Adam Walsh Murder Solved

Adam Walsh Murder Solved

www.msnbc.msn.com

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Authorities in South Florida announced Tuesday that they've finally solved the 1981 killing of Adam Walsh, whose father later gained fame as the host of "America's Most Wanted."

Hollywood police held a news conference to close the case of the abduction and homicide of 6-year-old Adam. They identified the boy's killer as Ottis Toole, a drifter who confessed to the murder, then recanted before dying in prison in 1996.

(visit the link for the full news article)

His father built a career on the murder, not that he wanted it that way, as the host of the America's Most Wanted television show. It was a gruesome murder, and it appeared no one would pay for the crime. Happily it appears it has been solved. Apparently it is the person police had suspected all along. Too bad he's already dead but at least this gives closure for the family.

This is breaking as I type. More news coming...

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 16-12-2008 by TheComte]

[edit on 16-12-2008 by TheComte]

As tragic as the death of that little boy was, I can't help but feel that by putting his obnoxious father on national TV for the following 20 plus years, we have all been made to suffer.

reply to post by Retseh

Having allgedly known this for many years, it's a shame he wasn't able to atleast get the rest his remains to bury.
I would think since this guy had bragged about it in prison, that they would know where.

I suppose it may have been in a way he couldn't ever retrieve them. I would also wonder if this had been personal in the first place.

That show is definitely an iconic show. I mean you could say that it was the first reality show, in that it directly enlisted the aid of the viewers in real time.

I love AMW. It's the best thing on TV. Not only does it put the circus animals on display but it goes out of its way to catch them with stunts like billboards in the perps hometown with his face 15 feet tall.

It bothers me more than a little that John Walsh supports the psychotic Brady bunch but so does Sylvester Stallone and that didnt stop me from enjoying Rambo.

I just tell myself that John doesnt really know the evils the Brady bunch push for and simply buys the sugar-coated catch phrases like "save our kids." Even the smartest people fall for that crap when it echoes (or gives the impression of echoing) a personal tragedy or experience.

I am amazed they are linking it to Otis Toole after all these years. I guess he confessed ages ago, but then again he confessed to a whole lot of murders many of which were never confirmed.

Regardless he still he was the partner of Henry Lee Lucas, together they were a couple of the most prolific and infamous serial killers in history.

Henry Lee Lucas was also the ONLY death row prisoner to have his sentence commuted under then Govenor George W. Bush.

While the boy's death was a tragedy, John Walsh long ago jumped the shark and became a parody of a concerned citizen. His vicious diatribes and lunatic rants have contributed significantly to the media convicting people before they are even on trial.

It's great his family may have a sense of closure over this. John Walsh has done a lot of good for communities, and Toole was suspect for ages. I'm glad he finally fessed up to it.

I'm glad the case appears to have been solved and that his family has some closure.

I have mixed feelings about John Walsh and AMW, they have certainly done some good, however as pointed out in the article:

What it also did, said Mount Holyoke College sociologist and criminologist Richard Moran, is make children and adults alike exponentially more afraid.

"He ended up really producing a generation of cautious and afraid kids who view all adults and strangers as a threat to them and it made parents extremely paranoid about the safety of their children," Moran said.

These days we live in a society where the media & public's obsession with spectacular acts of crime and violence have created a ridiculously fearful society, where parents won't let their kids go trick or treating because there is this idea afloat that their are serial killers and child rapists on every other corner - which is nowhere near true.

These kinds of serial killers are extremely rare, less than one in a million, and yet we seem to think they're everywhere. Same with child molesters - we thuink there are pedophiles looking to kidnap kids outside every schoolyard, but what the statistics really show is that the vast majority of child sex abuse is committed by family members of the victim or family friends, not strangers.

This climate of fear has led to plenty of idiocy, like a huge jail population, where nonviolent drug offenders get locked up with thugs, and unsurprisingly come out hardened criminals.

Or the idiotic profusion of gun control laws thisguyrighthere mentions, which as far as I can tell have absolutely no effect on actual gun crime whatsoever, while punishing perfectly innocent hobbyists...

