The Adam Walsh Tragedy: How a Father's Pain Changed America (Episode 163)

The murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh in 1981 didn't just devastate a family—it fundamentally transformed how America protects its children and hunts its criminals. What began as a routine shopping trip to a Florida Sears department store ended in unimaginable tragedy when Adam disappeared while playing at a video game display, only to be found murdered weeks later.

This horrific event catalyzed a revolution in American justice. Before Adam's case, there was no national database for missing children, no standardized protocols for immediate action, and no systematic way to mobilize the public in searches. His father John Walsh, previously a successful hotel developer, channeled his grief into creating these essential systems—founding the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, pioneering missing children images on milk cartons, and establishing "Code Adam" protocols now used in thousands of retail stores nationwide.

But Walsh's most visible legacy came through television. By creating and hosting "America's Most Wanted," he transformed crime-fighting from a passive spectator sport into an interactive nationwide manhunt where everyday citizens became crucial partners in bringing fugitives to justice. The show's success was staggering: over 1,600 fugitives captured, including serial killers, child predators, and terrorists. More importantly, it helped recover over 60 abducted children alive—saving countless families from experiencing the same devastation the Walshes endured.

The impact extends far beyond television. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 created comprehensive national standards for sex offender registration, while the Walsh family's advocacy directly influenced how law enforcement, businesses, and communities respond when children go missing. Through unimaginable pain, they forged systems that now protect millions.

Listen as we explore this pivotal moment in American justice and how one family's tragedy became the catalyst for a safer nation. Their story reminds us that sometimes the most powerful social change emerges from our darkest moments.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Picture this it's 1981.
Disco is dying, neon iseverywhere and in a Sears
department store in Florida, atragedy strikes that will change
America forever.
Six-year-old Adam Walshdisappears and the nation loses
its collective innocence.
But out of that darkness, ohsweet revenge.
John Walsh, suburban dad,turned full-time vengeance

(00:23):
machine, doesn't just grieve, hetransforms.
One minute he's building luxuryhotels, the next he's building
a national database to trackdown every creep, crook and
coward, coast to coast.
And America's Most Wanted, well, it becomes every fugitive's
worst nightmare.
Justice had a name, and it wasWalsh.
Had a name and it was Walsh.
So join us as we trace the sadbut true birth of America's Most

(00:45):
Wanted and how a father's worstnightmare turned into a
criminal takedown machine with acapture rate that made the FBI
look like mall cops.
So grab your tissues and yourpopcorn.
Justice is coming and it'swearing an 80s sports coat.
That's today on Death inEntertainment.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Live from Los Angeles 911, what is your emergency?

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Here in Hollywood now .

Speaker 6 (01:12):
Two counts of murder.
Injury and death, oh my God.
Shocking new details.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
That has stunned the entertainment world.

Speaker 5 (01:19):
This makes me a little nervous.
A hair stood up on my arms.

Speaker 7 (01:22):
Just like in the movies.
What do you call this thinganyway?

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Death.
End of entertainment.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Greetings Ditto Universe.

Speaker 6 (01:33):
What's up everybody?

Speaker 1 (01:34):
How the heck are you?
My name is Kyle Plouffe.

Speaker 6 (01:37):
I'm Ben Kissel.
Thank you so much for joiningus on this episode of Death in
Entertainment.
Find us on Patreon atpatreoncom.
Slash, diebud, diebud and OKBud joined forces or DiePod and.
Ok Bud have joined forces togive you the best content
possible throughout your week.
Today's episode my God, thismurder changed American

(02:02):
television.
It changed America forever.
Today we are discussing themurder of Adam Walsh and the
birth of America's Most Wantedyes and we are missing Alejandro
this week.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Not missing, child missing.

Speaker 6 (02:17):
No, he's still around .

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, he'll be back next week, so don't worry.

Speaker 6 (02:20):
Yes, there's no Amber Alert for Alejandro.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
But there is an alert to start this episode, let's go
.
Okay, so we're going to startit where it all began, with Mr

(02:52):
John Walsh the formative yearsof a future advocate.
John Walsh was born on December26, 1945 in Auburn, new York,
which that's a small industrialtown in upstate New York, just
outside of Syracuse, all right,where the Orange play, perfect

(03:12):
he was the oldest of fourchildren born to John Edward
Walsh Sr and Gene Walsh, I willsay the Orange, the least
creative name of all time.

Speaker 6 (03:16):
It's garbage.
For a sports team.
It's almost like the dude fromAnchorman, where he's just like
lamp microphone.
What should we name our collegeteam?
Orange anchorman, where he'sjust like lamp Microphone.
What should we name our college?

Speaker 1 (03:27):
team Orange, don't get peeled.
How do you root for an orange?
I don't know, I do.
His family was extremely rootedin the Irish Catholic tradition
, which just means being angryat yourself and everybody else.

Speaker 6 (03:39):
Absolutely as you should.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Self-hatred.
His parents, they say,emphasized strong moral values,
discipline and a commitment tohard work, which just means blue
collar.
Yes, his father worked as asalesperson for a construction
company, which is slightly it'slike light blue collar.

Speaker 6 (03:58):
It's elevated.
He's the one selling the bricksand the mortar.
He's not putting it down.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yeah, exactly, it provided the family with a
modest but stable living, whichis nice, that's America.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
Absolutely Upper middle class most likely.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
Yeah, walsh grew up in a close-knit neighborhood
where everybody knew each other.

Speaker 6 (04:16):
Which is a blessing and a curse.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
Yes, Because that emphasized that you could trust
people.

Speaker 6 (04:22):
Right, but then also next thing you know, Harold was
over at Becky's house duringlunch.
I wonder if we should tell TomRight.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
So everybody in his town.
They trusted each other, theytried to look out for one
another as best as they could,but like you said, they're also
pretty gossipy, I would imagine.
Of course John attended privateCatholic school in Auburn at
Our Lady of Mount Carmel HighSchool.

Speaker 6 (04:48):
Wow, that's all over Brooklyn.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
It sounds delicious.

Speaker 6 (04:51):
It really does.
It's fantastic.
Our Lady of Sprinkles is reallytop notch.
They do a whole festival inWilliamsburg.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
And it's fantastic.

Speaker 6 (04:59):
Yes, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
May you be blessed by the Father, the Son and the
Holy Nougat.

Speaker 6 (05:05):
I love it.
I feel like a Snickers bar forChrist For real.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
That'd be good communion Snack-sized yeah,
exactly.

Speaker 6 (05:12):
Hey God, can you sweeten up your body a little
bit?

Speaker 1 (05:15):
Get some diabetes in here, but there he was an
average student academically butshowed a strong interest in
history and civics, areas thatreflect his later commitment to
justice and public service,absolutely.
He participated in high schoolactivities like sports.
He was really good at football,apparently, okay, so he's not
scared of backing down fromanybody.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
Absolutely not.
Upstate New York football anaggressive game.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Yeah.
During his youth, Walsh showedan entrepreneurial spirit, often
working part-time jobs such asmowing lawns and caddying at
local golf courses to earn extramoney I caddied for one weekend
.

Speaker 6 (05:50):
Really, yeah, they never asked me back.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I was like when's lunch.
You were casting too much of ashadow and that was awful.

Speaker 6 (05:55):
The whole thing is stupid uh.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
The post-world war ii era was a time of significant
change in america, and john grewup with the values of
patriotism, communityresponsibility and faith in
public institutions, which isn'tthe best thing yet.

Speaker 6 (06:11):
That has changed quite a bit.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Big time, but it's again being very trusting of you
know, the institutions andpeople in general.

