Adam Walsh

25:16Toole said that he drove north on the turnpike toward Jacksonville while Lucas terrorized the child. Toole went on to say that they pulled over in a wooded area off the turnpike. While there, they murdered the boy. Tool held him down, while Lucas used a machete to remove his head. When asked to describe the boy, Tool said that he was between 7 and 10 years old. He described him as being dressed in overalls, a blue shirt, and sneakers. This description didn't match Adam Walsh at all. At the time of his disappearance, Adam was only 6 1⁄2. He had last been seen wearing shorts and flip-flops. Detectives showed Tool a picture of Adam, and he said he didn't think Adam was the boy that he and Lucas kidnapped and murdered.

26:00Following the interview, detectives set out to see if any part of Tool's story could be true. They soon found that Lucas couldn't have been involved at the time. He was in a Virginia jail on charges for car theft. So detectives go back to Tool and tell him that they know he's lying. And Tool admits to lying, then tells a different story. This time, he says that he was alone when he kidnapped and murdered Adam. Tool tells them that he saw Adam on the west side of Sears. He talked to him for about 15 minutes before getting him into his car with the promise of candy and toys. Once Adam was in Tool's Cadillac, he locked the doors and windows, then drove toward Hollywood Boulevard and got on the turnpike headed toward Jacksonville.

26:43He told detectives that at first Adam was quiet, but he became restless and wanted to go back to Sears. Tool ignored Adam and kept driving. But eventually, Adam started yelling, which irritated Tool, so he slapped him several times. Tool then pulled over at a service plaza and choked Adam to unconsciousness. After this, Adam did not wake up again. Tool told detectives that he thought Adam was smart, so he grew concerned that Adam would recognize him if he let him go. So Tool kept driving, looking for a place to kill Adam. He says that after about an hour, he found a wooded area that he could pull into and not be seen from the road.

27:25He then removed Adam, who was still unconscious, from the Cadillac and laid him on the ground. He then took a machete he kept under the driver's seat and used it to remove Adam's head. He then buried Adam's body, then put Adam's head on the front floorboard of the car before moving it to the rear floorboard. Toole says it was only a short distance before throwing Adam's head in the canal. He then returned to Jacksonville. Now, detectives felt like this story was a lot more believable. They noted that his description of the murder weapon, and the number of times he used it to sever Adam's head, was consistent with the medical examiner's findings.

28:05His story also matched at least one tip detectives had received in the first few days of the investigation, the one about Adam being seen getting into a white car which drove down Hollywood Boulevard. Detectives asked Tool why he did it, and he said it was because he wanted to raise Adam as his own son. He further said that he lied about Lucas' involvement because he wanted to get even with him. Tool explained that Lucas had recently admitted to murdering and decapitating Tool's favorite niece. Detectives were able to find the Cadillac. When they looked inside, they found a machete. They also sprayed luminol, and found the presence of blood on the front and rear floorboards of the car, exactly where tool said he laid Adam's head.

28:49Seven squares of carpeting were removed for further testing. The Hollywood Police Department asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement lab in Jacksonville to handle the evidence. The Cadillac, machete, and carpet squares were sent to the lab for processing, but they weren't able to determine if the blood on the carpet belonged to Adam, and my team wasn't able to find what, if anything, was determined with the machete. Before the month of October 1983 was over, Otis Toole was transported to Hollywood so he could walk detectives through the events of July 27, 1981. According to America's Most Wanted, Toole identified the correct Sears store where Adam was abducted and the correct canal where Adam's head was found.

29:32Toole further showed detectives a wooded area where he said he severed Adam's head and then buried the rest of his remains. That night, Hollywood Police Chief Sam Martin announced that Otis Toole was responsible for Adam's abduction and murder. The following day, John Walsh told the media, quote, My heart will always be broken for the rest of my life. I miss Adam more now than when he went missing, because the reality hadn't set in at the time. John said that he prayed that the, quote, criminal justice system will not break down, and that Adam will receive justice. Now, justice looks different for everyone, but that just didn't happen.

