ADAM WALSH

November 14, 1974 – July 27, 1981

Missing 7/27/81  Age: 6

 

Six year old Adam Walsh was abducted on July 27, 1981 from a Sears’s department store in the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida. Adam was watching a group of older boys play video games as his mother turned her back for a second to shop for lamps. When she returned to where Adam was watching the games, Adam and the older boys were gone. There are claims that security guard threw the children out of the store for arguing over the game not realizing that Adam was not with the boys. It is believed once the older boys left the store, Adam was left by himself outside of the department store and was picked up by a stranger.

Adam’s severed head was found August 10, 1991 in a canal at Vero Beach, Florida. Adam’s remains were never found. A coroner stated that Adam’s cause of death was not by severing but instead due to asphyxiation.

Adam's kidnapping and murder prompted John Walsh to become an advocate for victims' rights and helped to spur the formation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). As a result of his advocacy, he was approached to host the television program America's Most Wanted.