Speaker 6 (06:20):
I mean it's rose-colored glasses, but it
does seem like a simpler time,even though I'm sure it wasn't
because everyone was hidingunder their desk because they
thought that was going to helpthem survive a nuclear holocaust
.
Yeah, that too, but it doesseem like white picket fences,
warm apple pie, old schoolAmericana.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
Family was central to his life.
He spent a lot of his time withhis extended relatives and
learned early about loyalty andthe importance of personal
responsibility.
After high school, johnattended the university at
buffalo, where he graduated witha bachelor of arts degree in
history in 1967.
And this university at buffalo,it's not university of buffalo,

(06:57):
it's university at buffalo.
Okay, it's nothing to sneeze at.
We got notable alumni thatinclude, uh, you know, death and
entertainment regular JaninePirro.

Speaker 6 (07:06):
Whoa, janine Pirro from Fox News.
Yeah, dude, I've met JaninePirro many times.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
She seems like she'd be hot in person.

Speaker 6 (07:14):
She's real mean, and when she takes off her makeup
it's like you're Bill O'Reilly.
It's crazy, bro.
She yells at everybody all thetime and she's really tiny and
scary.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Oh my god.
She's been on the death andentertainment shit list for a
long time.
We got wolf blitzer coming fromthis school I've also met wolf.
He's very tiny as well yeah, alittle salt and pepper shakers,
those two yeah, weird looking inreal life huge head khalil mac,
who, uh, plays for our LosAngeles Chargers.
Oh, terry Gross from NPR, whogot into it with Hillary Clinton

(07:49):
.
That's the NPR host that I wastelling you about.
That Hillary was like I neversaid I was against gay marriage
and she was like yes, you didRight.
James Starks of the Green BayPackers, and the list goes on to
end right there, pretty much.

Speaker 6 (08:03):
Okay, well, that's been significant At Buffalo.
Yes, significant alumni.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
Yeah, it's just interesting because at that time
John Walsh had no aspirationsto be in the media like all
these folks.
He was just a guy that wantedto broaden his understanding of
American history and move on tobigger and better things.
Right, he graduated in 1967 andimmediately took off for the
glitz and the glamour ofHollywood Florida.

Speaker 6 (08:28):
Beautiful, beautiful Honey, we're going to Hollywood,
florida.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
I hate when big towns have other major famous cities'
names.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
I've been to Hollywood Florida.
It's all right, it's all right.
It's all right.
I mean, they're probablyfilming more stuff there now
than Hollywood California.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
That's true.
John actually got a jobimmediately working in the
luxury hotel business.
He worked in hotel managementand luxury resort development,
which at the time was booming,because everyone was like, oh,
I'm just going to go down toFlorida and die.

Speaker 6 (08:57):
I wonder if he had anything to do with the
Margaritaville.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Possibly.
Yeah, so he wasn't just somehotel clerk.
He was involved in high-enddevelopment and marketing, often
working with investors directlyin management groups to build,
promote and sell luxury hotelproperties.
Oh, so he had a whole bunch ofskills, sales and marketing, uh,
management and development ofprojects from construction to

(09:23):
operation.

Speaker 6 (09:23):
So he was doing everything dang, and I wasn't
just fantasizing hollywood.
Florida has one of the bestmargaritavilles in the world.
It's right on the beach.
I stayed there many times, yeahoh, it's like a whole resort
it's a margaritaville baby.
Wow, only the best, they gotbig old sandal.
When you walk in you see a bigsandal.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
I fed that too, and one of them's at universal city
walk here and the other ones atuniversal in orlando, florida,
but they're just the restaurants.
I didn't know that they hadlike a whole resort dude when I
was on the lamb.
I spent two weeks atmargaritaville wow yeah, wasting
away, baby, yeah, cheeseburgersand paradise pretty much.
It was like the opposite ofwasting away, though, because I
was eating a lot yeah, yeah, itwas gaining gaining a ton at

(10:06):
margaritaville uh, so yeah, hewould negotiate with city
developers, officials andfinanciers well respected guy
yes, uh, he promoted florida asthe the luxury destination to
wealthy tourists and investors,which is it's true it worked.
Yeah, I mean, it's so humidafter coming to california.

(10:26):
Florida used to be one of myfavorite places to go when I was
a kid.
I had an aunt that lived neardisney and it was awesome, sure.
But now I've gone back, I'mlike I am covered in film the
whole time.

Speaker 6 (10:36):
Right, I just feel gross yeah, my folks uh were in.
They are in fort lauderdalearea.
I mean it's nice, but again Idon't think I could live there.
It does seem that it's aspecial kind of sun.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, and it rains every day at noon and four
o'clock and then you just got todeal with it.
It's brutal.
Yeah, so yes he eventuallybecame a successful executive,
but during that time he metRavay, his wife, his soon to be
wife.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
Ravay.

Speaker 1 (11:04):
They met in the late 1960s, while John was working in
Florida, and they married in1971.
By all accounts, there was astrong relationship built on
mutual love, ambition and ashared dream of building a
family together.
So they actually went thetraditional route, which is you
get married first and then youhave a kid, which in my family
it's you have a kid and then go.

(11:24):
Eh, might as well just getmarried now, right, kind of yeah
, put the horse before the cart,or something like that.

Speaker 4 (11:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (11:31):
Or the cart before the horse.
Right.
Well then you have to getmarried.
Right.
It's called sandbagging.
That's a good thing to do.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
The couple lived a relatively normal, happy life
and then they settled in SouthFlorida.
In 1974, they welcomed theirfirst child, adam Walsh, into
the world.
Oh, adam.
Adam was born November 14, 1974, in Hollywood, Florida, and his
parents doted on him.
They described him as a happy,intelligent, gentle child.
The Walshes were a young,upwardly, mobile couple.

(12:00):
That's just fancy words, forthey were making that money.

Speaker 6 (12:03):
They could walk.
Yeah, that's actually prettywords, for they were making that
money.
They could walk, yeah.
Yeah, that's actually prettygood for florida if you can walk
upright.
They had opposable thumbs youbetter watch out for those
scooters in florida.
They don't care at all yeah,they'll go right through your
windshield.
Seriously, everyone drives golfcarts too yeah hammered.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
It's so weird john, um, like you said, went to work
every day.
Revay was a stay-at-home momand they were thriving Nice.
Adam was described as a kindand curious boy.
He was friendly, polite and hada love for the outdoors.
Family and neighbors said heloved fishing, swimming and
playing with his friends.

(12:39):
He was especially close withhis mother, as all of us guys
are.
We're all mama's boys, gotta be.

Speaker 6 (12:45):
Yeah, got to be, and my mom was also a stay-at-home
mother but we took in fosterchildren and she would also take
in.
I guess we ran a nurserybasically at my home.
So I loved my mom very much andI bought her a house in Fort
Lauderdale and I'm done.
There you go.
My mission is complete on thisearth, Nice.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
He was reportedly very shy around strangers but
confident around the people heloved and trusted, which, you
know, that's like pretty muchall of us, I guess.

Speaker 6 (13:11):
Oh, it's kind of ironic though.

Speaker 1 (13:13):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 6 (13:14):
Oh sad.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, his smile and soft-spoken nature made him
endearing to nearly everyone hemet.
So in 1981, adam had justfinished kindergarten at St
Mark's Episcopal School.

Speaker 6 (13:24):
Hard school.
Yeah, you can see the blood onhis knuckles already.
Don't look like a six-year-oldRight.
Whap, whap.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
Teachers remembered him as bright, eager to learn
and sweet-natured.
He was about to start the firstgrade in the fall of 1981.
But at this time, on July 27,1981, adam he was six years old
at the time he went with hismother, revae, to the Sears
department store at theHollywood Mall in Hollywood,
florida.

