Adam Walsh (November 14, 1974-July 27,1981), the son of reporter John Walsh, was abducted from a Hollywood, Florida Sears department store on July 27, 1981 at the age of six.
His severed head was found in a Vero Beach, Florida canal on August 10, 1981; the rest of his remains have not been recovered.
No one has been proven to have committed the crime, although one man, Ottis Toole, repeatedly confessed and retracted involvement. Toole, (allegedly a confederate of Henry Lee Lucas), was never charged in the Adam Walsh case. In September of 1996, Toole died of cirrhosis of the liver in prison while serving a life sentence for other crimes.
Both Lucas and Toole made and recanted several confessions to various crimes, including the Walsh case, and opinions are divided as to their reliability and as to Toole's involvement in the Walsh case.
The kidnapping and murder prompted Adam's father, John Walsh, to create the television program America's Most Wanted, and helped spur the formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
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