Police today officially declared Otis Toole the suspected killer of 6 year old Adam Walsh. 27 years ago, Reve Walsh, Adam’s mother, brought her son along to a Sears department store. She let him play with video games in the toy aisle while she shopped. Police suspect that a security guard kicked Adam out with some other boys. Adam was never seen alive again. Adam’s head was found sometime later.
The heinous act was a major news story, but the story was kept alive in large part by the work Adam’s father, John Walsh has done since the disappearance. John Walsh, a marketing executive for hotels at the time, started the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, co-founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and host the Fox television show “America’s Most Wanted”.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is credited with helping in the recovery of over 132,000 children.
Otis Toole, a convicted pedophile murderer, who died in prison in 1996, was the partner of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Toole had twice confessed to the murder of Adam Walsh. The problem is that he confessed to dozens of crimes that he could not have committed. Police have never had any solid evidence to go off of other than a piece of bloody carpet from Toole’s car, which disappeared while in police custody.
What happened to Adam Walsh is a tragedy. I hope this will give his parents closure. I know John (& I am sure Adam’s mother too) has never really been at peace since Adam disappeared. I admire John for the laws he helped get passed & for the National Centre for missing & exploited children. I was never a fan of his America’s most wanted show, as I thought it fostered a theme similar to the movie “Running Man” with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Also I believed it prejudiced an entire national jury pool as the show featured every suspect as if they had already been convicted and were guilty. However I don’t fault John Walsh but those who produced the show.
Let’s see how you feel if this happens to you and your family. My uncle was murdered and I just wanted that loser caught.