Speaker 6 (13:49):
It's a fun day for a kid when you get to go to the
Sears the.
Kmart.
The Piggly Wiggly with your mom.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Woolworths.
Do you guys have those?
We didn't have a Woolworths inWisconsin, but that was a
guaranteed toy day.

Speaker 6 (14:00):
Yes, because when dad's there you might not get
the toy or he'll talk you down.
Yeah, but mom you're gonna,you're gonna get a top shelf toy
but this was a routine outingfor them.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
They did it all the time.
Uh, revay was shopping forlamps while adam, like all the
kids at the time.
They were drawn to the videogame display.
Of course you gotta go.
You see the bright lights.
They actually have thecontrollers there.
You can like go kick kids outof the way and we talking atari
here.

Speaker 6 (14:24):
Then, july 27 1981, I was six days old.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Wow isn't that crazy yeah so we're talking atari,
maybe the original nes we aretalking atari, atari wow, atari
2600 demo unit dang yeah, simpletime yeah, so they got probably
you, you know Pong RightAsteroids or something.

Speaker 6 (14:44):
Asteroids tank attack .

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Yeah.
There was one in my dentist'soffice just to make that
experience even worse, revaeleft Adam at the game station
and just went a few aisles away,with the understanding that she
would return in a few minutes.
Yeah, when she came back, adamwas gone.

Speaker 6 (15:06):
This is literally just an advertisement for Amazon
.
Feel free to order.
Feel free to order online yourlamps don't go out there that is
so sad it's awful.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
And she spent 90 minutes running around trying to
find exactly where he was.
Oh uh, was paging him in thestore, and then she was asking
the people in the store if theycould page the whole mall.
They're like, no, you gotta goto a security guard.
So she was running aroundtrying to find them, oh my god
it was just a complete nightmare, totally.
And they finally called thepolice after 90 minutes had

(15:34):
passed by.

Speaker 6 (15:36):
Then it's just, they're gone I mean, the best
case scenario is you get theadam walsh, come to the front
desk, adam walsh, and you knowyou're in a little bit of
trouble because you were in thetoy department too long.
And your mom is going to beslightly perturbed.
Yeah, but this is far worse.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
Yeah, store employees finally came out and said they
asked him to leave because therewas a group of kids there and
they all started a fight at theAtari station.

Speaker 6 (15:59):
What.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
So there was some roughhousing or an argument.
He what?
So there was some roughhousingor an argument.
He's six years old.
They misidentified him to be apart of the group.

Speaker 6 (16:08):
Oh my.

Speaker 1 (16:09):
God.
So they were like hey, everyoneget out.
Bye, oh Lord, and so there wasdefinitely some commotion near
the video game display.

Speaker 6 (16:17):
I want to play as the left pong.
I want to play as the left pong.
Now we fight.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Yep, and now they're all kicked out.

Speaker 6 (16:24):
I mean really, it's a testament to how boring those
games were.
Nowadays, kids are too enamoredto fight.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Right.
It's believed, like I said,adam was mistaken for one of the
older kids and was told toleave with them, and then the
kids just left him.
Witnesses claim they saw ayoung boy waiting outside the
store near the exit andseemingly distressed.
It's assumed that Adam wastaken from just outside the
store due to its proximity rightnear the mall's west entrance,
so that Sears, all thosedepartment stores, macy's Sears,

(16:52):
they're all in the corners ofthe mall, so it's right there
when you get in.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Yeah, they were the cornerstone stores.
Yeah, literal.
Yeah, it was like we had aShopko at ours and then a
JCPenney on the other end.
Yeah, it was like we had aShopko at ours and then a
JCPenney on the other end.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, jcpenney was big Sears.
All those, those were yourflagships.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
Those were the ones that really kept the mall going
so you could have a KB Toys inthe middle.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Yes, so the initial response and investigation.
When Reve realized Adam wasmissing, she searched the store,
contacted mall security, whoshe described as shockingly lax.

Speaker 6 (17:24):
I mean, is it?
I mean, is it shockingly lax?

Speaker 1 (17:27):
yeah, at this time there really wasn't any system
or anything.
They were just like oh, you'llfind your kid like get away from
right we all.

Speaker 6 (17:35):
I mean there's serious security guards in
hollywood, florida, right,exactly?
I'm sorry, ma'am, I actuallytook this job, uh, because I got
a probation officer and theysaid I need work.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Right In the made for TV movie about this.
The mom Reve is going to mallsecurity and he's like you can
call the cops if you want.
Yeah, just call the cops.
Dude, you have the same fuckingoutfit on.
You can't help.

Speaker 6 (17:54):
Name's actually Paul Paul Blart.
There's going to be a movieabout me.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
Yeah, so, like I said , police weren't called until 90
minutes later and early effortswere very uncoordinated and
ineffective.
So over the next two weeks, theWalsh family launched a massive
search, contacting mediaoutlets and distributing flyers,
which is a practice that wasnot common before Adam's case.

Speaker 6 (18:15):
It's just so shocking .
You never know what happenswhen you wake up in the morning
Just going to Sears.
Normal day.

Speaker 4 (18:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (18:27):
And then the first revelation of like where my kid
it's like.
All right, I'll find him, he'sprobably in the toy section.
90 minutes later he's got to besomewhere two weeks later.
Brutal, just unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Life changes so fast yeah the response from the
police and the media wassluggish, as protocols for
missing children at the timewere severely lacking we don't
care right now.

Speaker 6 (18:45):
Yeah, I guess we don't care about the children
going missing right now.

Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yeah, at this point in 1981, it is very tough.

Speaker 6 (18:51):
Sorry, mr and Mrs Walsh.
Turns out he ran away, wantedto join the circus.
You ever see the movie Dumbo?

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Two weeks after Adam disappeared.
It was 16 days to be exact,august 10th 1981.
A severed head was found in thedrainage canal.
Oh 120 miles away, near VeroBeach, florida.
The remains were positivelyidentified as Adam Walsh through
dental records.

Speaker 6 (19:14):
Oh my God, 120 miles.
So was he.
Do we know?
Was he alive throughout that?
When was he actually killed?
Do they know?

Speaker 1 (19:22):
So they think he was killed relatively quickly.
Okay, it says the cause ofdeath was asphyxiation.
Okay.
And the decapitation likelyoccurred post-mortem.
Oh my God.
Due to decomposition, the timeof death and other forensic
details were difficult todetermine.
Oh.
But they're sure that he waskilled before.

(19:43):
And then I think it's the lackof blood or dripping or
something, because once yourheart stops, your blood's not
pumping, you don't lose as muchblood.

Speaker 6 (19:50):
It's never good when they can only find out who you
are by your dental records.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
I know.

Speaker 6 (19:55):
That's not good at all.

Speaker 1 (19:56):
And that's going to make the first trip to my
dentist with my son superfucking scary and sad.
Yeah, like, oh, we're preppingfor if we need to identify you
well, nowadays they got otherstuff.

Speaker 6 (20:06):
You know, there's dna , not just dental stuff anymore.
I mean, if your kid's killed,we'll find the killer, don't
worry, kyle.
Oh, that's good don't evenworry about it sheesh, yeah, no,
caden's not gonna be taken.
He's already the size of alinebacker yeah, he really is.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
He's very difficult to pick up he is adorable,
adorable.
Very hard to abduct.
So John and Revae, they arecompletely distraught.
Their body of their son wasnever found.
They only found the head.
Oh my God.
So we don't know what happenedto the body.
John and Revae Walsh.

