Murder of Adam Walsh
Adam Walsh | |
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Born | Adam John Walsh November 14, 1974 Hollywood, Florida, U.S. |
Died | c. July 27, 1981 | (aged 6)
Cause of death | Asphyxiation |
Body discovered | August 10, 1981 |
Parents |
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Murder of Adam Walsh | |
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Location | beheading, child abduction |
Victim | Adam John Walsh |
Motive | Unknown |
Inquiries | Investigation concluded in December 2008 |
Accused |
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Adam John Walsh (November 14, 1974
Adam's father,
Case history
reliable, independent, third-party sources. (August 2020) ) |
Kidnapping and murder
On the afternoon of July 27, 1981, Adam accompanied his mother Revé Drew[5] on a shopping trip to the Hollywood Mall (today Hollywood Hills Plaza) in Hollywood, Florida (26°00′46″N 80°10′30″W / 26.012847°N 80.175005°W). They went to Sears, entering through the north entrance.[6][7] Revé intended to inquire about a lamp that was on sale[8] and left Adam at a kiosk with Atari 2600 video games on display, where several other boys were taking turns playing them.[9] Revé completed her business in the lamp department around 12:15 p.m.[6][10] She said that she returned to find that Adam and the other boys had disappeared. A store manager informed her that a scuffle had broken out over whose turn it was at the kiosk, and a security guard demanded that the boys leave the store.[11] The security guard asked the older boys if their parents were in the store, and they said that they were not.[12] Adam's parents later conjectured that their son had been too shy to speak to the security guard, who presumed that he was in the company of the other boys and made him leave by the same door by which the boys had entered (the Sears west entrance). His parents believe that after the other boys dispersed, he was left alone outside the store at an exit unfamiliar to him.[13][12][14] Meanwhile, unable to find Adam in the toy department, Revé had him paged over the public-address system and continued to look for him throughout the store.[15] By coincidence, she ran into her mother-in-law Jean, who helped her search for him.[16] After more than 90 minutes of searching and paging failed to locate Adam, Revé called the Hollywood Police at 1:55 p.m.[6]
On August 10, a severed head was found in a drainage canal alongside the Florida Turnpike near
The coroner ruled that the cause of Adam's death was
Investigation
John and Revé believed that the Hollywood police department had botched the treatment of Adam's disappearance, first with the missing-person investigation, and then with the murder investigation.[22]
After some investigation, police eventually concluded that Adam was abducted by a drifter named
Toole was never charged in Adam's case, although he provided seemingly accurate descriptions as to how he committed the crime. The 2019 Netflix miniseries The Confession Killer shows footage of him apparently being fed information from interrogators and he later confessed to several cases he had no involvement in.[24] Several witnesses also placed him in the Hollywood area in the days leading up to Adam's disappearance.[4] In September 1996, he died in prison of cirrhosis at the age of 49 while serving a life sentence for other crimes.[12] Later, his niece told John Walsh that he made a deathbed confession to Adam's murder.[12][25] His confession was viewed as unreliable, as he and Lucas confessed to or implicated themselves in more than 200 homicides.[26] Most of Lucas' confessions were later revealed to have been false, having been coerced by the Texas Rangers.[27]
In 1997, Hollywood police chief Rick Stone conducted an exhaustive review of Adam's case after the release of John's book. At the time, Stone was a 22-year veteran of the Dallas, Texas and Wichita, Kansas police departments and had been appointed Hollywood's chief of police in the previous year. Although the crime happened 16 years before the time of his review, he provided an analysis of the evidence, including a review of taped interrogations of Toole by Hollywood detective Mark Smith. Stone says that his review found evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Toole murdered Adam. Stone noted that both Toole and Lucas were notorious for confessing to crimes that they had committed and then recanting.[28]
In 2007, according to allegations that earned widespread publicity,
On December 16, 2008, Hollywood police chief Chad Wagner, with his friend John present, made the announcement that the case was now closed. An external review of the case had been conducted and police announced that they were satisfied that Toole was the murderer.[4][26][35]
Legacy
Children found
The television film Adam premiered on October 10, 1983.[36] The film was based on Walsh's kidnapping and murder, and it attracted 38 million viewers on its first airing.[2] Each of its three broadcasts in 1983, 1984 and 1985 were followed by pictures and descriptions of missing children. A hotline was also created to take calls that may have materialized into leads for investigators. The pictures and hotline were credited with finding 13 of the 55 children shown.[37][38][39][40] American rapper Bizzy Bone, who was abducted by his stepfather as a child, was reunited with his mother after a babysitter recognized a photo of him during the broadcast.[41]
Laws and organizations for missing children
In 1984, the U.S. Congress passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act, owing in part to the advocacy of the Walshes and other parents of missing children. It allowed the formation of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).[42]
The Code Adam program for helping lost children in department stores is named in Adam's memory. The U.S. Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act on July 25, 2006, and President George W. Bush signed it into law on July 27. The signing ceremony took place on the South Lawn of the White House, attended by John and Revé. The bill institutes a national database of convicted child molesters, and increases penalties for sexual and violent offenses against children.[43] It also creates a RICO cause of action for child predators and those who conspire with them.[44]
The Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016,[45] which provides budgetary allotments to continue programs passed in the 2006 Act, was incorporated into H.R. 5578, the Survivors’ Bill of Rights Act of 2016, and was enacted and signed by President Obama on October 7, 2016.
