When 6-year-old Adam Walsh vanished from a Florida shopping mall in 1981, no one could have known the impact the little boy would have on the way America views cases involving missing children.
Adam was abducted from a mall in Hollywood, Florida, and later found murdered. In the aftermath of the crime, Adam’s father, John Walsh, became a leading victims’ rights activist and host of the long-running television show America’s Most Wanted.
Early in the afternoon on July 27, Adam entered a Sears department store with his mother, Reve. She allowed him to watch a group of older boys plays video games in the toy department while she shopped nearby. When she returned for him less than 10 minutes later, he was gone. Investigators learned a teenage security guard had asked the older children to leave because they were causing trouble.
Adam, reportedly a timid child who might have been afraid to speak up, followed one of the older boys out and didn’t tell the guard his mother was in the store. He was likely kidnapped outside the store after the other child left. Adam’s parents launched a massive hunt for their son; however, on August 10, 1981, his severed head was discovered by two fishermen in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, Florida, some 100 miles from Hollywood. His body was never found.
Above was the original story of Adam Walsh’s disappearance, however, a true crime author has come up with another theory: “Adam Walsh might not have been killed.”
The common belief about what happened to Adam is that he was killed by serial killer Ottis Toole, who confessed to the murder on his prison deathbed. But author Arthur Jay Harris has been investigating the case for years and has come up with a few theories about what happened, including the theory that infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was the culprit.
Due to irregularities with the official records regarding Adam’s autopsy, dental records and other documents, Harris is wondering if the severed head was actually that of another child.
According to AWM, Harris dished on the theory in an interview with Uproxx:
The medical examiner who made the ID announced it quickly after the child was found, as if it wasn’t much of a disputed issue. It was based on a comparison of Adam’s dental chart, showing a molar with a filling on the cheek side, to the mouth of the found child. That and a visual ID at the morgue by a family friend of the Walshes. Remember, there was no torso so there were no fingerprints, and in 1981 forensic DNA matching wasn’t available.
Harris added that plenty of documents simply weren’t there:
Here’s what should be in the medical examiner’s files: A copy of Adam’s dental chart; Adam’s dental X-rays and X-rays of the mouth of the found child; a forensic dental consultation report, affirming the ID; and a completed, signed autopsy report narrative, since an autopsy was performed. Here’s what’s in the Adam Walsh case medical examiner’s office files: None of that.
According to this new theory, it is possible that Adam is still alive, and that may be the reason why his body was never found in the first place.
In a report made by Washington Post, Adam’s father John Walsh, who created “America’s Most Wanted” after his son’s death, has said he doesn’t believe the evidence put forth by Harris that Dahmer killed his son.
Watch the video report below for more details:
Sources: OpposingViews, Uproxx, The Washington Post, Tampa Bay Times
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