Murder of Adam Walsh
| Adam Walsh | |
|---|---|
Walsh c. 1981
|
|
| Born |
November 14, 1974 Hollywood, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | July 27, 1981 (aged 6) Rural St. Lucie County, Florida, U.S. |
| Parent(s) | John Walsh and Revé Walsh (née Drew) |
Adam John Walsh (November 14, 1974 – July 27, 1981) was an American boy who was abducted from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981. His severed head was found two weeks later in a drainage canal alongside Florida's Turnpike in rural St. Lucie County, Florida. His death earned national publicity. His story was made into the 1983 television film Adam, seen by 38 million people in its original airing. His father, John Walsh, became an advocate for victims of violent crimes and was the host of the television program America's Most Wanted.
Convicted serial killer Ottis Toole confessed to Adam's murder, but was never convicted for this specific crime due to loss of evidence and a recanted confession. Toole died in prison of liver failure on September 15, 1996. Although no new evidence has come forth, on December 16, 2008, police announced that the Walsh case was closed as they were satisfied that Toole was the murderer.
On the afternoon of July 27, 1981, Revé, Adam's mother, took him shopping with her to the Hollywood ("Sears") Mall in Hollywood, Florida (26°00′46″N 80°10′30″W / 26.012847°N 80.175005°W). They went together to the Sears store and entered via the north entrance. Revé intended to inquire about a lamp which was on sale, and left Adam at a kiosk with Atari 2600 video games on display where several other boys were taking turns playing games. Revé completed her business in the lamp department at approximately 12:15 pm. 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 they leave the store. The security guard asked the older ones if their parents were there, and they said that they were not. It was later conjectured by Adam's parents that he was too shy to speak to the security guard, who presumed that he was in the company of the other boys, and as such the security guard made him leave by the same door as them (which was the Sears west entrance). His parents believe that after the other boys dispersed, Adam was left alone outside the store, at an exit unfamiliar to him. Meanwhile, unable to find Adam in the toy department after returning from the lamp department, Revé had Adam paged over the Sears public address system and continued to look for him throughout the store. She eventually by coincidence ran into Adam's grandmother Jean inside the store, who helped her search for her son. After more than 90 minutes of fruitless searching and public address pages which failed to turn up Adam, she called the Hollywood Police at 1:55 pm.
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