30:15Otis Toole was never charged with Adam's murder. When investigators searched the wooded area Toole said he buried Adam in, they didn't find his body. According to America's Most Wanted, without any physical evidence to officially tie Toole to Adam's murder, the state attorney refused to bring charges against him. And it wasn't long before Toole started changing his story again. In another conversation with detectives, he said that he had not buried Adam in the wooded area. Instead, he'd taken Adam's body to Jacksonville and cremated him in an icebox in his mother's backyard. He says from there, he took the remains to the city dump.

30:53Then, in January 1984, three months after his first confession, Toole recanted everything, saying he didn't kill Adam at all. Not a lot happened over the next 10 months, and in October 1984, Hollywood police announced that they were putting the case into an inactive file. They said Toole was their only suspect, but there wasn't enough to convict him. And like we see happen, as time passed, Toole changed his story again and said that he was responsible for killing Adam. Now, according to ABC News, Toole made a total of 24 confessions and 3 recantations. But it should be noted that those numbers may be exaggerated.

31:37Some sources say Toole confessed less times. Unfortunately, there's just a lot of inconsistent reporting. But according to NBC, Toole's confessions often included different details. Sometimes, he said he abducted Adam by the mall merry-go-round instead of Sears. In one story, he said that he bribed Adam with candy, but at another time, he said it was a baseball glove. In some confessions, Tool said that he decapitated Adam, while other times he said he left his body intact. Once, Tool even claimed to have thrown Adam's head and body into the same canal. But detectives didn't believe that could be true because Adam's body has never been recovered.

32:18Unfortunately, this is a game that sometimes these people play. At one point, a detective from a county police department asked Tool why he kept recanting if he was truly responsible for Adams' murder. Tool replied that every time he told the Hollywood detective something, they said he was lying. That made Tool mad, so he would just say, you're right, I didn't do it. And unfortunately, the torment for the Walshes did not stop. In 1988, Tool writes them a very vulgar letter. He says he kidnapped, raped, and murdered Adam. He said that for$50 ,000, he'd tell them where the rest of Adam's body was located, but only if they didn't go to the police.

33:00John later told ABC News, I read that letter and went into the bathroom and threw up. I said, this son of a bitch. We have to figure out a way for him to tell us what happened. That same year, 1988, John started hosting America's Most Wanted, continuing his mission to help other families. Now, you guys probably know this, but the show would go on to help locate more than a thousand fugitives, including at least 17 from the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. And of course, tips were still coming in about Adam's case. Three years later, in July 1991, serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Wisconsin.

33:42Two Hollywood, Florida residents called police to say that they had seen Dahmer at the mall on the day of Adam's disappearance. These were the same people who called police about a thin, disheveled blonde man acting strangely in the mall, the one that was apparently acting so suspicious that someone followed him into the Sears toy department. Police interviewed Dahmer, and he said he did not kill Adam. Eventually, he was ruled out altogether. A month later, in August 1991, a Hollywood resident named William read an article about the 10th anniversary of Adam's murder. He came forward and told police that he saw Tool and Adam in Tool's car back in July 1981.

34:22William said that he was waiting for traffic to move in the parking lot when he saw Tool double park his car, get out, take a child by the hand, and open up the car. William was put under hypnosis, and he gave a perfect description of Tool's Cadillac, including a special dent that hadn't been made public. William's wife would later tell police that when William saw Tool's photo in 1983, he told her that he thought he'd seen that man. But William just didn't connect the dots at the time. Disney Plus wants to know, are you ready? For Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts The New Avengers, now streaming on Disney Plus.