(20:40):
They become advocates formissing children, leading to the
establishment of the Adam WalshChild Resource Center.

Speaker 6 (20:45):
Okay, so did he quit his job at this point?
Were they 100% focused onactivism now?

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Yes, yeah, there was no turning back anymore.
He couldn't go back to buildinga hotel.
Yeah, they were so distraughtand needed.
They never wanted this tohappen to anyone else, ever
again.

Speaker 6 (21:03):
And this is their only child right.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
At this time.

Speaker 6 (21:06):
yes, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Which is crazy.
They do spoiler alert go on tohave three more kids, and that
is a testament in itself totheir relationship, because
people leave if you get a coldRight, like, oh, you're too sick
for me, I'm out of here.

Speaker 6 (21:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
And the fact that they stayed through the loss of
their first child that theyloved more than the world itself
is insane.
That they stuck together.

Speaker 6 (21:28):
Especially just such a traumatic way, such a
traumatic death.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
Yep.

Speaker 6 (21:32):
God dang.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
So this is where everything changes Legislatively
.
There's the entry of missingchildren's information into the
FBI's National Crime InformationCenter database.

Speaker 6 (21:50):
You know, there was one senator just being like well
, do we have to investigate allof them?
Yeah, I got a couple of kids onthe floorboards here in North
Carolina.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Don't look at my state Right.
Right 1984, it contributes tothe enactment of the Missing
Children's Assistance Act,leading to the creation of the
National Center for Missing andExploited Children, which is
what the Adam Walsh ChildResource Center became.
Okay, it also led to thecreation of our favorite thing
growing up that totally didn'tscare the shit out of us at all

(22:19):
the Missing Children pictures onmilk cartons.

Speaker 6 (22:22):
Right, that was awful .
I always thought if you drankthe milk, you became one of them
.
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Your picture goes right into it.

Speaker 6 (22:30):
Yeah, I was like well , I'm drinking chocolate milk.
What do you want me to do aboutTim?
I'm not sure if I'm going to beable to find this kid today.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
I don't know if I have time Right.
Walmart this is also weird.
Walmart created a programcalled Code Adam, which is the
precursor to Sounds like a newMountain Dew.

Speaker 6 (22:47):
Yeah, code Adam, code Adam.
You want to get diabetes?
Lose your head.
All right, come on, that's ajoke.
Oh man, that's a joke, come on.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Jeez, I mean we're going to have a few laughs here.
Yeah, other brick-and-mortarretailers retailers, actually
adult adopted this code adam.
This is pretty much whathappened.
They would have to place a codeadam decal at the front of the
business to let everybody knowthat they're code adam friendly.

Speaker 6 (23:10):
and then I mean who didn't I don't care if kids go
missing here at jb's hardwarethey're probably people ripping
them down, like there's somecreeps out there the thing is,
if we stop people from abductingkids, my ducktail sales are
gonna dip my hacksaw, sales aregonna dip.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
You gotta think about it from the hardware
perspective, right so employeesat these businesses were trained
to do to take the followingsteps.
If a visitor reports a child ismissing, a detailed description
of the child is obtained, whichshould include their name, age,
hair color, eye color,approximate height and weight,
clothing and a photo, if theyhave one.

Speaker 6 (23:44):
Also their sign.
Yes, you want theirastronomical sign.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
The employee goes to the nearest in-house telephone
and pages code Adam describingthe child's physical features
and clothing.
What were they wearing?

Speaker 6 (23:58):
Okay, not like that, not like that.
Kyle, it's not a sex line, no,so just tell me what was your
name.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
I mean only for the guy that's abducting them.
Yeah, oh God.
The visitor will be directed tothe entrance to help identify
the child.
It seems all like it shouldhave always been happening.

Speaker 6 (24:12):
Yes, this is happening before.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
Other than cashiers who need to keep taking in the
money.
All employees search likelyhiding places for the missing
child.
The police are immediatelycalled.
If the child is located andappears to be lost or unharmed,
their identity must be verified.
If the child is located with anadult that is not their parent
or guardian, reasonable effortsshould be employed to delay the
departure of the adult.

(24:36):
Yeah, yes, what are you guys upto?
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (24:42):
the adult.
So, yeah, yeah, what are youguys up to?
Yeah, well, now I'm actuallyunderstanding why youtube
vigilantes have taken overbusting pedophiles instead of
the government and uh and police, yeah like these are some good
ideas here yeah.
So what are you doing with thatkid?
That's not yours, because youknow how sometimes you just hang
out with a six-year-old that'snot yours at the local ralphs
after this child is eitherpositively identified or
reunited with the Guardian.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
all collected information has been turned over
to the police.
An employee will page the storeagain to cancel the Code Adam
Code Adam's over.

Speaker 6 (25:11):
Canceled.
God, it's like Fyre Fest.
Yeah, I was just getting intothis.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
Yeah, it's crazy because I don't remember hearing
Code Adam ever growing up.

Speaker 6 (25:22):
I don't remember that either.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Legislation was enacted by Congress in 2003 to
mandate that all federal officebuildings or base or post
exchanges on military basesadopt the program.

Speaker 6 (25:33):
In 2003?
.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (25:35):
So 20 years plus later.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (25:37):
Wow, 30 years plus.
What is math?

Speaker 1 (25:40):
What's time no 20 plus uh, so those are all the
creations that are happening,okay, plus one more.
In early 1988, millions inamerica heard this message
starting tonight, america justmay be a safer place.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
America's Most Wanted Television's first weekly
manhunt is a new weapon in thebattle against crime, and it's
sending America's Most Wantedrapists, robbers and murderers
back to jail.
Host John Walsh, whosesix-year-old son, Adam, was
brutally murdered, leads thiscrusade against crime.
David James Roberts, sentencedto death for the arson murders

(26:20):
of the Patrick family whoreturned home to find him inside
waiting for them Duringtransport, Roberts used a
Derringer to overpower guardsand fled.
Then America's most wanted wentafter him.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Your phone tips led the FBI to David James Roberts'
hideout.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
So their first episode.
They're already catching people.

Speaker 6 (26:39):
This is incredible man I am amped people.

Speaker 1 (26:40):
This is incredible.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Man, I am amped up, I am ready to go.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
Exactly so.
That's what was different aboutthis show America's Most Wanted
.
You would think it's scarybecause you're like, oh my God,
there's criminals around us.
But this would actually amp youup, even as a kid, to be like
let's get these motherfuckers.

Speaker 6 (26:54):
I'm a little fake police badge.
Yeah, and I had my little fakegun.
I was ready to rock and roll.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Because at the time also, unsolved Mysteries was on
and they were just pretty muchlike you're fucked, aliens are
coming to get you or there's achild molester in your bed right
now.
Good luck.

Speaker 6 (27:08):
Good night.
The bed is a molester.
You're being molested by yourmattress.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Yeah, so this one.
It made you want to run througha wall to fucking catch these
guys dang also.

Speaker 6 (27:19):
They really fill you with a lot of information there.
Yeah, and for him, for, uh, mrwalsh, having to relive that
constantly, I I wonder if thatwas a motivator where he, um,
where he wanted to remember adamyeah, is that where he's like,
I remember the pain and I'mstill going through the pain.
So that's my motivation to makesure this doesn't happen to

(27:39):
anybody else, or at least we getsome justice it is tough
because even this show startedjust a matter of years after.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
It's like dude, I'd be like crying every fucking
episode, yeah what about sevenyears after he was?

