Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one case that changed how authorities handled the disappearances of young children not just in the state of Florida but also across the nation, it is the 1981 murder of Adam John Walsh. After all, the 6-year-old had gone missing from a public place without a trace left behind on July 27, only to sadly be found dead in one of the worst ways imaginable a little over two weeks later. So now, if you wish to learn more about the same — with a specific focus on what precisely transpired, its ensuing investigations, as well as its ultimate aftermath — we’ve got the details for you.
How Did Adam Walsh Die?
With interests in active sports, video games, outdoor adventures, and spending quality time with his loving parents, Florida native Adam was honestly a typical 6-year-old in every sense of the term. It was thus no surprise when he accompanied his mother on a trip to the Hollywood Mall (now Hollywood Hills Plaza) on July 27, 1981, just to be left at a kiosk with a gaming console on display. The fact several other boys were gathered there to take turns playing on it had made the latter feel secure, but the area was deserted by the time she returned a few minutes later at 12:15 pm.
That’s when it came to light a security guard had ushered the youngsters from the kiosk following a scuffle, leading Adam’s mother to believe he was too shy to speak up about where she’d gone. As per reports, he was subsequently inadvertently left alone near a store exit he wasn’t aware of, only to never be seen or heard from alive again — every effort to find him was unfortunately in vain. His mother did frantically search the mall before contacting the police within two hours, and then both she as well as his father worked alongside them for a positive outcome, yet to no avail.
It actually wasn’t until two excruciating weeks later that Adam’s fate was confirmed, shattering his loved ones’ hearts into millions of pieces since it was not the news they hoped for or expected. The child’s severed head was reportedly discovered by passing fishermen in a drainage canal near Vero Beach, almost 120-130 miles away from his base city of Hollywood, on August 10, 1981. However, the worst aspect is that the rest of his remains have never been recovered, and his autopsy a few days later ruled his official cause of death asphyxiation or strangulation on July 27 itself.
Ottis Toole Identified as Adam Walsh’s Killer
Despite the fact there was an extensive search for Adam from day one, his parents have always publicly asserted they think detectives botched the inquiries owing to their handling of evidence. That’s because whether it be during the missing-person part of the matter or the initial murder investigations, they could find no concrete leads even with claims a drifter might’ve been responsible. Plus, when convicted serial killer Ottis Elwood Toole confessed to having slain the 6-year-old in 1983, they didn’t have anything to corroborate any part of his claims before he suddenly recanted.
According to Ottis’ October 21, 1983, statements, he kidnapped Adam on that fateful afternoon with the help of promises of toys and candy upon noticing him standing alone near the exit of a store. He then drove North on Interstate 95 towards his home in Jacksonville in the hopes he’d soon be able to pass off the boy as his son, yet he lost his cool once his victim went from compliant to panicky. The drifter actually hit him until he lost consciousness and continued driving until they reached the canal, just to strangle him to death with the seat belt before using a machete for decapitation.
As if that’s not enough, Ottis further claimed to have burned the rest of Adam’s small remains in an old refrigerator when he returned home to get rid of any possible direct physical evidence. However, the source of blood in his car could not be positively identified following his April 1983 arrest on an unrelated incident prior to the carpet ultimately getting lost from police storage. The investigators also somehow misplaced the sharp machete as well as the vehicle itself, leaving them with practically nothing to ascertain if the heinous convict was even telling the truth.
The thing is, Ottis was finally found guilty of 6 separate homicides committed between 1961-1983, but he’d also confessed to hundreders more which were deemed lies at one point or the other. This is why it was imperative to have at least a speck of evidence against him in Adam’s case, the lack of which meant no charges were ever filed to implicate him back in the 1980s or the 1990s. There were a few eyewitnesses placing him in the Hollywood region in the days leading up to the incident, plus a pair of child’s green shorts and sandals similar to what the boy had been wearing were found in his home, yet nothing could really be proven.
Therefore, Ottis remained a person of interest and nothing more, that is, until he passed away at 49 from liver cirrhosis in September 1996 while serving out five life terms on unrelated offenses. Though the serial killer’s recanted confession was still major in Adam’s demise, so once his niece told the 6-year-old’s father he’d made a true deathbed confession, the matter picked up again. In 1997, Hollywood police chief Rick Stone thus conducted a comprehensive review of everything, only to determine there is a high possibility he had taken the youngster’s innocent life.
Nevertheless, because nothing was concrete, there were even allegations that fellow serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer could’ve been responsible for Adam’s disappearance and death, but it held no sway. In fact, the former vehemently denied his involvement by telling officials, “I’ve told you everything — how I killed [my victims], how I cooked them, who I ate. Why wouldn’t I tell you if I did it to someone else?”
Eventually, upon further inquiries as well as possible ties, on December 16, 2008, Adam’s case was officially closed by authorities with the conclusion that Ottis had, in fact, slain the child. The young boy’s father, now-victim rights advocate and host/creator of ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ John Walsh was there every step of the way, resulting in him stating, “This is not to look back and point fingers, but it is to let it rest.”
Read More: Who Were Jeffrey Dahmer’s Victims?