35:03Let's do this. One of the best Marvel movies of all time is now streaming on Disney Plus. Hey, you weren't listening to me. I said, Thunderbolts The New Avengers is now streaming on Disney+. Meet the New Avengers. That's cool, man. Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts The New Avengers, rated PG-13. Now streaming on, you guessed it, Disney+. This is a real good story about Bronx and his dad, Ryan, real United Airlines customers. We were returning home, and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Captain Andrew. I got to sit in the driver's seat. I grew up in an aviation family, and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age.

35:42That's Andrew, a real United pilot. These small interactions can shape a kid's future. It felt like I was the captain. Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever. That's how good leads the way. In 1994, a new detective was assigned to Adams' case. Now, quite a bit of time had gone by, so the first thing he did was look at the evidence the department still had. Technology had changed quite a bit, and he wanted to send everything off for testing. But he found that all of the physical evidence was gone. The carpet squares, the machete, and the car were all gone. Apparently, because Tool had recanted, someone in Jacksonville felt that the evidence was no longer relevant, so it was thrown away, and the car was sold and later junked for scrap.

36:30So, the detective worked with what he had, and when he was done looking over the case, he believed that Toole could be the person responsible for Adam's abduction and murder. The fact that Adam's severed head was found 124 miles north on the Florida Turnpike, which would add credence to someone from Jacksonville being involved, kind of fit. He further noted, quote, All the reports I read indicated that Toole was accurate as far as where he pulled off and decapitated, and then he went farther north and discarded the severed head in the canal. All the reports indicated that he was apparently and pretty much accurate about the description.

37:09But still, no charges against Toole were filed. And then, as we see happens all the time, in September 1996, Otis Toole died in prison. Following his death, Henry Lee Lucas told the media that Toole was responsible for Adam's murder. He said Toole showed him his remains, and they were in a shallow grave. He said he didn't say anything at the time because he didn't want to get involved. A year later, in 1997, John released the book Tears of Rage, and John harshly criticized the Hollywood Police Department's handling of Adams' case. He called it shocking, inexcusable, and heartbreaking. The Walshes later sat down with ABC's Nightline to speak about the investigation.

37:55They said that from the beginning they were disappointed with the Hollywood police. When Adam went missing, they just didn't take the case seriously enough. Then when Adam was found dead, the department botched the murder investigation. John called it, quote, one nightmare after another. In the years after John released his book, he remained the host of America's Most Wanted. He and Reve also continued their mission to help make the world a safer place for children. In 2006, on the 25th anniversary of Adam's disappearance, President Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act into law.

38:33The act expanded the National Sex Offender Registry, created a new child abuse registry, and strengthened penalties for crimes against children. Around this same time, the Walshes decided to hire someone to go over Adam's case, starting from the beginning. They ultimately hired Joe Matthews, a retired police detective who had briefly been involved in the case early on. He had been critical of how the initial investigation was handled, so John and Revae felt like he was a great fit. And Matthews found something major. Detectives hadn't developed a roll of film from Tool's car. This film had several photographs of Tool's car.

39:12In one photo, Matthews could see bloody footprints on the driver's side. In another photo of the rear floorboard, where Tool said he put Adam's head, he could see the bloody outline of a face. The Walshes did view this photo. Reve later told ABC News that she saw Adam's face in the photo. She said, quote, To me, it was the one thing that a mother knows, is that this is their child, that this picture is their child. This is the piece of evidence that ties everything together for me, and I can go to my grave knowing that not only that I did everything I could, but that I found my answers in that photo.

39:54In the end, Matthews concluded that Tool was responsible for Adam's abduction and murder. He felt that all the evidence against Tool had been there the whole time, but the initial lead detective decided to ignore it and not focus on Tool. Now, of course, Matthews shares this information with the Hollywood police, and after going through everything, the new police chief, Chad Wagner, was also convinced that Tool was responsible. And then they finally announced it. On December 16, 2008, Chief Wagner announced to the public that Otis Toole was responsible for Adams' murder, and that the case was being closed.