Speaker 6 (27:51):
uh, yeah, his head was found.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, exactly like.
That is such a traumatic eventthat now you're trying to stop
it from happening for otherpeople.

Speaker 6 (27:58):
I'd be like I don't together I could totally see it
going the other way, where it'slike I do a show about water
slides and water slideaccessories yeah, like I
wouldn't want anything to dowith trauma totally checked out
murder because it's just sotriggering I know it's so crazy.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
So on february 7th 1988 america sees america's most
wanted for the first time onfox, and it was a program aimed
at profiling fugitives andsoliciting public assistance and
capturing them.
America's most wanted turnedevery living room in america
into its own fbi headquarters,dang, and I didn't realize
there's actually some major getsthat.

(28:36):
They got like capturingfugitives wise.
Okay, uh, john list.
He in 1971 murdered his wife,mother and three children.
Then vanished dang and after 18years on the run a viewer
recognized his updated ageprogression bust done by a
forensic sculptor yo, that stuffwas good back then everyone's
like ai ai, but yes, back in theday, they would just clay it.

(29:00):
Yeah, they would use clay andthey were pretty accurate, but
those would be like the scariestpart, because it was like
uncanny valley, where it's likesomething was off and this
person's evil and it's somethingit's, it's fucking possessed
well, usually the person on thelamp.

Speaker 6 (29:12):
They didn't change enough.
They'd get a mustache.
You got to gain 500, 600 pounds.
You got to do something soextreme where you don't even
look like the same person at all.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, so his capture happened in 1989, first year of
the show being on the air.
He was living under theearliest, robert Clark, in
Virginia.
He was remarried and wasworking at an accounting firm.

Speaker 6 (29:35):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (29:36):
This guy who just killed five people.

Speaker 6 (29:38):
I wonder that must have been a shock for his new
wife.
Well he's like, well I didn'tkill you.
Yeah, well, you should feellucky.
See, I really loved you.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
The way.

Speaker 6 (29:48):
I didn't murder you and all your family.

Speaker 1 (29:50):
Yeah, david James Roberts was another.
He was a convicted killer whoescaped prison and then
kidnapped a family A family hewas featured a woman and her two
children.
He was featured on the veryfirst episode, february 7th 1988
, and was captured four daysafter the episode aired imagine
you're watching and, all of asudden, the person that you're

(30:10):
watching with is on the screenand this is like eating popcorn
too like I'm gonna go to thebathroom.

Speaker 6 (30:15):
I'm just gonna go to the bathroom really quick and
you'll never see me again oh god, I didn't realize.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Also they were responsible for taking down the
elizabeth smart kidnappersreally yeah, 14 year old
elizabeth smart was abductedfrom her home in salt lake city
in 2002, and national coveragefeatured her abductor's sketches
and descriptions.
And a viewer tip from america'smost wanted led to the rescue
of elizabeth and the arrest ofbrian david mitchell and wanda

(30:42):
barzy oh, they were so freaking,scary and weird looking
crackheads, dude.

Speaker 6 (30:46):
Yes, so scared, wow.
So that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (30:50):
Yeah, elizabeth smart , that story, that story was
everywhere that was another one,like like john bidet ramsey,
where they thought the parentshad something to do with it
because they were just richpeople that were like I don't
know, our daughter just wentmissing randomly in the middle
of the night and people werelike really Was it a religious
thing?

Speaker 6 (31:05):
Probably it was something to do with, I don't
know.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Weird Mormonism out there.
It could be, I don't know.

Speaker 6 (31:12):
Could be.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
The railroad killer Rafael Resendez Ramirez.
He was a drifter who hoppedtrains and committed brutal
murders across the US.

Speaker 6 (31:22):
Well, that's what you're supposed to do.
He was on brand anyway.
He put the work in.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, after his profile aired, the intense
public pressure led him tosurrender himself at the
US-Mexico border, and I'm surehe probably did it on the US
side, because Mexican prisonsdon't fuck around.

Speaker 6 (31:39):
Well, the USs prisons aren't that much better ah, you
get three hots in a cot kind ofI've seen it three luke warms
and a brick.
Really it's more of a concreteslab.
Yeah, but sure I do love that.
He's like what do I get themoney for turning myself in?
Yeah, I got some commissaryhere please.
I read a story about that acouple of months ago where I
turned himself in and wanted theuh give me the money wanted,

(31:59):
wanted the money for finding thekiller, and they were like no,
no, you're the killer, so youdon't get it for turning
yourself in.
But I think they should givehim $100 in the commissary.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
That's true, but this was proof that even serial
killers felt the heat from theshow.
This is such a crazy thingthat's happening?

Speaker 6 (32:15):
How do you even find it on the railways?
What TV did he have?

Speaker 1 (32:21):
I mean there could have been like a nice amtrak.
He found himself on that, had atv and he was like, oh shit,
dang.
Angela and jennifer rowe.
They were kidnapped by theirmother during a bitter custody
battle and tipsters spotted themat a homeless shelter.
After seeing their faces on theshow, oh so yeah, that's good.

Speaker 6 (32:39):
So those are not everyone was killed.
They saved lives.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Yes.

Speaker 6 (32:44):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
FBI's 10 most wanted.
They got multiple people.
They got 17 of the FBI's top 10fugitive over the years on the
air Dang, that is massive.

Speaker 6 (32:55):
I mean, that's the creme de creme.
That's really the list you wantto be on if you're a criminal,
because then you're top 10.
Yeah, creme de creme, that'sreally the list you want to be
on if you're a criminal, becausethen you're top 10.
By the way, I'm almost top 100in Madden 25, so I kind of feel
that, I kind of feel cool.
It's kind of like the samething.

Speaker 1 (33:10):
This is crazy the America's Most Wanted producing
team and John Walsh himself.
They would work hand-in-handwith the FBI on the big cases.

Speaker 6 (33:22):
It's fucking so weird Yeah's bizarre this television
personality just walking in asif he's been deputized, but in
some ways he has yeah, I'm inthe screen actors guild.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
I know what I'm talking about.
It's sag yeah, it's fine, fbi,sag you get it yeah, and lastly,
one of the biggest uh gets thatthe show got were the DC
snipers.

Speaker 6 (33:42):
Whoa, they caught the .

Speaker 1 (33:43):
DC snipers.
Yes, in 2002, a series ofdeadly sniper attacks around
Washington DC happened andAmerica's Most Wanted aired
critical information about ablue Chevrolet Caprice that was
connected to the shootings, andthe vehicle was spotted at a
rest stop and tips from the showpoured in.

Speaker 6 (34:01):
Dude, I'm so pissed about the Dc sniper.
Obviously it was really scaryand stuff, because everyone was
getting popped in dc even thoughhe didn't kill any of the
politicians.
That would have been so fun tosee their brains explode.
But there was a movie madeabout it and it fucking sucked
really.
It was so boring.
It was called like bluecadillac or some shit and it was
so boring.
I was like how are?
How are you going to make aserial sniper?
Not interesting.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, and how are they not going to be white?

Speaker 6 (34:23):
Well, that was a big thing.
That was.
Everyone was like this is oneof us, One of our Caucasian
brothers was doing this, but nodiversity, Was it it?

Speaker 1 (34:35):
was.

Speaker 6 (34:36):
D folks.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
It was woke and inclusion.
Yeah, it was folks.

Speaker 6 (34:39):
it was woke, an inclusion yeah, it was a woke
spree.

