Family<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Adam wasn\u2019t around. He was outside alone. 6 years old in an unfamiliar section of a massive mall parking lot, confused, frightened, vulnerable. By 1:55 p.m., nearly 2 hours after Adam was last seen, the Hollywood Police Department was finally called. Officers arrived from across the street. They began searching. They interviewed witnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But here\u2019s the part that will make your blood boil: the police didn\u2019t take it seriously. The very next day, a newspaper ran a quote from a police aide: \u201cKidnapping is not suspected. The kid is probably trying to get home. He\u2019s probably lost. We\u2019re searching the city for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lost. As if a six-year-old could just wander off and find his way home from 5 miles away. It took 45 minutes for a uniformed officer to even show up at the scene. 45 minutes. The station was right across the street. When John Walsh arrived, having raced 45 minutes from his office in Miami, he couldn\u2019t believe what he was seeing. He demanded answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the SWAT team? Where\u2019s the cavalry?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The officer looked at him with disdain. \u201cHey, cowboy, slow down. I don\u2019t like your attitude. Most kids walk home by themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John\u2019s voice rose. \u201cThis is a six-year-old boy. We live 5 miles from here. He\u2019s never walked anywhere in his life. I want a detective. I want your boss. I support law enforcement. I know the mayor. You should be looking for my son.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Law Enforcement<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the Hollywood Police Department wasn\u2019t looking. Not really. John and one of his business partners went to the station and stayed there for 2 weeks. They barely went home. They set up their own phone tap in case someone called with a ransom. Through a sleepless night, Rev\u00e9 sat at the police station. All she could think about was Adam\u2019s yellow flip-flops. His feet will be tired, scratched. He\u2019ll be cold in his t-shirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When nightfall came, the reality sank in. Things were not going the right way. The Walshes plastered their car with signs: \u201cAdam, we\u2019re still looking for you. Please stay here.\u201d They distributed 500,000 flyers. Adam in his baseball uniform, smiling, innocent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John appeared on the news, his voice breaking. \u201cWe\u2019re not looking for revenge. Just drop him off somewhere. We\u2019ll forget the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A $5,000 reward was offered. Then 10,000. Then $100,000. Eventually $120,000, the equivalent of $365,000 today. The public responded. Helicopters circled. Volunteers walked through fields. Truck drivers searched highways, communicating over CB radios. John gave people gas money to help search. Friends, employees, strangers, all looking for one little boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the police had almost nothing. Witnesses described a dark blue van, mag wheels, tinted windows, a chrome ladder on the back. But the mall had been packed that day. Thousands of people. The list of suspects was impossible to narrow down. And here\u2019s what made it even worse: there were no Amber Alerts in 1981. No National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The FBI was prohibited by law from helping unless there was proof the child crossed state lines or a ransom note was received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By day seven, the media moved on. The search continued, but hope was fading. Then John received shocking information from the county coroner. \u201cWe don\u2019t exchange information about unidentified bodies. We do it every 6 months by mail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John asked, \u201cIs my son in the NCIC?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coroner said, \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe National Crime Information Computer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coroner shook his head. \u201cNo missing children. No unidentified dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John was stunned. \u201cWe put a man on the moon and you\u2019re telling me I have to call every coroner in Florida to see if my son is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The coroner nodded. \u201cIt\u2019s up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John tried to get the media\u2019s attention. He called ABC, NBC, CBS. Only three channels existed in 1981. They all said no. \u201cIf we do it for you, we have to do it for every missing kid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, David Hartman from Good Morning America agreed. John and Rev\u00e9 would appear on national television to plead for Adam\u2019s safe return. The date was set: August 11th, 1981, exactly 2 weeks after Adam\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on August 10th, the day before their appearance, two fishermen named Vernon Bailey and Robert Hughes were casting lines near a drainage canal off the Florida Turnpike about 120 miles north of Hollywood. Mile marker 130 in Indian River County. It was almost nightfall. Then they saw something floating. At first they thought it was a doll\u2019s head. They rowed closer. It wasn\u2019t a doll. It was the severed head of a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They called police immediately. Photos were taken. The fire department arrived. Divers searched the canal for days. They never found the rest of the body. On August 11th, while John and Rev\u00e9 were live on Good Morning America, begging for their son\u2019s return, police were making identifications. When the Walshes landed back in Florida, reporters shoved cameras in their faces. The police had news. Devastating news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four separate confirmations proved it was Adam. John Moahan, John Walsh\u2019s close friend and business partner\u2014the same man whose son John had once saved from drowning\u2014drove to Indian River County Hospital. He identified Adam by the gap in his front teeth and the stub of a new tooth growing in. He\u2019d seen Adam just days before. Adam\u2019s dentist, Dr. Burger, brought dental charts and X-rays; an amalgam filling on the lower left molar was a perfect match, the medical examiners confirmed. And years later, mitochondrial DNA from the jawbone would match Rev\u00e9 Walsh, silencing any conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head was airlifted to the Broward County Medical Examiner where Dr. Ronald Wright performed the autopsy. Five blows to the back of the neck and skull. A sharp blade approximately 5 1\/2 inches. The decapitation was postmortem. Adam had been struck from behind while lying face down. Cause of death: asphyxiation, trauma to the face, a fractured nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
City & Local Guides<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on decomposition, Dr. Wright estimated Adam had been dead for at least 10 days, killed within a day or two of his abduction. Not kept alive. There were no drugs in his system. The head had been submerged for 12 days. It only surfaced in the last 24 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Wright later said, \u201cWe were lucky the head was found. If those fishermen hadn\u2019t come along, no one would ever have known what happened to Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they cleaned the skull, they found white fragments\u2014ceramic, paint, vitreous material\u2014probably from the weapon. The fracture patterns could have identified the exact tool, but they never found it. The Walshes held a funeral; an empty casket, because the remains were evidence. They couldn\u2019t bury their son. It was eating them alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
John went to Dr. Wright. He begged for the remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dr. Wright said, \u201cCome to my office. Work late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They talked for hours. Dr. Wright explained he couldn\u2019t release the remains yet. But there was something John could do. He could help other missing children. Make sure Adam didn\u2019t die in vain. That conversation changed John Walsh\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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