40:33Wagner said the evidence was strong enough to have Toole charged prior to his death, and that he regretted that the case hadn't been closed earlier. After the conference, John and Revae released a statement, which read in part, quote, From all the evidence presented to us, we agree with the conclusion shared by the key investigators, that it is clear and irrefutable that Otis Toole was the abductor and killer of our son, Adam. We can now move forward knowing positively who killed our beautiful little boy. We pray for the thousands of parents of murdered and still-missing children. We continue to fight for their safety, and to make sure that no child, especially Adam, died in vain.

41:20Which brings me right to our call to action. As you might have noticed, Adam's case is a little different from what I normally cover here on Voices for Justice. I know that there are a lot of theories out there about this case that don't always include Tool, But if John and Revae Walsh have made peace with the answers they've been given, I won't argue with that. I won't define what justice, answers, or closure looks like for them. Because I can tell you, that is a deeply personal thing. The reason I wanted to cover Adam's case is because you guys know I have a soft spot for these kids who set precedents.

41:57There's no way around it. It's just not fair. It shouldn't take something like this to happen for us to implement policies and programs that protect children. But what Adam's family has done since his murder is nothing short of incredible. Adam's case has touched my life in so many different ways. At the beginning of this episode, I mentioned something called Code Adam. But basically, you know, in every store is a little bit different, but in the stores I worked for, the whole idea was get as much information as possible. You report that information as soon as possible to the police, and you man those doors.

42:35Any entrance, any exit, any way that a small child could get out, you need someone posted there. And of course, if you see a child with someone who is not their parent, you do your best to delay them. Basically, you lock down that store until that child's found, or the police say that they are not there. And of course, Adam's case has affected my life in other ways. John Walsh is a personal hero of mine, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children helped a lot with Alyssa's case. I and my sister Alyssa have directly benefited from Adam Walsh's legacy, and I don't want that legacy to fade in all the noise of true crime.

43:16So hopefully this episode can be a small part of that. I'm gonna try not to get emotional. I'm already there, I'm already there. It's just, like I said, the moment I don't get emotional about these cases and what I do, I think is the moment I need to step away from true crime. So bear with me, I have recorded this and re-recorded it, and I am trying my best not to cry. It just is what it is, you guys. But I have directly benefited from Adam's case. When the Phoenix Police Department failed to investigate my sister Alyssa's case for so many years after she went missing, NECMEC was there. They created the first age-progressed photo of Alyssa.

43:54In those first few years, they were the only organization getting her name and face out there, all while the police and local news just weren't pursuing it. While I can't go into all the details right now because of the trial pending, if you listened to season one of this podcast, you know just how much NCMEC helped Alyssa. I also think Adam's case is, unfortunately, a learning moment for so many people. Yes, it wasn't and still isn't common for a six-year-old to be abducted by a stranger, but it does happen. What looks like irrelevant evidence today could be extremely important in the future.

44:34And sometimes, even with strong circumstantial and, in my opinion, physical evidence, these cases never see a courtroom. Sometimes legal justice just doesn't align with common sense. And that's the reality that so many families live with today. But I will say that NECMEC is a bright light for many families going through very dark times. And that's all because of Adam. So that's my call to action. Raising awareness for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They've assisted in almost half a million cases. That's a number that really feels too large to grasp. But this is how the Walshes have chosen to honor Adam's legacy.

45:20So I hope you feel compelled to do the same. You can support them at missingkids.org or on any social media platform. Please donate if you can and feel compelled to do so. But at the very least, I really hope that you share the cases they feature. Sometimes, like in my sister's case, they might be the only organization fighting for that child.

45:48As a reminder, six-year-old Adam Walsh went missing from a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida on July 27, 1981. While Adam's case is closed, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you to contact the FBI should you have any valid tips about his case. But, as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.

46:14Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. This episode contains writing and research by Haley Gray, with research assistance by Anna Luria. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice.

