Ottis Toole - Murder of Adam Walsh

Murder of Adam Walsh

Twenty-seven years after the 1981 murder of Adam Walsh, authorities officially named Toole as the likely killer.

Toole claimed to have picked Adam up in a Sears mall parking lot. Toole said he offered him candy and toys and that Adam came willingly. Adam soon wanted to go home and began crying. Toole said he then punched him in the face. Adam started crying more, and, according to Toole, he began to "wallop" Adam, knocking him out. Toole eventually pulled over in a rural area and decapitated Adam with a machete. He drove around for several days with Adam's head, forgot about it, and, once rediscovering it, tossed it into a nearby canal. Police somehow lost his impounded car and machete, hindering their ability to proceed with the investigation.

Hollywood, Florida Police Chief Chadwick Wagner said Ottis Toole had been the prime suspect all along, but went on to admit that although Toole's case was weak, he could have been charged during the original investigation. Wagner acknowledged that many mistakes were made by the department and apologized to the Walsh family. Public critics of the indictment argue that lack of new (public) evidence, and the inability of the defendant to defend himself of the allegations, leaves no definitive claim to his guilt. To this Wagner has stated, "If you're looking for that magic wand, that one piece of evidence, it's not there." However, by reexamining previously uncorrelated evidence, police and the Walsh family are satisfied with the new report and existing evidence that points only to Ottis Toole.

In response to the naming of his son's alleged murderer, John Walsh stated, "We can now move forward knowing positively who killed our beautiful little boy."

The decision was finally reached once Toole's niece told John Walsh that her uncle confessed on his deathbed in prison that he had murdered and decapitated Adam Walsh.