Today marks the 41st anniversary of the tragic abduction and murder of 6-year-old Adam John Walsh from a Florida department store.
According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), during a shopping trip to the Hollywood Mall in Florida on July 27, 1981, Adam’s mother, Revé Walsh, left him at a kiosk with other boys playing Atari games, while she did some quick shopping.
When she returned around 12:15 p.m., Adam and the other children had disappeared. A scuffle at the kiosk had broken out, a security guards said, and the children were asked to leave the area. After searching for over an hour, Revé called the Hollywood Police at 1:55 p.m.
A few months later, police discovered a child’s severed head on August 10 in a drainage canal near Vero Beach, around 130 miles from where Adam was abducted. A coroner later identified the head as Adam’s, and determined the cause of death as asphyxiation.
The state of the remains indicated that Adam had died several days before police discovered his head. The rest of his body has never been found.
A drifter identified as Ottis Toole later confessed twice to the child’s death, NBC News reports. Toole said he lured Adam into his white Cadillac with promises of toys and candy, then drove north on Interstate 95 towards his Jacksonville residence.
Adam panicked during the drive, and Toole said he knocked him unconscious.
Toole then strangled and decapitated Adam while on a deserted service road in St. Lucie County. He claimed to have incinerated Adam’s body in an old refrigerator upon returning to Jacksonville.
However, since he continued to retract statements about his involvement, coupled with with evidence reportedly lost by police, Toole was never charged for Adam’s death.
Police officially closed Adam’s case in 2008 and named Toole as the killer, decades after Toole passed away.
“Who could take a 6-year-old and murder and decapitate him? Who?” Adam’s father, John Walsh, said in 2008, when police closed the case. “We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey’s over.”
Adam’s parents, along fellow child advocates, established NCMEC in 1984, following Adam’s death. NCMEC now serves as a vital national resource center, offering information and assistance related to missing and exploited children across the country.
Since its establishment, Adam’s legacy has profoundly impacted numerous families through NCMEC. The national toll-free hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST, has received over 5 million calls. NCMEC has also aided law enforcement in recovering more than 376,000 missing children and circulated “billions” of missing children photos.
On the anniversary of his disappearance, NCMEC commemorates Adam by recounting his story and fulfilling his parents’ wishes for NCMEC to transform “tragedy into hope” by assisting as many families as possible.
“You can assist us in honoring Adam by taking the time to view and share photos of missing children,” NCMEC wrote, “and by making a donation to support NCMEC in our continued effort to bring kids home safely.”
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[Feature Photo: Adam Walsh via NCMEC]
