Hollywood, Florida police to declare Adam Walsh case closed

[Belinda]

Hollywood police will announce Tuesday afternoon that the 1981 abduction and murder case of 6-year-old Adam Walsh has been closed.

John Walsh, Adam's father and the host of America's Most Wanted, is expected to join Adam's mother, Reve Walsh, and Hollywood Police Chief Chadwick E. Wagner at 2:30 p.m. to make the announcement.

The revelation comes more than 27 years after Adam went missing from a department store. Two weeks later, his severed head was found. South Florida media outlets are reporting that police will announce Adam was murdered by Ottis Toole, a drifter who confessed and recanted to the murder before dying in prison in 1996.

Hollywood Lt. Manny Marino, a police spokesman, declined comment Tuesday morning.

The case has remained in the national spotlight since Adam disappeared on July 27, 1981.

Reve Walsh left her Hollywood home with Adam that morning to run some errands.

They arrived about noon at a Sears and the mother left Adam at a video game while she walked to the lamp department. When she returned about five minutes later, her son was gone.

Reve searched the aisles, had Adam paged and then police were called. A teenage security guard would later report she had thrown Adam out of the store along with several other children who were bickering.

Then on Aug. 10, two fishermen found Adam's head in a canal near Vero Beach.

The abduction and murder set off an epic manhunt. The case netted hundreds of leads and dozens of suspects — including serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer — but not one arrest. And prospects that the case would be solved at one point seemed dim after key evidence was lost and Toole, a prime suspect, died in prison.

In October 1983, Toole told police he abducted Adam and drove a white Cadillac for about an hour to an isolated dirt road and decapitated the boy.

Details in the story changed, but Toole would lead police to the Hollywood Mall and correctly identify the spot where Adam had been ejected from the store. He also took police to a dirt access road near mile marker 126 on the turnpike, where he said he had buried the body, and to a canal near mile marker 130, where he correctly pointed out the place Adam's head was discovered.

The medical examiner's report matched key elements of Toole's account: Adam had been face down when decapitated. His head was sheared off with three to five knife strokes.

Police, however, could not find Adam's body where Toole said he left it and there were allegations his confession was tainted by a Jacksonville detective seeking a book deal.

John Walsh told The Miami Herald in 2001 he believed Toole killed his son.
"I believe Ottis Toole killed Adam," Walsh said. "I believe that Toole is in hell right now, and I believe that he died a horrible death in prison.''

Investigators lifted bloodstained carpet from Toole's car. But without the DNA testing available today, there was no telling if the blood was Adam's.
And when Sgt. Mark Smith, a Hollywood police detective assigned to the case in 1994, wanted to order DNA testing on the bloodstained carpeting from Toole's car, the evidence had vanished. Toole's car, too, was gone.
Toole died on Sept. 15, 1996.

Walsh has said a niece of Ottis Toole contacted America's Most Wanted and said Toole made a deathbed confession to her.

Hollywood police to declare Adam Walsh case closed

[angelais]

cnn.com

HOLLYWOOD, Florida (CNN) -- Hollywood police said Tuesday that they are closing the investigation into the 1981 abduction and slaying of 6-year-old Adam Walsh.
Adam Walsh 6, disappeared from a mall in August, 1981. His head was found two weeks later, 120 miles away.




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The boy's abduction and slaying 27 years ago put missing children on the national agenda.
Police will name deceased drifter Ottis Toole, a convicted pedophile who died in prison in 1996, as the boy's suspected killer, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Toole twice confessed to killing the boy -- and twice recanted his story, saying he made it up. It could not be learned what, if any, new evidence exists.
Hollywood Police Chief Chad Wagner plans to provide details at an afternoon news conference. He will be joined by the boy's parents, John and Reve Walsh, whose son would now be 33.
Adam disappeared from a Sears store across from the Hollywood police station on July 27, 1981. Two weeks later, his severed head was found in a canal 120 miles away. The boy's body was never recovered, and no one was ever charged in the case.
Walsh turned his grief into action, becoming an early advocate for for missing children and crime victims. Three presidents -- Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton -- have honored John Walsh for his efforts to safeguard children.
Don't Miss

• Crime Library" 'My baby is missing!'

His efforts led to the passage of the federal Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984, which established the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
His fierce loathing of fugitives, convicts and predators launched a new career as host of the television show "America's Most Wanted."
Walsh has long believed Toole killed Adam. Toole died in prison in 1996 while serving a life sentence on unrelated charges.
Toole's confessions in the Walsh case were questioned by police because Toole confessed to other murders that police knew he did not commit.
Although the details of his story changed, Toole did lead police to the Sears store and pointed out the spot where Adam was last seen. He also led police to the canal where the boy's head was found.
But investigators could not find Adam's body where Toole said he left it.
A bloody piece of carpet removed from Toole's car was lost by police many years ago, before DNA testing became available.
Police believe a 17-year-old security guard asked a handful of rowdy kids who were playing video games in the toy department to leave the store. Investigators believe Adam was grouped in with those kids, who left him alone outside the store. That was the last time he was seen.

[angelais]

Oops, double post.

[Sojiita]

Hope that dirty rotten bastard pedophile is roasting in the very hottest part of hell as I key this in....

[TheONe]

Big ups to the Police for botching this one and never convicting him of the murder because they "lost evidence"

[ArmyWifey]

This is old news, he confessed to this years ago...what new evidence? Did he speak from the grave?

[crumpet]

Every time i read about them finding this child's head it makes me want to cry. How absolutely awful for the parents as if losing him wasn't bad enough.

[Sasha]

Ottis Toole was for a time the killing partner of notorious serial killer Henry Lee Lucas.

Did you know- that as Governor of Texas, the only death sentence Bush ever commuted was that of notorious serial killer Henry Lee Lucas?

[celeb_2006]

Interesting article. I always assumed that otis toole was just one of those that like to hang onto notoriety and just conveniently placed himself at the scene of Adam's disappearance. I never bought his story and a part of me still wonders if he just made this all up. Yes some of the evidence seems to match, but some of it seems coincidental and not all that hard to guess in a confession.

Will need to read more about this, but if it gives the family closure then that is great.

[buttmunch]

Henry Lee Lucas.

Urgh...I remember reading an article or book about him and all the things he said happened to him as a child via his nutso mother (driving pikes into his head as punishment, etc) were proven true at the autopsy. Blergh...it really freaked me out for some reason.

Anyway, I hope the family gets closure and I know the dad has done a lot of good bringing attention to these sorts of situations but he really gets on my nerves for some reason.

[maryk]

I think the problem is that he recanted and some of the details don't add up fully. I think some killers want to be more prolific so they claim they committed murders they didn't the higher the death count the more likely they'll be well known

[buttmunch]

Here's some stuff on Lucas. Interestingly, his death penalty was the only one commuted by Bush while Gov of Texas.


Henry Lee Lucas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[maryk]

I read that buttmunch I had no clue who he was... whether he committed 40 or 1,000 he was a twisted SOB. Sometimes I think it's better to let them live with the guilt but I doubt he had guilt like normal humans.

[Glitter]

I just want closure for the family, I can remember this I was just a little girl and it scared the hell out of my Mom.

[cmmdee]

I'm glad the Walshes are getting some closure.

John Walsh has helped out so many families and helped catch some insane criminals and he so deserves to be able to finally know with conviction who is responsible for decapitating his little boy.

It's really sad.