In summer 1981, Walsh was an official with
Paradise Island Hotel and Casino in
The Bahamas, and worked in
Hollywood, Florida. He and his wife, Revé, had a six-year-old son,
Adam. On July 27, 1981, Adam was
abducted from a
Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall (today Hollywood Hills Plaza), across from the
Hollywood Police station. Revé had left Adam in the toy department at a model video game console at the Sears while she looked for a lamp. When she returned several minutes later, Adam was missing. Police records in Adam's case, released in 1996, show that a 17-year-old security guard instructed four boys to leave the department store. Adam is thought to have been one of them. Sixteen days after the abduction, his severed head was found in a drainage canal away from his home. The rest of his body was never found. Many names had been mentioned in connection to the case since the murder, but detectives kept returning to that of serial killer
Ottis Toole. John Walsh had long said he believed that Toole, a drifter, was responsible for the crime, saying investigators found a pair of green shorts and a sandal similar to what Adam was wearing at Toole's home in
Jacksonville, Florida. In January 2007, deceased
serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer fell under suspicion for the murder of Adam. This speculation was discounted by Walsh in an ''America's Most Wanted'' statement on February 6, 2007. Toole, the prime suspect in Adam's abduction and murder, died in prison in 1996 while serving a
life sentence for other crimes. The Hollywood Police Department officially identified him as Adam's killer on December 16, 2008, and the case was considered closed. Over the years, Toole had twice confessed to the killing, but both times he later recanted his admissions. In addition to the Walsh murder, Toole had claimed responsibility for hundreds of other murders, but police determined that most of these confessions were lies.
Aftermath Following the crime, the Walsh family founded the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to legislative reform. The centers, originally located in
West Palm Beach, Florida;
Columbia, South Carolina;
Orange County, California; and
Rochester, New York; merged with the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), where John Walsh serves on the board of directors. The Walsh family organized a political campaign to help missing and exploited children. Despite bureaucratic and legislative problems, John's and Revé's efforts eventually led to the creation of the
Missing Children Act of 1982 and the ''Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984''. Today, Walsh continues to testify before
Congress and state legislatures on crime, missing children and victims' rights issues. His latest efforts include lobbying for a
Constitutional amendment for
victims' rights. The
Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act () was signed into law by U.S. President
George W. Bush on July 27, 2006, following a two-year journey through the
United States Congress. It was intensely lobbied for by Walsh and the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Primarily, it focuses on a national sex offender registry, tough penalties for failing to register as a sex offender following release from prison, and civilian access to state websites that track sex offenders. Critics argue that the system amounts to making offenders wear a lifelong "
Scarlet Letter", regardless of the circumstances of their cases. By the late 1990s, many malls, department stores, supermarkets, and other such retailers had adopted what is known as a "
Code Adam", a movement first started by
Walmart stores in the southeastern United States. A "Code Adam" is announced when a child is missing in a store or if a child is found by a store employee or customer. If the child is lost or missing, all doors will be locked and a store employee is posted at every exit, while a description of the child is generally broadcast over the intercom system. "Code Adam" as a term has become synonymous with a missing child, and is a predecessor to an "
Amber alert", which serves as a system of broadcast-driven community notification. Some critics accuse Walsh of creating
predator panic through his work. Critics have stated that the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, which started without funding in 1981, generated $1.5 million annually following his testimony before the Congress. ==Career in television==