Speaker 1 (34:41):
It was a woke spree, he was a woke sniper so while
all this is going on, he'shelping america figure out all
their crimes and their criminals, putting everybody away.
But the police still had notmade an arrest, but there was a
theory that did not go away inthe death of adam, in the death
of adam, okay there was a theorythat the one, the only, je
Jeffrey Dahmer, may have beeninvolved in the 1981 abduction

(35:03):
and murder of six-year-old AdamWalsh.

Speaker 6 (35:05):
I've heard this theory.
Now I'm going to push back,though, because I Can.
I push back.
Sure Dahmer was not a pedophile.
He Well that one.
He was having sex with a15-year-old Filipino boy.
But this really wasn't Dahmer'sMO yes, children and the
beheading, because he actuallywould have kept the.
That's disgusting, but he wouldhave kept Adam's skull and he

(35:28):
would have made a shrine out ofit because that's what he wanted
to do.
He wanted to have these peopleclose with him and they would
never leave him.
Yeah, it was obviouslypsychotic, but it doesn't seem
like something that Dahmer woulddo To his credit.
Yeah, to Jeffrey Dahmer'scredit, I don't think he did
this.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
We didn't know he'd be saying that today.
No, let's see the evidence here.
Okay, arguments in favor of theDahmer theory here.
Proximity and timeline Dahmerwas in Miami Beach in July 1981.

Speaker 6 (36:00):
He's a closeted gay man from the Midwest.
That's where they go?

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Yes, and he was seeking to escape scrutiny after
being discharged from the army,so he was holding his head in
shame.
Oh yeah, the Hollywood Mall wasless than 25 minutes away from
where he was staying.
A worker at the nearby SunshineMotel later said Dahmer stayed
there at the time of theabduction.
Okay, there were a feweyewitnesses that gave the

(36:22):
descriptions of a young, thinwhite man with a crew cut and
glasses, seen at the mall with achild resembling Adam.

Speaker 6 (36:28):
I do love whenever there's a hotel named Sunshine.
That means that the people thatare in there are sleeping
throughout the day becausethey're all addicted to drugs.
Ah yeah, so it's mostly activeat nighttime isn't it?

Speaker 1 (36:39):
It is, so it's mostly active at nighttime, isn't it?
It is?
Composite sketches that weremade at the time are pretty
similar to a young JeffreyDahmer.
Dahmer was known for luringyoung boys and teens,
dismemberment and decapitationand keeping body parts as
trophies, If you remember.
We haven't found the body ever.

Speaker 6 (36:54):
Oh, so you think he's just got the corpse?

Speaker 1 (36:55):
He discarded the head , kept the corpse.

Speaker 6 (36:57):
I feel like he wants the head.

Speaker 1 (36:59):
Maybe Discarded the head, kept the corpse.
I feel like he wants the head,maybe, okay.
A former detective named JoeMatthews, who reinvestigated the
case years later, becameconvinced Dahmer could have been
involved.

Speaker 6 (37:07):
Now Joe Matthews.
Is he one of these guys thatjust goes on television, though?
Yeah, probably Try to get hisMSNBC and Fox News time.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Well, yeah, there was one guy who said he was a
witness.
There was one guy who said hewas a witness he was at Sears on
July 27th 1981, and said he metDahmer face to face, Face to
face.
Yeah, so he knows that Dahmerwas there and he goes.
How do I know?
Read my book On sale at Sears,yeah and it was $30 for a

(37:38):
self-published, I was like, allright, that's a little too much.

Speaker 6 (37:40):
Oh, that's a lot yeah .

Speaker 1 (37:41):
In 1991, after Dahmer's arrest, an inmate named
Willis Morgan claimed he sawDahmer at the Hollywood Mall the
day Adam disappeared.
So now we have multiple peoplesaying they saw Dahmer at the
Hollywood Mall.

Speaker 6 (37:54):
Skinny white shaggy glasses 1981, florida.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
I think that's a lot of people.
Yeah, arguments against it thatdommer himself denied it.
Uh, he confessed to anexhaustive detail 17 murders,
providing maps, timelines andmethods, and when asked about
adam walsh, he vehemently deniedinvolvement.
Yeah, so he was like that.
I don't fuck.
I don't fuck kids that youngright Right right.
Not a piece of shit?
No, not at all.
He was cooperative with policethroughout his interrogations

(38:25):
and did not hide any of hismurders, even obscure ones that
they didn't even know about.

Speaker 6 (38:30):
Right, that's the thing.
I also the Dahmer files.
It's fascinating.
At one point they talked to hisneighbor.
He grew up, he lived inMilwaukee.
It was a mostly black apartmentcomplex, which is also why he
was able to do what he did forso long and they were talking to
one of his neighbors and shewas talking about how he would
give her sandwiches and stuff.
Oh God, and it's amazingbecause she may have eaten the

(38:52):
human meat sandwich, yeah, andshe probably loved it and was
like I can't get that againbecause I don't think Subway is
making human tongue sandwiches.
Oh God, but my God, thatcomplex was later blown up.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yes, that is not around anymore.
No, okay.
So here's my pushback, though.
Okay pushback.
Here we go With the Dahmertheory.
Maybe he fucked up, Maybe hedid want to kill kids, but deep
down after doing this, realizedhow much heat it got and was
like oh, I'm only going to fuckwith young black kids that
nobody is going to try to find,because this is too much heat.

Speaker 6 (39:27):
But he was.
I don't think he was sexuallyattracted to minors.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Did he have to be sexually attracted to kill them?

Speaker 6 (39:34):
Yeah, because that was half of the game.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
He liked the swimmer's body, he liked the
male physique, a mature malephysique, right now granted
again, they can be young,semi-mature, semi-mature, but I
so I I just don't think that hewould look at a six-year-old
like that yeah, they never foundany evidence hair dna, dna,
fingerprints that ever tied himto adam walsh and there's never
been a connection that's beendetermined between them.

(39:57):
I mean, he liked big penises,oh, oh yeah, jeffrey Dahmer.

Speaker 6 (40:02):
And he could not lie.
He could not lie.
That's what that song's allabout.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Yeah, the police and the FBI rejected it, and even
John Walsh himself has rejectedthat theory.
Okay, yeah, so what happened?
Is this guy Otis Toole?

Speaker 6 (40:16):
Now this guy's got a big dick.
He's real stupid.
Now this guy's got a big dick.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
He's real stupid.
One of the scariest lookingpeople I've ever seen.

Speaker 6 (40:22):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
He confessed in detail to abducting Adam and
killing him in his car.

Speaker 6 (40:28):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
He gave details not released to the public, like how
he decapitated the boy with amachete.
Oh my God, yeah, but I don'teven know how they could know a
machete.
I guess there's serrated bladesversus not, and I guess that it
wasn't serrated.

Speaker 6 (40:46):
Yeah, he also worked with Henry Lee Lucas quite a bit
.
They were the drifter killers.

Speaker 1 (40:51):
They were disgusting.
They were both fucking eachother and killing people across
America.

Speaker 6 (40:54):
Real nasty in Texas.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
Yeah, nasty business, disgusting people, stinky yeah.
Police found the bloody carpetin his car in a pair of
children's shoes that matchedthe description of adam's shoes.
Though a chain of custody, theylost the shoes and the bloody
carpet oh my god come on.
So they fucked up so many timesthey really did from the

(41:19):
sluggish you know reaction to it, to losing evidence like
crucial evidence.
You finally get the kid's head,you finally get the bloody
carpet, you get these shoes andthen you go.

Speaker 6 (41:29):
Ah, fuck I thought you had it.
How do you lose it?