47:08who takes spontaneous weekend camping trips or upgrading your commute. Wherever life takes you next or whoever you're looking to be, there's a car for that on cars.com. Visit cars.com to discover your next possibility.

47:22Every day, thousands of Comcast engineers and technologists like Olu Sheyi are working to build the best sports viewing experience. Some of my favorite moments throughout my life are watching sports with my dad. Now I work at Comcast as part of the team that created our AI highlight technology, which uses AI to detect the major plays in a sports game. And now, millions of sports fans will never miss a moment. Visit comcastcorporation.com slash sports to learn more.

48:23Welcome to the Secret After Show, the door to the studio. My spare bedroom is open, the air conditioning is on, and the dogs are in. Now, obviously, this was a tough one for me. Um, like I said, and I think that's when I really lost it and I'll probably lose it again, just who I am, you guys. Um, I feel that I have personally benefited from Adam's case. And because of that, I felt a responsibility to help continue this mission that his parents have set forward. And I also just want to say that I think the way that people handle their loved one's legacy becoming policy, becoming something kind of larger than their case is valid.

49:06Amber Hagerman's mom is 100 % valid in being upset that Amber's been kind of lost in the story of the Amber Alert. And the Walshes are 100 % valid in that they enjoy Adam's legacy continuing on through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Both sides are valid. These journeys are just so personal. But yeah, I know it's one of those cases where you get that feedback of it's played out or whatever, but I couldn't sit here and benefit from Adam's case and what he had to go through without trying to raise awareness somehow. Of course, if you guys have followed me on social media, you know that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has been my charity of choice outside of Season of Justice for a very long time.

49:54And that's because I have, like I said, seen and directly benefited from the work that they do. So if you are looking for a charity of choice that focuses on missing children, that would be my top pick. Now, it's been a while since we've done this, but there's been some updates in the cases that I've covered. Let's start with Madeline Kingsbury. Now, if you guys follow on social media, like I asked you to, if you follow her sister Megan, you will know that Madeline's remains have been found, and the father of her children, Adam, has been arrested. That's basically it for now. Again, I encourage you to go follow Megan.

50:34You can find her on TikTok under her personal account, which she doesn't mind you following there. She gives updates. It's kind of for that, just like my personal account. Or you can follow them. I was totally out of breath. This is what happens. I get so worked up and I get so out of breath. Of course, you can also follow the Facebook page and just show them some support. And next, if you haven't heard already, there's been a break in the Tara Calico case. Officials say that they have a suspect, and they think it might go to the DA soon. Again, that is really, really brand new, so there's not a ton more information, and I don't want to report what I've seen that's a little conflicting, so you can follow that on your own.

51:18Otherwise, keep checking back here for more solid updates. Now, I want to talk about a new segment I'd like to introduce here in the Secret After Show. Now, I feel like because I primarily focus on, you know, unsolved cases, I don't really get to tell you guys a lot about the hope, right? I only do usually these big updates like once a year. I don't like making an entire episode off of an update, especially when the case is now closed. It's just not my style. I like to highlight things that need our attention, things that need justice. And of course, you know, as these updates come out, I'm not saying that those people don't deserve attention.

51:56That is not what I'm saying. I am saying I make true crime content to advocate for cases that need help, that need justice. That's my focus. And I don't know, I might do in the future, maybe in special cases. And I have played around with ideas, you know, ways to do it, I should say. But for the most part, when there's like a huge update in the case, it doesn't make me feel good as a creator to make an entire episode off that content, to tell you everything that you already know, everything I already told you in the episode before, and kind of end it with like 10 to 15 minutes of an update. I don't like that feeling, so I do not do it.

52:35But I think here in this after show moment, I have an opportunity to bring you stories of hope, things that happen in true crime that are good, things that can help us keep that hope alive, keep it well within our hearts. And something really, really amazing happened this week. I'm super excited about it. Um, so if you guys follow me on social media and I touched on it in a recent disappearances episode, um, but I have been talking about the, uh, Indian child welfare act. Now there are a ton of creators out there that can, um, you know, indigenous creators that have been very, very vocal that I encourage you to follow.

