The murder of Adam Walsh
Hollywood, Broward County, Florida · 1981
Overview
Adam Walsh, six, disappeared on July 27, 1981 from the toy department of the Sears store at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, where his mother had left him for a few minutes watching older boys play video games. A teenage security guard had told the older boys to leave, and investigators believe Adam followed them out and was taken outside the store. On August 10, 1981, two fishermen found his severed head in a drainage canal beside the Florida Turnpike more than a hundred miles north; dental records confirmed the identification and the rest of his body has never been found. In October 1983 Ottis Toole, a Jacksonville drifter already jailed for murder, confessed to abducting and killing Adam, then recanted, then confessed again, two dozen documented times in all. Blood was found in his Cadillac and on a machete, but it could not be typed in 1983, and by 1995, when DNA testing was possible, Hollywood police had lost both the bloodstained carpet and the car. Toole was never charged with Adam's murder and died in prison on September 15, 1996, serving life sentences for other killings. After a fresh review ordered by a new chief, Chadwick Wagner, the Hollywood Police Department announced on December 16, 2008 that Toole had abducted and murdered Adam, closed the case, and apologized to his family for its mistakes. The case reshaped how America searches for missing children.
How it was solved
No new evidence closed the case; a new chief decided the old evidence was enough. Ottis Toole was in custody in Jacksonville, jailed in 1982 for killing a 64-year-old man there, when he began confessing to murders in 1983. On October 19, 1983, Hollywood detectives visited him and he confessed to killing Adam. He took them to a bus bench outside the Sears where he said he had approached the boy, said he had lured him into his white 1971 Cadillac, and led police to a spot where he said the body was buried. Nothing was there. His accounts changed from telling to telling, and he recanted repeatedly. Investigators found blood on the floorboards of the Cadillac and removed the carpeting, and a machete from the business where Toole had bought the car showed traces of blood; in 1983 the blood could not be typed and DNA testing did not exist. At Toole's Jacksonville home they found green shorts and a sandal similar to what Adam had worn. In August 1991 a witness said he had seen Adam get into a Cadillac with a man resembling Toole and described a dent, never made public, that matched Toole's car. In 1995, when police sought DNA testing, the carpet had been lost and the Cadillac sold for junk. Toole died in prison on September 15, 1996; a niece later said he had confessed on his deathbed. In 2006 the family asked a retired Miami Beach homicide detective, Joe Matthews, to reopen the case, and Chadwick Wagner, chief from 2007, ordered a fresh review. On December 16, 2008, Wagner announced that Toole had continued to be the department's only real suspect, that there was no single piece of evidence but a vast amount of circumstantial evidence, that Toole had given accurate details of the abduction and the decapitation, and that if he were alive he would be arrested. The case was exceptionally cleared. The Associated Press, reviewing the released documents, found no DNA, no blood tests and no decisive eyewitness. Matthews had submitted his own report before the announcement; Wagner said under oath he had decided to close the case long before receiving it, and Matthews's 2011 claims about never-printed luminol photographs of the Cadillac came after the closing, not before it.
Sources
- Case Closed: Police ID Adam Walsh Killer (December 16, 2008)
“She left him in the toy department playing video games. His head was discovered two weeks later, though his body was never found.”
- Questions linger in Adam Walsh probe (December 2008)
“There are no DNA or blood tests, no slam-dunk eyewitness accounts. "If you're looking for that magic wand, that one piece of evidence, it's not there," Wagner admits.”
- Deathbed confession closes 1981 murder case of Adam Walsh (December 16, 2008)
“Ottis Toole has continued to be our only real suspect. Toole had twice confessed to killing the child, but later recanted. Toole died in prison of cirrhosis in 1996 at the age of 49.”
- Adam Walsh Case Closed: Drifter Murdered Son of Most Wanted Host (December 16, 2008)
“If Ottis Toole were alive today, he would be arrested for the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh.”
- Ottis Toole: Drifter Named as Adam Walsh's Killer (December 16, 2008)
“In 1982, Toole killed a 64-year-old man in Jacksonville, Fla., and in April 1984 he was sentenced to death for the murder. Toole died in prison on Sept. 15, 1996, from liver failure.”
- How It Took 27 Years to Solve the Murder of 6-Year-Old Adam Walsh
“When Hollywood police visited Toole on October 19, 1983, he confessed to killing Adam. He had given two dozen documented confessions in Adam's case. But the mats had been lost and the Cadillac had been sold for junk.”
- Adam Walsh's Parents Relive Son's Murder (March 3, 2011)
“Toole made 24 documented confessions to killing Adam Walsh, including a 1984 videotaped interview with Texas Rangers.”
- Long-lost police photos said to show Adam Walsh's face etched in his own blood (January 2011)
“In a sworn statement, Wagner said he made the decision to close the case long before receiving the Matthews' report. The evidence supporting Wagner's decision, however, was not disclosed.”
- The U.S. Is Still Dealing With the Murder of Adam Walsh (August 10, 2016)
“The store clerk called out his name on the sound system, no answer. A helicopter and ground search ensued. Toole would end up dying in prison in 1996 while serving five life sentences for other crimes.”
- Remembering Adam Walsh 40 years after 6-year-old's disappearance (July 2021)
“Investigators learned a teenage security guard had asked the older children to leave because they were causing trouble.”
- 40 Years Later, Adam Walsh's Abduction and Murder Not Forgotten in South Florida (July 2021)
“Toole was a convicted serial killer who confessed twice to Adam's murder and then recanted his confessions. In 2008, former Hollywood Police Chief Chad Wagner officially named Otis Toole the killer and apologized for past mistakes.”
- Adam Walsh: Looking back 40 years after child abduction that changed America (July 2021)
“Dental records confirmed the identification. The rest of Adam's body has never been found. The chief said he was satisfied that Toole could have been tried and convicted of the murder.”