Adam Walsh (November 14, 1974–c. July 27, 1981), the son of John Walsh, was abducted from a Sears department store at the Hollywood Mall in Hollywood, Florida, on July 27, 1981 at the age of six.

His mother, Revé, let him play video games while she shopped. When she returned to the video game section, she was frightened to find that Adam wasn't there. She then told a Sears associate who announced over the intercom for Adam to meet his mother at one of the desks. "He isn't going to know where that is", she thought. Sadly, Adam and his mother were never reunited.

Adam's severed head was found in a Vero Beach, Florida, canal on August 10, 1981; the rest of his remains have not been recovered.

No one has been proven to have committed the murder, although one man, Ottis Toole, repeatedly confessed, and then retracted, accounts of his involvement. Toole, (allegedly a confederate of Henry Lee Lucas), was never charged in the Walsh case. In September of 1996, he died in prison of cirrhosis of the liver while serving a life sentence for other crimes.

The kidnapping and murder prompted Adam's father, 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.

The Code Adam program for helping lost children in department stores is named in Walsh's memory.

See also

• Code Adam
• AMBER Alert

1974 births | 1981 deaths | Murdered children | People from Florida | American murder victims

American children