53:15I've been posting their TikToks on my Instagram left and right, which I know posting TikToks on Instagram is like a whole thing, whatever. All I'm trying to say is I encourage you to go on TikTok and just, if you use TikTok, I'm not trying to pressure you. I'm just saying that's where I know a lot of these videos live. I can't say the same for Instagram or Twitter because they are inferior apps. I'm sorry I had to say it. But if you go to TikTok and you search Indian Child Welfare Act, you will find a ton of Indigenous creators on there talking about it. And I would love to send more traffic their way instead of my way.

53:50But I want to talk about it because of course they are asking people to talk about it. So I have been, I have been, like I said, if you look at my Instagram, I have been all over this because it's an, it was infuriating and now we're in a good place. This is our segment of hope. This is new for me. I'm trying to be hopeful, at least in this segment. So, oh my gosh, you guys, I do not know what I'm saying today. Anyway, this is our segment of hope, which again, just like this after show is not named well. We'll have to work on that. But basically, if you guys are not familiar, there is something called the Indian Child Welfare Act.

54:27And this was enacted like 50 years ago to basically remedy all these laws and policies that would allow the government to take Indigenous children away from their families, right? This is why we saw so many boarding schools or residential schools, excuse me. Basically, kids were being taken from their homes in just crazy numbers, right? And placed with non-Indigenous families, you know, and it's a way to kind of wash out their culture. Let's be real. So, you know, because the world is ending or whatever is happening, the Supreme Court was basically, you guys, I'm so bad with government. So please forgive me.

55:10I had a really, really bad education, which is not an excuse because I'm so old, but bear with me. Basically, they were trying to threaten that. They were trying to repeal it, take it back. So that way that they could basically just rip Indigenous kids out of their homes and put them with white families all over the place. And essentially taking away the oversight that these communities had to make sure that these children are still placed in areas where, you know, their culture could be respected, that they're placed with, you know, indigenous families. It is what it is. But everyone was scared that this was going to be repealed.

55:47They're like, no way. It's going away. We're going to go back to the old times where they're taking our kids away from us and putting them in these boarding schools and washing away our culture. And in a really amazing turn of events, the Supreme Court left it intact, which means that so many kids are going to be able to stay with their families and so many kids are going to have oversight from people in their community who understand their culture and understand their beliefs. And it's a huge, huge win for the Indigenous community that has not been spoken about or talked about enough. And I'm really bad because I'm not scripted here.

56:26I probably should have scripted this part, but I 100 % encourage you to go look this up, read an article about it, because it's really, really cool. I'm really excited that this happened. And just to give you some more background. I pulled up an article right now so that I am not completely speaking uneducated here. You guys, I'm not forming sentences anymore. Bear with me. So this is NPR. I am reading straight from this article. Do not come for me. It says, quote, the Indian Child Welfare Act known as ICWA, ICWA, was enacted in 1978 after a congressional investigation found that in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, over one third of all Native children had been removed from their homes, some forcibly, and placed with non-Indian families and institutions with no ties to the tribes.

57:16To ensure that that would never happen again, the law established three preferences for the placement of Native children when they are adopted or put in foster care. The first preference is for the placement with the child's extended family, then to other members of the tribe, and if neither of those is available, to members of another tribe. So, end quote, excuse me. So that's what they were trying to take away and it did not get taken away. So again, this is a huge win for the indigenous community. So I'm excited. I hope that makes you hopeful about the world and true crime, that things are not reverting back to scary, scary ways.

57:56So that is our hope segment of the week. Please comment on social media and give me a better name for this segment and I will credit you a thousand percent. My brain's not fully working right now in terms of creativity, so please forgive me. But as always, thank you. I love you. And I'll talk to you next time.