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Walsh says he first got involved in anti-drug efforts several years ago, after learning that crime against children is often related to drugs. by five Syracuse television stations and two cable systems. That pride, Walsh says, is one reason he agreed to tape a segment for tonight's local anti-drug simulcast, "Fighting Back." The hourlong show is being aired at 8 p.m. I'm proud to be from Auburn, N.Y., from Central New York, " Walsh says.
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"Coming from that small town, I will never forget the support from the people in Auburn - never.
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Their sympathy and help kept him sane during the rougher moments, he says. Yet his tone quickly softens when Walsh is asked about family and friends in the Cayuga County city where he grew up. In a 45-minute telephone interview, Walsh's baritone voice is often laced with anger as he answers questions about his son's unsolved murder, his run-ins with the media and the continuing threats from criminals profiled on "America's Most Wanted." And they cannot live in the shadow and spectre of what happened to Adam." (I'm) still a heartbroken father, but I've got two more little kids. "I was the most morose, heartbroken father.
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"I'll tell you, I didn't laugh or crack a joke for five years after Adam was murdered, " Walsh says. But he says he was humorless, even in private, until after he and his wife, Reve, had two more children, Meghan, 9, and Callahan, 6. None of that, obviously, was a forum for joking, Walsh says. The tragedy also was the focus of two movies on NBC-TV.
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Walsh's grief and anger gave him energy to lobby around the country for legislation to help missing and abused children. The shattering death of his son propelled Walsh into the national spotlight. It's been that way for Walsh since the morning of July 27, 1981, when his only son, Adam, 6, disappeared while the boy was shopping with his mother in a Hollywood, Fla., mall.Two weeks later, two fishermen found Adam's head in a canal off Florida's Turnpike. If the 46-year-old Walsh, a native of Auburn, comes across in public as stuffy and stern, he has no apologies. When he appears on television, he's all business."
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"He's charming, he's full of blarney, and a terrific guy to hang out with, " Heflin says.
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What it also did, said Mount Holyoke College sociologist and criminologist Richard Moran, is make children and adults alike exponentially more afraid.As executive producer of the Fox network show, Heflin sees what Walsh is like when he's not asking television viewers to help catch the latest serial killer or child kidnapper. It also prompted national legislation to create a national center, database and toll-free line devoted to missing children, and led to the start of "America's Most Wanted," which brought those cases into millions of homes.
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It spurred the creation of missing persons units at every large police department. (AP Photo, File)Īdam's death, and his father's subsequent activism on his behalf, helped put faces on milk cartons, shopping bags and mailbox fliers, started fingerprinting programs and increased security at schools and stores. 16, 2008, determining that Toole did actually kill Adam Walsh. The Hollywood Police Department officially closed the case Tuesday, Dec. ** FILE **Ottis Toole, 36, shown in this undated photo, confessed to police that he killed 6-year old Adam Walsh in 1981 after kidnapping him from a shopping mall in Hollywood, Fla.
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