I distinctly remember sitting in the little TV nook with my mom, seeing on TV, about this little boy named Adam being kidnapped from the SEARS store in Hollywood, FL. That his mom was in another department and had let six year old Adam watch a group of boys playing a video game.
Adam was taken, his mother, Reve, was terrified, and Adam's story became the first really well known case of it's kid. Yes, other kidnapped children had made headlines before, but mostly ransom cases and cases that didn't make families feel like .... THIS could HAPPEN to THEM ....
Adam's case certainly made families feel as if ..... this COULD happen to them.... this was a regular family, in a regular Sears store ....
Reve Walsh was running errands on July 27, 1981 and had her son Adam with her. She was also pregnant with Meghan at the time. They stopped at the mall and went into Sears. There was a group of boys that was playing a video game and six-year-old Adam stopped to watch them, so Reve let him stay there to watch while she ran to the lamp department quick. She wasn't gone but 5 maybe 10 minutes and when she went back, all the boys were gone - including Adam. Turned out a teenage security guard had kicked all the boys out and so Adam was outside the store without his mom knowing. Reve panicked, of course, not being able to find him and a search started for Adam.
Sadly it was too late. Someone had already snatched Adam up.
** A note here. When a child is missing in a store, they now call a "CODE ADAM" which alerts the staff to lock down the store until a full search is competed. The term "CODE ADAM" was inspired by Adam Walsh and his story.
Of course, when John Walsh found out, he and Reve did everything they could do and could think of in order to try to find Adam and bring him home safely. John found himself frustrated that they couldn't seem to get the news out faster and better than what was happening.
Adam’s parents launched a massive hunt for their son; however, on August 10, 1981, his severed head was discovered by two fishermen in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, Florida, some 100 miles from Hollywood. His body was never found.
When all this happened, when Adam was kidnapped, I had just turned 5 years old. I was around the same age as Adam and it was scary.
The image of the little boy with his bat haunts me....
Anyway - there was a made-for-TV movie about Adam's kidnapping, and finding his head, and the horror of it all. I remember little sister Meghan being born in the movie (dramatization not the real birth) and feeling hope for them. But I was just a little kid.
There was a second movie released. "Adam's Song Continues" and it was about the first movie being on TV. It was about John's new passion - he was battling hard for missing children and finding ways to make it more effective to get the word out when a child is missing. It was about him starting the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. At the end of the movie, Reve and John's third child is born. Before I get to all that though .... let me finish this....
John and Reve Walsh has done some amazing things. The Walsh's turned their grief into action, John Walsh quickly became a nationally recognized leader in the push for victims' rights.
In 1987, FOX contacted John about hosting a groundbreaking new reality show designed to track down the country's most notorious and dangerous fugitives. By using tools like profiling the criminals, then sharing their cases to a national audience. The show was called America's Most Wanted and using it as his catapult for finding justice, John felt satisfaction in the fact that he could now bring some sort of closure that he had never found by bringing some sort of justice to other victims of violent crimes.
Ottis Toole, the prime suspect in the murder of Adam was never charged with the case due to lack of evidence. He confessed to it, knew some details that hadn't been released to the public, but there were things in his confession that definitely were not true also. Then he recanted his confession only to later confess again and recant again.
Ottis Tool never was charged. He died in prison while he was serving a life sentence for other crimes, including murder. He and his partner, Henry Lucas, had traveled around on a killing spree. Although in the initial confession, Ottis Toole said that Henry was involved in Adam's murder, Henry had been in jail at the time and there really isn't any better alibi than that. This is one of the reasons the police weren't sure if they could "trust" his confession. But Ottis Toole did know many key things that only the murderer would know ... so there was some confusion.
Sadly, without Adam's body, and with-out more evidence, the DA at the time didn't feel he could arrest and try Ottis Toole for the murder of Adam Walsh. However; in 1996 when O. Toole was on his deathbed - he did make a deathbed confession saying that he had, indeed, murdered Adam Walsh.
In 2008 - in December - after reviewing the case more, they (the police) determined there was substantial evidence to - enough - to name Ottis Toole as the murderer of Adam Walsh. Case Closed.
But is it? Even thought this has been the long time theory - and the strict belief of John and Reve Walsh, that Toole is guilty.... there are other theories out there. One includes Jeffery Dahmer and the fact that he was in Florida, in that area, at that time. It's interesting giving what he would end up doing.
John has done and accomplished some amazing things in his life. All in the name of Adam....
- John has testified before Congress and state legislatures more than 55 times on crime, missing children and victims' issues.
- John and Revé worked for the passage of the Missing Children Act of 1982.
- The Walsh's hard work and determination helped to pass the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984,
- which created National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC now serves as the national clearinghouse for information on missing children and the prevention of child victimization.
- Revé Walsh serves on the NCMEC Board of Directors.
- John serves on the Board's Chief Executive Officers Council and National Advisory Board, and acts as a NCMEC spokesperson.
- John is currently advocating a Constitutional Amendment for victims' rights.
- The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act is a federal statute that was signed into law on July 27, 2006, and adds guild lines for Sex Offenders on the Sex Offender Registry.
He has also had a hand in helping to pass or supporting other laws that the parents of other missing and murdered children had fought for - like Katie's Law and the Amber Alert System.
- 1988 US Marshals Man Of The Year award.
- 2000 FBI Man of the Year award.
- A Special Recognition Award by the US Attorney General—the only private citizen ever to receive this honor.
- Honors in the Rose Garden at The White House, four times by three presidents: Clinton, Bush (Sr.), and Reagan (twice).
John is also the author of three best-selling books, including Tears of Rage (1997), No Mercy (1998), and Public Enemies (2001).
The man is certainly one of my heroes ... truly. The way he took on the death of Adam and did so much good with it - and CONTINUES to do so much good with ... it's amazing.
So here comes the funny story .......
So while I was pregnant .... we had picked out the name Caleb Bryce. For some reason that name - in my ex husband's head - Caleb Bryce was too "feminine" for him .... so I had to go on the hunt for another name and I wanted an Irish name...
So I was on bedrest at that point ... laying on the couch watching VHS movies we had taped off TV. One of them was "Adam's Song Continues" and at the end of the movie John and Reve's third child is born and they named him Callahan Adam Walsh .... and I thought, ooooooooh Callahan .... I like Callahan ...
So I wrote it down.... Callahan/Calahan .... and I liked the one L version better because it looked like a name and not a surname.
So Calahan it ended up being .....
So I'm watching TV the other night and there comes up a preview - John's new tv show. "In Pursuit with John Walsh." This will be airing on ID - btw - if anyone is interested.
So during the preview I see this kid and it's Callahan - John's son and I'm all.... "HOLY SHIT!!! That's the guy who Calahan got named after!" So I hollered for Cal and Tina to come in here - and I showed him and I was like..... WOW .... (turns head to the side) .... he kinda looks like you! LOL ...
(Pictures of the TV during the preview)
Just for shits & giggles.... Callahan (Walsh) and Calahan ... side by side.... LOL
THE END .....
