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Adam Walsh

Adam Walsh

Adam Walsh, son of the America's Most Wanted host, John Walsh was kidnapped from a mall. They found his remains in a canal by fisherman but not the body. His horrifying ordeal in this case caused John Walsh to form the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. What are your thoughts?

Walsh Adam

What a tragedy. Particularly because this boy was kidnapped from a mall parking lot and his body was never found to give a proper burial. This changed the life of this family even after so many years. John Walsh still fighting to catch those criminals that hurt children on a daily basis.

Adam Walsh History & Civil Business Politics

Name: Willis

Comments: My encounter at Radio Shack
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Willis Morgan
In 1981. I was working at the Miami herald in my 9th year. I worked as the training supervisor in the pressroom. My work days were Wednesday through Saturday from 19:00 to 05:30 AM. My days off were Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Working a four day workweek was like having a mini vacation every week! Usually during the week I would get to sleep around 06:30 AM and get up around 15:00 but on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays I would get to sleep around 02:AM. This would give me full days to get personal things done.
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Monday July 27th 1981 was one of those days when I got up early. I didn't have anything scheduled for this day so I decided to go to Walden's Book Store and have lunch at the German Deli in the "Sears Mall" Hollywood Mall.
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With Monday being my middle day off and not having nothing scheduled I was not paying attention to the time but I think it was around early afternoon when I left to the book store. I parked in the east parking lot and went into the Mall through the Food Court entrance.
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I didn't see anything I wanted in Walden's. I hung around the store looking at books for about 20 minutes or so but didn't buy anything finally I decided to go down to the German Deli and get something to eat. On the way to the Deli I decided to stop at Radio Shack and look around before lunch.
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As I walked into Radio Shack I headed toward the right aisle side of the store but stopped at the red tag sale table. I picked something up that caught my eye and was looking at it when I noticed in my peripheral vision someone coming from the North Mall entrance and stopping at the entrance to Radio Shack. I had a sense someone was looking at me so I looked up and realized this dirty, dishelved young man was staring at me! When I made eye contact with him, He Smiled at me with a really crappy grin and said "HI THERE NICE DAY, ISN'T IT?" I didn't answer him thinking he would just go away. Instead he lost the smile and stared at me really hard! like he was angry or something. I looked back toward the table and the item I had picked up thinking If I stopped making eye contact he would go away. Instead He came into the Radio Shack and stopped about arms length from me and repeated in a very loud tone. "HI THERE NICE DAY ISN'T IT?" Not wanting to start a conversion with him, I said nothing and never looked up at his face again. At this point, I was pretending to be looking at the item in my hands but I was keeping an eye on him with my peripheral vision, mostly from the waist down. He just stood there for what seemed like an eternity. I knew he was staring at me, and this sense came over me like he was tensing up. I started thinking "What is this guy up to"? I had this sense like he wanted to grab my arm. For some reason I am thinking this guy wants to try to pull me out of the Mall. I wondered if he had a knife. At that point I'm thinking something is going to happen and I will need a witness so I looked over to my right to see where the store clerk was. I saw him all the way in the back of the store putting things on a shelf. I thought about walking to the back of the store but thought better of it and decided to stay put. I didn't want this guy to see me walk with a limp from an old motorcycle accident. Just as I turned back around to the table I noticed this guy abruptly turn around and walk out of the store. Whew! man oh man!
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There was no doubt to me that he would approach someone else and I wondered what their reaction would be. Then it dawned on me SOMEONE MIGHT NEED HELP! I waited a few seconds to give him a lead, then walked to the Radio Shack entrance. I knew at that point I would have to remember that face and as I started to follow him in the mall at a safe distance, I repeated to myself his description. "Dirty blond hair to the collar, yellow shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, about my height, about 170 to 180 lbs." this was too much to remember and I thought about going into the German Deli and ask for pen and paper but just then he turned into the Sears store so I decided not to loose him and continued following. as he walked to the far west side of Sears he turned to the right. I walked a little faster to that point where he turned and looked to the right. I saw him turn into the Toy Department. I decided to go to the left and watch and see what he was up to. As I was standing behind a rack of men's suits for about ten seconds I suddenly realized that was the end of the Mall "Sears" and he would be coming back this way. Not wanting another encounter I decided to leave. When I got to the east exit in the Food Court I got my car keys out and looked around to make sure he hadn't followed me. I saw the coast was clear and walked quickly to my car and nervously unlocked the door. Only after I was in my car and the door was locked did I feel comfortable. At that time I went home and decided to forget about that "NUT' in the mall.
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Walsh Adam

Continued from above...

