of, maybe she DOES even currently know where he is and is pretending she doesn't because he doesn't want to be out there. And so she just goes on talking about that one time as if it was the only time. There seemed to be something she wasn't saying...

Well maybe I'm in denial and just want to believe it, myself. But...maybe...

[–] strongbad-274-706634 8 years ago

I think she never had that meeting and has had a mental breakdown. And who could blame her. I wish they would have asked her ex if he believed her.

[–] denis-38 8 years ago

strongbad--I watched another documentary concerning this case. The husband, who died in 2010, did NOT believe she had been visited by Johnny.

[–] mattbear78 8 years ago

Her ex-husband didn't believe her at all. He thought she had a mental breakdown. It's why they weren't together anymore. He knows it's likely that Johnny died within hours or days of his disappearance.

[–] rpressley 8 years ago

If Johnny did visit her and she was protecting him by not telling anyone, then why tell now??