Post by Katie on Dec 29, 2008 15:22:35 GMT -6
On Monday, July 27, 1981, Adam's mother, Revé, let him watch a small group of older boys play video games at a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida, while she walked a few aisles away to shop for a lamp. When Revé returned to the video game section, she was frightened to find that Adam was not there. She then told a Sears associate, who announced over the intercom for Adam to meet his mother at one of the information desks. Revé later said that she had no confidence that Adam would be able to locate the desks. Adam and his mother were never reunited. There are claims that a security guard threw the children out of the store for bickering over the video game, and perhaps Adam was confused and thought he had to leave too. Investigators think Adam had been mistakenly associated with a group of older children who were causing trouble and told to leave the shopping mall. It is suspected that Adam was abducted near the front exterior of the store after the other boys went on their way
Adam's severed head was found in a Vero Beach, Florida canal on August 10, 1981; the rest of his remains have never been recovered.
Aftermath
Adam's kidnapping and murder prompted John Walsh, to become an advocate for victims' rights and helped to spur the formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). As a result of his advocacy, he was approached to host the television program America's Most Wanted.
The Code Adam program for helping lost children in department stores is named in Walsh's memory.
The U.S. Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act on July 25, 2006, and President Bush signed it into law on July 27, 2006. The signing ceremony took place on the South Lawn of the White House, where leaders from both sides of the political spectrum joined John and Revé Walsh. The bill institutes a national database of convicted child molesters, increases penalties for sexual and violent offenses against children.[5] It also creates a RICO course of action for child predators and those who conspire with them.
Suspects
Jeffrey Dahmer, arrested in Wisconsin in 1991 after killing more than a dozen men and boys, was also named as a suspect in the Walsh murder. Some have suggested a Dahmer link to the case for many years, but the allegations earned widespread publicity only in early 2007. Dahmer was living in Miami Beach at the time Adam was murdered and two eyewitnesses place him at the shopping mall on the day that Adam was abducted. Dahmer preyed on young men and boys (the youngest being eight years older than Adam), and his modus operandi included severing his victims' heads. Since this rumor has surfaced John Walsh has said that he has "seen no evidence linking his son's unsolved kidnapping and slaying to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer."[7]
Ottis Toole, repeatedly confessed and then retracted accounts of his involvement. Toole, allegedly a confidante of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, was never charged in the Walsh case, even though he provided seemingly accurate descriptions on how he had committed this crime. Police investigated Toole for the Walsh murder, but lost important evidence in the case, including the bloodstained carpet from the car interior, and then the entire car itself.[2]In September 1996, Toole died in prison at age 49 of cirrhosis of the liver and AIDS while serving a life sentence for other crimes.[3]Afterwards, Toole's niece told John Walsh that her uncle made a deathbed confession to the murder of Adam.[2] Toole's confession, however, had been viewed with skepticism by many, since he and Henry Lucas confessed to or implicated themselves in over 200 different homicides, many of which it has been proven they did not commit.
Case closed in 2008
Although no new evidence was presented, on December 16, 2008, the Hollywood, Florida Police Chief Chad Wagner announced, with John Walsh present, that the case was now closed. An external review of the case had been conducted and police announced that they were satisfied that Ottis Toole was the murderer.
good thing John Walsh started America's Most Wanted! I watch that almost every Saturday!! 