Societal impacts
The publicity that surrounded Adam's case and the widely watched television movie Adam also created what was described as a mid-1980s panic over stranger abductions, one out of proportion to the actual numbers and that has persisted for decades. Richard Moran, a criminologist at Mount Holyoke College says: "[The case] created a nation of petrified kids and paranoid parents. Kids used to be able to go out and organize a stickball game, and now all playdates and the social lives of children are arranged and controlled by the parents...the fear still lingers today."[46] Early estimates by the NCMEC would state that as many as 20,000 children a year were abducted by strangers, and public service spots relayed the perceived danger. A 1986 Pulitzer Prize exposé discussed a "numbers gap" between the claimed number and other statistics, such as that the FBI investigated a total of 67 abductions by total strangers in 1984.[47] By 1988, even as the NCMEC lowered annual estimates of stranger abductions by 80%, "early estimates had a life of their own." A 1990 study of child abductions found that 99% of them were family-related.[48][page needed] Between 2000 and 2015, the number of missing children ultimately killed decreased, partially attributed to the emergence of technologies such as mobile phones that allow calls for help.[46]
See also
References
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 61
- ^ a b Divoky, Diane (February 18, 1986), "Missing Tot Estimates Exaggerated", Lodi News-Sentinel, p. 2
- ^ "Americas Most Wanted – About John Walsh". Americas Most Wanted. Archived from the original on December 16, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ "Original Adam Walsh police reports (Adam Walsh death Certificate), p 753) (1981)" (PDF). Hollywood Florida Police Department.
- ^ a b c "Original Adam Walsh police reports (1981)" (PDF). Hollywood Florida Police Department.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, pp. 91–92
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 91
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 93
- ^ "Police Files On Adam's Disappearance Give Suspects, Leads, But No Conclusion". Archived from the original on October 12, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 174
- ^ a b c d "Ottis Toole on America's Most Wanted". America's Most Wanted. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2008.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 175
- ^ "Police: Drifter killed Adam Walsh in 1981". CNN. December 16, 2008. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, pp. 101–102
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, pp. 98–99
- ^ a b "Florida Today from Cocoa, Florida · Page 4B". Newspapers.com. August 11, 1981. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 217
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 161
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 229
- ^ Baum, Gary (December 12, 2014). "John Walsh Reveals Wrenching New Detail of Son's Death 33 Years Later". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
- ^ "John and Reve Walsh Relive Son's Murder". ABC News. March 3, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ "Mile Marker 126 investigation photo".
- ^ McDonell-Parry, Amelia; McDonell-Parry, Amelia (June 17, 2016). "10 Infamous Crime Spree Couples". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- The Washington Examiner.
- ^ a b Soltis, Andy (December 17, 2008). "1981 'Adam' Slay Solved". New York Post. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ "The Twilight of the Texas Rangers". Texas Monthly. June 16, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ Drummond, Tammerlin (October 27, 1997). "Books: An American Tragedy". Time. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 423
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 426
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 427
- ^ "Did Dahmer Have One More Victim?". The Milwaukee Channel. February 1, 2007. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2007.
- ^ Hurley, Bevan (October 4, 2022). "Did Jeffrey Dahmer Kill the son of America's Most Wanted host John Walsh?". The Independent. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
- ^ "Did Dahmer Have One More Victim? Witnesses Say They Saw Dahmer In Mall Where Adam Walsh Disappeared". ABC News The Milwaukee Channel.com. February 1, 2007. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ John Holland (December 17, 2008). "Adam Walsh case is closed after 27 years". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 309
- ^ Walsh & Schindehette 1998, p. 310
- Milwaukee Journal, pp. Life/Style 2, April 30, 1985[permanent dead link]
- Pittsburgh Press, pp. A11, May 1, 1985, retrieved June 6, 2010
- ^ "Girl Found In North Texas After Tip To National Center", The Victoria Advocate, p. 7F, May 2, 1985, retrieved April 30, 2014
- ^ "Bizzy Bone; Music Videos, News, Photos, Tour Dates, Ringtones, and Lyrics". MTV. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
- ^ "Mission and History" Archived October 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Retrieved November 4, 2012.
- ^ "President Signs H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006". White House. 2006. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
- ^ "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act" (Rich Text Format). Retrieved December 17, 2008.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Adam Walsh Reauthorization Act of 2016 (2016 – S. 2613)". GovTrack.us. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ a b Waxman, Olivia B. (August 10, 2016). "The U.S. Is Still Dealing With the Murder of Adam Walsh". TIME.com. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
- ^ "The 1986 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Public Service". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
- ISBN 9781452249544.
Further reading
- Jeffers, H. Paul. Profiles in Evil. Warner Books (1991). ISBN 978-0-70885-449-5.
- ISBN 978-0-67171-561-8.
- Walsh, John; Schindehette, Susan (1998). Tears of Rage: From Grieving Father to Crusader for Justice: The Untold Story of the Adam Walsh Case (Paperback ed.). Thorndike Press. ISBN 0786213124.