Originally posted by xmotex
These kinds of serial killers are extremely rare, less than one in a million, and yet we seem to think they're everywhere. Same with child molesters - we thuink there are pedophiles looking to kidnap kids outside every schoolyard, but what the statistics really show is that the vast majority of child sex abuse is committed by family members of the victim or family friends, not strangers.

Well its like people being afraid to fly (plane crashes) yet not afraid to ride in a car on the highway, even though they are far far more likely to get killed in an auto crash.

I am for one am always fascinated by serial killers, but realistically not afraid of them. There is only maybe 30 in the U.S. at any given time anyway. Being done in by a serial killer is like being hit by a meteor, not a lot you can do to prevent it and if it happens you are dead regardless.

I actually watched some show that said they thought Jeffrey Dahmer might have been linked to the Adam Walsh killing, supposedly he was asked about it and he said "anyone that confesses to that murder is as good as dead in prison". Though Jeffrey wasn't into kids, so I never understood that link.

reply to post by xmotex


It's not like AMW is the first show to do that. I remember being a kid and because of William Shatner and Rescue 911 my mother putting my little sister in virtual lockdown for safetys sake. By then I was old enough to recognize and dutifully ignore psychotic behavior.

People are always being made scared from word of mouth since the dawn of time to the 24 hour news cycle of today.

This may be given them way more credit and or responsibility than they deserve but it's up to people not to be idiots. You cant blame a bowling ball dropped from a bridge on Beavis and Butthead and you cant blame the paranoid mother afraid to leave her house on John Walsh.

Originally posted by Retseh
As tragic as the death of that little boy was, I can't help but feel that by putting his obnoxious father on national TV for the following 20 plus years, we have all been made to suffer.

.

WOW. NEW DEPTHS OF HEARTLESSNESS. BE PROUD. NOT.

Originally posted by traderjack
While the boy's death was a tragedy, John Walsh long ago jumped the shark and became a parody of a concerned citizen. His vicious diatribes and lunatic rants have contributed significantly to the media convicting people before they are even on trial.

u r SICK

THE only ones qualified to post here are the unfortunate ones who have lost a child to senseless violence.


Every one else blows meaninless smoke into an ambivalent universe. Walk a mile in their shoes, then consider youself qualified to comment.
my 2 cents.
edit for spelling x2

[edit on 16-12-2008 by Tinkabit]

[edit on 16-12-2008 by Tinkabit]

I think that everyone holds the right to comment on the subject. As far as I am concerned, if its closure for the parents then more power to them. I am sure deep down inside there are still many unanswered questions

Originally posted by Tinkabit
Every one else blows meaninless smoke into an ambivalent universe. Walk a mile in their shoes, then consider youself qualified to comment.
my 2 cents.

Yeah seriously, becoming a reality television celebrity simply because you became famous due to the fact your child was murdered and his head was chopped off, well, that is just really really strange.

I would try to think of a metaphor to describe how inappropriate that is, but the reality of the situation is far more bizarre than any metaphor one could concieve of.

And hey, i watch AMW...heck the last episode had that brilliant bank robber story which I am sure will inspire copy-cat crimes. But there is still something very very odd about a man that ultimately found a new career and is capitalizing off of such an intense personal tragedy.

Originally posted by Sonya610

Originally posted by Tinkabit
Every one else blows meaninless smoke into an ambivalent universe. Walk a mile in their shoes, then consider youself qualified to comment.
my 2 cents.

Yeah seriously, becoming a reality television celebrity simply because you became famous due to the fact your child was murdered and his head was chopped off, well, that is just really really strange.

I would try to think of a metaphor to describe how inappropriate that is, but the reality of the situation is far more bizarre than any metaphor one could concieve of.

And hey, i watch AMW...heck the last episode had that brilliant bank robber story which I am sure will inspire copy-cat crimes. But there is still something very very odd about a man that ultimately found a new caree

The man LOST HIS OWN CHILD to not only a molester, a MURDERER. GET A GRIP: instead of curling up into a ball, becuase of sociopathic responses from individual who cannot empathize with the extreme tragedy of such an episode....well, draw your own conculsions....hate to be judgemental, but assuming that you must be childless barely-post adolescents yourselves to hold such callouse opinions....

but hey , that's just me.... grow an empathy apendage ..... call me immature......