I stopped at Denny's for lunch and spent the rest of the day home doing yard work etc.. That evening I turned on the news. I was in the Kitchen when I heard about a Kidnapping in the Toy Department at Sears. I was nearly floored. I knew without a doubt it was the guy that I had followed to the toy department. I made another commitment to remember his face and description.
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The next day, Tuesday, I told my neighbor Valery Vickers. When I went to work Wednesday 19:00 I told some co-workers about the incident in the Sears Mall on Monday. Richard Herland suggested to me to go to the Hollywood Police Department. The next morning, Thursday July 30, 1981 at about 9 AM I went to the Police Department across the street from the Sears Mall.
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I walked up to the glass window and told the receptionist I was there about the kidnapping at the Mall. She told me to see officer Presley. They had a special desk set up just for information about this case. I tried to tell the officer what happen but he didn't seem interested. He only wanted to know if I had seen a tag number. I tried to tell him the incident never went out of the Mall. He then asked for a description which I gave him. Officer Presley asked if I had a receipt. When I told him I didn't buy anything he was curt and took my name and phone number and said they would call me if they needed me. He was a bit condescending the whole time and when I left I felt like a jerk for going there. No one has ever called me.
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Every night at work I would read the paper and keep up with the case. I remember I had seen several composites and knew they were wrong. I was thinking people were just giving descriptions of any single male they saw. After about two weeks I saw a composite in the paper and I knew the person that gave that composite had seen the same person I had. I thought it didn't look like him but I didn't think I could do any better so I let it go thinking at least they have their composite.
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Several years later when I was at work, the pressroom secretary came to me with a paper asking me if the man on the front page was the man I had seen in the Mall back in 1981. I looked at it and told her no. the Man was Ottis Toole and did not look like the man I had encountered.
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In 1991 I was working in the pressroom office when the papers started coming in for paper check. As soon as I saw the first paper I started freaking out. "THIS IS HIM! THIS IS THE GUY I SAW IN THE MALL! My boss Steve Hopkins had to calm me down. I remembered that face and I was positive this was him. I could hardly function the rest of the night.
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The next morning I went back to the Hollywood Police Department. I was referred to a detective on the third floor. The Detective I talked to told me Det. Hoffman was on that case but was not in. He took my phone number and told me Det. Hoffman would call me back.
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Detective Hoffman did call me back and asked me to come in. When I went to see him He asked me why I am coming in now and not in 1981? I told him that I did come in 1981. He asked me to wait and left of the room. when He came back he asked me "If you came in 1981 where is your taped statement. I told him I didn't make a taped statement and explained to him that officer Presley took some notes and said "they would call me back" but never did. I thought I had nothing to offer so I never came back.
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Detective Hoffman asked me to come back in for a taped statement and kept in touch with me. One day he asked me to come in. When I went to see him he told me he was going up to interview Jeffrey Dahmer. I asked him if I could go with him but told me "That's not going to happen." I knew If I confronted him face to face he just might confess.
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When Det. Hoffman returned from his interview with Dahmer he called me at home and told me he was eliminating Dahmer as a suspect. I told him that's not possible. You can't do that. I am sure beyond a doubt it was him but he told me Dahmer had looked him in the eye and said he didn't do it and you know what "I believe him." Det. Hoffman said "Dahmer told me he wanted to come to Florida because he knows Florida has the death penalty and he doesn't want to live." besides Hoffman said "That little kid doesn't fit his MO." I was thinking "Someone forgot to tell Dahmer he had an MO to stick to."
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When I left I knew this case would never get solved with this Detective on the case. I went to The Miami Herald, several TV stations. I even wrote to John Walsh at America's Most Wanted. I didn't know what to do. No one was listening. I felt like I was standing on top of a mountain and yelling but no one could hear me. When Eleana Bravo from one of the TV stations finally called and told me she called the Hollywood Police Department and talked to Det. Hoffman. She said Hoffman told her Dahmer has been eliminated as a suspect and there is nothing she could do with the information I gave her. Now I knew why no one was getting back to me... I gave up!
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Several years later I read in the Miami Herald that Det. Hoffman was off the case and this new "hot shot" Detective that was good at solving cold cases was taking over. His name was Mark Smith. I figured I had a chance to get someone to listen to me so I called the Hollywood Police Department and asked for Det. Smith. When I tried to tell Det. Smith what happen he all but called me a lire! He didn't want to listen to anything I said. He would say "YEA RIGHT" when I told him what happen.
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Det. Hoffman would tell me he believes me but "South Florida has so many crazy people that it could have been any crazy person in South Florida. This was ridicules. IT WAS JEFFREY DAHMER! I don't think he grasped anything I told him. I am convinced there is no hope for this case with these Detectives at the Hollywood Police Department.

Walsh Adam

Case Closed

Police in Florida announced today that they are closing one of the nation's most famous murder and abduction cases, naming convicted killer Ottis Toole, who died in prison, as the perpetrator. It's been 27 years since 6-year-old Adam Walsh went missing. The boy's head was found two weeks later, but his body was never recovered. His father, John Walsh, has since devoted his life to finding missing children and law enforcement, including his show "America's Most Wanted."
Ref. ABC Nightline

Adam Walsh

I am glad that they now have closure to this case. To go this long was heartbreaking for John and his family. I hope that he continues his work in helping all children.

Adam Walsh

I remember reading this on the internet last night. What a sad, sad story! I really feel sorry for the Walshes. I have to admire John Walsh for taking such a heart breaking time for him and his family and trying his best to assist others by starting this show, America's Most Wanted. True moral courage to put your pain aside and bravely try to assist others anyway you can. Why in the world would anyone want to decapitate a human being and discard part of the body? Such a cruel, sick act. It is bad enough to actually take the life of a poor defenseless child but to amputate his head and discard the body? I could imagine how traumatic this was for the Walshes.

Rather off topic, but... The criminals here in Trinidad seem to be emulating the crimes abroad. I remember recently, a Syrian businessman was killed and decapitated. The family only had the body to bury but never located the head. The begged and begged for the killer to give them the head but it was not meant to be. The family even waited and hoped to give their son a decent burial of his whole body but had to go ahead without having his head. People could be cold and evil....