Speaker 1 (41:33):
it's gross so audis elwood tool.
He was born march 5th 1947 injackville, florida.
He's known for being a serialkiller, arsonist and frequent
accomplice of Henry Lee Lucas.
He had an IQ of around 75.

Speaker 6 (41:47):
That's pretty good Out of 100?
He wishes.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
This is another reason why a lot of people
didn't believe him, because he'sconfessed to hundreds of
murders, most of which werefalse.

Speaker 6 (42:00):
I think he's real dumb.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
Yeah, he's mentally ill, manipulative and
attention-seeking.

Speaker 6 (42:05):
Yes, he is.

Speaker 1 (42:06):
So he claimed.
In 1983 he was arrested.
He was in custody for unrelatedmurders and he was like well,
I'm here.
I might as well tell you abouthow I killed this kid in
Hollywood Florida.

Speaker 6 (42:17):
I might as well.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
He said he spotted adam alone at the mall, lured
him, but he wasn't alone at themall.

Speaker 6 (42:22):
He was with a group of kids, wasn't he?

Speaker 1 (42:24):
those kids fucked up because they dipped out, okay,
so he was outside the mall,gotcha yeah, so he was, you know
, waiting for his mom outsidelike scared, like I'm kicked out
, I can't go back in to find mymom, yeah, and you actually
respect adults in some way.

Speaker 6 (42:36):
Let me as an authority figure.
You know it, it's Sears.
You can get back in and findyour mother.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
Exactly so.
He says that he lured him intohis 1971 Cadillac using candy or
promises of toys, and I'd belike, hey, the toys are in here
pal.

Speaker 6 (42:49):
Yeah, the toys are in the store.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
He drove north while Adam was screaming in the car
and he said he punched himunconscious when he wouldn't
stop crying and drove to hisJacksonville home, which nothing
good happens in Jacksonville.

Speaker 6 (43:03):
Not much, not much.
I was there recently and it'sjust a lot going on racially
yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:10):
Tool perfectly described the injuries and
details that were never madepublic, including the weapon,
and you know there wereconsistencies with arson and his
arson history.

Speaker 6 (43:21):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
And, like we said, they found the carpet in his car
that had the bloodstainsmatching Adam's type, and a pair
of children's shoes and amachete.
So all those were inexplicablylost.

Speaker 6 (43:33):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
Hollywood PD.
Come on guys.
Yeah.
So even though he's a completeliar, a manipulator, the police
were like, well, that's our guy.
And then John actually agreed.

Speaker 6 (43:46):
Okay, so John believes that Otis Toole killed
Adam?
Yes, wow, I didn't realize that.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
So, on December 16th 2008, the Hollywood Police
Department officially closed thecase, naming Otis Toole as Adam
Walsh's murderer.
Meanwhile, Otis died ofcirrhosis of the liver in prison
at 49 years old.

Speaker 6 (44:05):
Well, he was drinking , he was only 49?
.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Yeah, dude.

Speaker 6 (44:07):
Yo search Otis Toole.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
In that picture that shows up, that's when he's 36.

Speaker 6 (44:14):
Oh my God, we look great, we're doing fine.
I mean mild cirrhosis maybe,but hey, who doesn't have that
at 43?

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Yeah, so he died at 96.
12 years later they're like,yeah, that was the guy.

Speaker 6 (44:25):
Wow.
Well, that's some closureanyway.
I mean, it's actually worse,poor Adam.
The last person he saw wasStinky Otis Toole.
Yeah, oh my God Awful.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
So they went on CBS the early morning show and
announced it.

Speaker 7 (44:41):
This is the.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Walshes yeah.

Speaker 5 (44:42):
Earlier police in Florida have officially named
the man who murderedsix-year-old Adam Walsh back in
1981, finally bringing this caseto a close.
Adam's parents, john and RevaeWalsh, are with us this morning.
Good morning.
I watched part of the newsconference yesterday.
There was so much emotion inthat room.
What was yesterday like for theboth of you?

(45:07):
Reve, why don't you start?

Speaker 3 (45:09):
Well, we've always called it bittersweet, which
capsulizes it, but it was moresweet yesterday because it's
something that's not going tochange.
It's never going to go away.
Adam's never going to come back, so this is the best of a poor
situation.
27 years of frustration was notanything I would wish on anyone
, but the fact that it happenedin my lifetime was my goal.

Speaker 5 (45:33):
Yeah, what was your reaction when the police called
you and said you know what?
We want to close the books onthis.

Speaker 7 (45:40):
New chief real man apologized to us yesterday, said
that some previous peopleinvolved in the case way back
made some huge mistakes and hadbasically a defensive position.
And it was a very tough day forme because I spent two weeks in
that police department lookingfor that little boy the two
worst weeks of my life and wentback repeatedly year after year

(46:04):
and argued and said I think youknow who killed Adam, it's here
and was turned down repeatedly.
And a new chief comes in andsays you know, I'm going to
review it.
And two real heroes of mine area guy named Kelly Hancock who
was a former prosecutor inBroward, retired with 300
undefeated homicide cases, andsaid I put guys on death row

(46:27):
with less evidence than theyhave about Otis Toole.
Joe.
Matthews, retired homicidedetective, who was hired by the
Hollywood police initially tohelp with the investigation,
then fired and put this together, took it to Chief Wagner a year
ago and said there's noquestion, huge mistakes have
been made in this case.
Otis Toole killed Adam Walshand Chief Wagner said we owe it

(46:49):
to you and it was a really toughday.
We had our children with us.
Our three children have beenborn since Adam, but it ended a
really long, torturous journey.

Speaker 6 (47:02):
Brutal.
I can't believe that a copwouldn't take this on as a
crusade.
It's so bizarre that they, ashe said, had a defensive
position from the policedepartment perspective.
Because don't you want thissolved, right?
I mean, it's going to be agreat credit to you.
You can write the book.
You can be like I'm the guy whosolved the crime.
You can make money off of thisif you want to.

(47:23):
Yeah, exactly it just doesn'tmake any sense that they would
inhibit the process so much.

Speaker 1 (47:31):
Yeah, I mean, once you realize that you mess up,
you then have to go in adefensive mode and be like and
start arguing for reasons whyother people didn't do it,
because you've fumbled the ballso many times.

Speaker 6 (47:43):
Well, sometimes you just got to eat it and be like,
yep, mistake was made and let'smove forward and make things
better.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
John said it's the not knowing that has eaten away
at us for all these years.
And now we know.

Speaker 6 (47:56):
Absolutely.
And also, to your point, thespeculation.
Well, the parents?
What if they did it?
All that kind of chatter andbullshit.
Obviously, the internet isn'twhat it is now.
It wasn't what it was then.
But that's got a grade on youtoo.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (48:13):
Just the disgusting nature of people.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Exactly, and seeing it every single week across
America trying to help everybodyelse do it.
Not only was he doing this show, he ended up doing the John
Wall show, which was like adaytime talk show which focused
on crime and justice issues, andthen actually we'll watch a
video real quick clip of himtalking about how this new law

(48:37):
got put into effect action aswell right before the 40th
anniversary.
All right, Hello, I'm.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
John Walsh.
Forty years ago today, on July27, 1981, my beautiful
six-year-old son, adam, wasabducted and murdered.
The pain of losing Adam stayswith us every day.
But my wife Raveh and I havemade it our life mission to do
what we can to help protectchildren.
In 1984, we helped create theNational Center for Missing and

(49:06):
Exploited Children and for 25years I hosted the Fox
television show America's MostWanted, which helped track down
more than 1,600 fugitives.
But I'm most proud of the factthat the show helped bring home
more than 60 stranger abductedchildren alive.
These days I host a televisionshow called In Pursuit with my

(49:29):
son Callahan, and we focus onthe same mission catching the
bad guys and finding missingkids.
I'm proud that my family isstill fighting for justice.
We're also very honored that 15years ago today the Adam Walsh
Child Protection and Safety Actbecame law.
It was signed in the RoseGarden by President Bush.

