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Murder of Most Wanted Host's Son Solved

Convicted pedophile who died in jail was behind brutal 1981 kidnap/torture case

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 16, 2008 2:46 PM CST

(Newser) – The man who kidnapped and beheaded America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh’s son in 1981 has been identified, CNN reports. “Ottis Toole was the abductor and murderer of Adam Walsh,” Florida police said today. Toole, long suspected of the crime, died in prison in 1996. “That journey is over,” Walsh said of the search that drove him to join the show in 1988.

“Evidence (new and old) proves beyond a doubt that if Toole were alive today, he’d be charged and convicted of abducting and killing Adam,” a spokesperson for Walsh said. Toole twice confessed to the crime, but was never charged because police could not verify the confessions, TMZ reports. Adam Walsh’s head was found in a Florida canal, but his body was never located.

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John Walsh with living son Hayden Walsh in 2008. (AP Photo)

John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted." (AP Photo)

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For 27 years, we have been asking ourselves, "Who would take a 6-year-old boy and murder him and decapitate him?" We needed to know. The not knowing has been a torture but now that journey is over. - John Walsh

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Murder of Most Wanted Host's Son Solved