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John Walsh

John WalshBorn: 26-Dec-1945
Birthplace: Syracuse, NY

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: TV Personality, Activist

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: America's Most Wanted

John Walsh was a hotel executive until his six-year-old son Adam was abducted from a Sears store in Hollywood, Florida on July 27, 1981. The boy's body was never found, but two weeks later his decapitated head was recovered from a drainage ditch more than 100 miles away from where he was snatched. The murder drew widespread attention and made the elder Walsh an anti-crime advocate, working with his wife Revé toward legislation that eased bureaucratic hurdles when police search for missing children, and leading to establishment of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 1984. From 1988-2013 he hosted America's Most Wanted, an anti-crime show featuring dramatic re-enactments and pleas for the public to contact police with whatever information they may have.

In 2008, Hollywood police chief Chadwick Wagner held a press conference announcing that Walsh's son had been killed by a deceased drifter named Ottis Toole (1947-96), who had long been a key suspect but had never been prosecuted. In 2010 an investigative report by the Miami Herald found that police had ignored perhaps more credible evidence linking the murder to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who died in 1994.

Wife: Revé Drew (m. 1971, four children)
Son: Adam Walsh (b. 1975, d. 1981 murder)
Daughter: Megan
Son: Callahan
Son: Hayden

    National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
    Irish Ancestry

    TELEVISION
    America's Most Wanted Host (1988-2013)

    FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
    Falling for Grace (20-Jul-2007) · Clark Douglas
    Deadline (2000)
    Grey Owl (10-Sep-1999)
    Wrongfully Accused (23-Jul-1998)
    Safety Patrol (29-Mar-1998) · Himself
    If Looks Could Kill: The John Hawkins Story (6-Feb-1996) · Himself
    Celebrity (12-Feb-1984)
    Special Bulletin (20-Mar-1983)

Author of books:
Tears of Rage: From Grieving Father to Crusader for Justice: The Untold Story of the Adam Walsh Case (1997, nonfiction, with Susan Schindehette)
No Mercy: The Host of America's Most Wanted Hunts the Worst Criminals of Our Time (1998, nonfiction, with Philip Lerman)
Public Enemies: The Host of America's Most Wanted Targets the Nation's Most Notorious Criminals (2001, nonfiction, with Philip Lerman)


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