Disappearance Of Adam John Walsh

Adam John Walsh was born to television personality and criminal investigator John Walsh and Revé Drew on November 14, 1974, in Hollywood, Florida. He was their first kid. 

On the afternoon of July 27, 1981, Adam's mother took him shopping with her to the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida. They went jointly to Sears and reached through the north entrance. Revé intended to glance for a lamp which was on sale and left Adam at a kiosk with the Atari 2600 video games on exhibit, where other boys were taking turns playing. 

His mother finished her shopping and returned to the kiosk to find that Adam and the other boys had vanished. A store administrator informed her that an assertion had burst over whose turn it was to play the Atari and a security guard urged that the boys leave the store.

Adams parents infer that their son was too shy to inform the security guard that his mama was shopping, and the guard inferred he was in the company of the other children. The kids were all sent out of the Sears exit, one Adam was not aware of. 

Instantly, Revé searched the store and used the PA system to call for her son. Coincidentally, she ran into his paternal grandmother, who also assisted in the search. After 90 minutes of searching, Revé phoned Hollywood Police to report her son missing. 

On August 10, a broken head was discovered in a drainage canal alongside the Florida Turnpike near Vero Beach, almost 130 miles from Adams house. The following day, John and Revé Walsh occurred on national television saying they still optimistic that Adam was alive and offered a $100,000 reward for his safe return. Soon after, the recovered remains were recognized as Adam's.

The coroner inferred that the cause of demise was asphyxiation. The state of the remains suggested he had perished many days before the finding of his head. The rest of his corpse was never recovered.

After some investigation, police were directed to suspect Ottis Toole, a wanderer and convicted killer from Jacksonville Florida. 

Accordingto Toole, he attracted Adam into his white 1971 Cadillac with pledges of toys and candy, then continued to drive north on Interstate 95 toward his home in Jacksonville.

At first, Adam was embarrassed and compliant, but as they drove on he started to panic. Toole contended to have whacked Adam in the face for screaming, but as this just made things worse, he whips him until he was unconscious. When he glimpsed Adam was still breathing, he pulled over and suffocated him with his seatbelt, pulled him out of the car, and beheaded Adam with a machete. 

Toole also contended to have disposed of his corpse by incinerating it in an old refrigerator when he returned to Jacksonville. He said investigators that he just wanted to make him his adopted son, but given the close connection he had with loving parents, this was not very feasible. 

Ottis Toole continually admitted and then rescinded accounts of his involvement, and with no physical indication, they never accused him of Adams murder. In September 1996, Toole perished in jail, aged 49, of cirrhosis while serving a life verdict for other crimes.

On December 16, 2008, Hollywood, Florida Police declared, with Adam’s father John Walsh present, that the case was now shut. An outer review of the case had been conducted and police declared that they were satisfied that Ottis Toole was the killer.