(49:50):
The federal statute was designedto protect the public,
especially children, fromviolent sex offenders.
It implemented a morecomprehensive nationalized
system for sex offenderregistration.
The US Marshals Service is thelead federal law enforcement
agency responsible forinvestigating sex offender

(50:11):
registration violations.
They work closely with theNational Center for Missing and
Exploited Children and partnerwith state and local law
enforcement all across thiscountry.
They also get support fromSMART, the Department of Justice
Office for sentencing,monitoring, apprehending,
registering and tracking.
My family and I are honoredthat this law, named after my

(50:34):
son, has made such a tremendousimpact and, on this 15th year
anniversary of the Adam WalshAct, I want to say thank you to
everybody involved.
Thank you for all the hard workyou do every day to help make
this country safer, and Godbless the marshals, thank you.

Speaker 6 (50:54):
Yeah, you can now look up the sex offenders in
your neighborhood or in yourarea it's not good.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
It's a very zitty map .
There's a lot of red dots onthere, a lot of blemishes on
that, yeah I don't know if it'sjust because we're in la or if
that's where it looks like everymajor metropolitan area, but
that is some scary shit.
Yeah, and I'm glad that johnwalsh was able to do all this
stuff to help people out andmake sure that these people were

(51:21):
put on registries and, yeah, wecan find them, because not
everybody looks like oddest toolright, not everyone is a
walking obvious serial killerankenstein right uh.
So yeah, what a legacy 1600people apprehended through
america's most wanted 60 over 60.

(51:41):
Uh, children were brought backby a stranger, abducted
criminals.

Speaker 6 (51:44):
That's the most important in so many ways too,
because they saved a life yes,Saved a family from going
through what they went throughReally powerful.

Speaker 1 (51:53):
Exactly, and the stranger ones are the hardest
ones to figure out, becausepeople who are kidnapped, it's
like 99% of the time it'ssomeone you know, it's like your
aunt.

Speaker 6 (52:01):
It's your aunt who just wants to spend time with
you.
Yeah, and you know, a lot oftimes there is something to be
said about the way that ourcourt system works when it comes
to keeping children away fromcertain family members who maybe
don't deserve that.
Whatever, there's a lot ofemotions that come into it, yeah
, and so oftentimes, most of thetime, it is a mother or a

(52:22):
father that take their childrenaway, exactly.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
So, yeah, in 2014, he began the Hunt with John Walsh
on CNN.
Pretty much it's all the samething.
It's all the same show.

Speaker 6 (52:32):
Yeah no-transcript of crime.

Speaker 1 (52:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (52:50):
Because Guy Fieri works a lot with his son.
Now, hunter, you ever watchthat Hunter Fieri.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
I haven't seen Hunting in Flavortown.

Speaker 6 (52:58):
Hunter.
Oh, hunter Hunter.
Well, I still haven't seen thateither.
He's pretty funny, good kid.
He's a good kid Nice.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
But yeah, now it's the family business and I think
that's.

Speaker 6 (53:09):
A business they don't want.
I'm sure he would have muchrather just made Margaritavilles
.

Speaker 1 (53:13):
That would have been so nice.

Speaker 6 (53:15):
You could have so much money.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (53:18):
Live on a beachfront.
Right Not have to be a famoustelevision personality for all
the sad reasons?
Yeah, exactly.
But again to his point.
They solved a lot and saved alot.

Speaker 1 (53:30):
Yeah, and that'll take us to Final Thoughts.

Speaker 6 (53:36):
I'm going to say this God doesn't give us challenges
that we can't overcome.
Ooh, and the fact that theythis is their life, this was,
let's say, there is a greaterpower.
This was why they're here andthey have saved so many people
and they sacrificed so much.
And I would?
I have no idea how I would havereacted in this situation.

(53:58):
I'd be really pissed off.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (54:01):
And knowing my personality type, I probably
would have you know been theworm in the bottom of a tequila
bottle.

Speaker 1 (54:06):
I'd be dead.

Speaker 6 (54:07):
Yeah, so the fact that they were able to flip this
and turn it into somethingpositive for as sad and
devastating as it is, is atestament to them.

Speaker 1 (54:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (54:20):
And a testament to their willpower and RNP.
Adam Walsh, your memory liveson forever and because of you,
hundreds of people have beensaved.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
Yeah, this is literally like a historic event
that will go down in Americanhistory, because they did change
the landscape of Americantelevision and law enforcement
as we know it Absolutely Fromthe top down.
Yeah, Pano's saying what astrong family to carry that
burden on their shoulders.
Rip Adam.

Speaker 6 (54:49):
Absolutely yeah, and the fact that they stayed
together and they're healthy,yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
That's the craziest thing, Also to have the three
children.

Speaker 6 (54:59):
That's difficult for them because obviously I'm sure
they knew what happened at somepoint.
Yeah, it's just the sufferingis is crazy.
It's in their dna at this pointthey said that truthfully.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
They did almost break up because the stress on them
was just you know, I can't evenseemingly insurmountable, but
they chose each other.
Oh, I'm gonna tear up justthinking about it yep, I can't
even imagine, and uh, yeahthat's good on them.
And with that, yeah, let's doit.
Rip, adam, and we will go to aquick Uh-oh.

Speaker 6 (55:32):
You've got mail.
Sweet, we got a mailbag.
Here we got a mailbag.

Speaker 1 (55:37):
Holy hell.
Can you believe that?

Speaker 6 (55:39):
Can you believe it?
We end every episode with this.
Can you believe it?

Speaker 1 (55:43):
Can you believe it?
We do every.
We end every episode with this.
Oh, can you believe it?
Can you believe that?
Uh, from cute to cursed, howthe little rascals met their
untimely demise.
We got some good comments here.
Oh, there's someone talkingsmack about the east coast again
.
Whoa, mcclinch, where you are,where you at mcclinch, they say
thank you, boys.
I'm not a fan of the east coast, but I'm a wisconsin boy
through and through.
So alejandro is my favorite,but I, you all.
I don't know if they know ifyou're a Wisconsin boy or not.

Speaker 6 (56:04):
Yeah, I don't know.
Also Wisconsin boys, like theEast Coast Come on now the East
Coast is a beast coast.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
Milwaukee's beast Boom said Jesus Christ, what a
effing tragedy.
Great job making that storypalatable and entertaining.
That's what we try to do.
And then Goblin Bomber saidlove these guys and we love you
as well.

Speaker 6 (56:23):
Thanks, goblin Bomber Real nice, I love my Goblin
Bombs.

Speaker 1 (56:27):
I like my Goblin Bombs yes.

Speaker 6 (56:31):
Alright, everyone.
Thank you so much for listeningAgain.
Check out OK Bud four days aweek.
You can shoot us an email atokbudpod at gmailcom as well, if
you have any comments for anyshow.
Whatever, just let us know.
Okay, everyone hail yourselfand until next week, do you?
Don't go dying on us now?
Bye.

Speaker 4 (56:51):
Bye, you have just heard a true Hollywood murder
mystery.
I have never seen anything likethis before.
The movies, Broadway, music,television, all of it.
A place that manufacturesnightmares.
Okay, everybody, that's a wrap.
Good night.
Please drive home carefully andcome back again soon.