'America's Most Wanted' host John Walsh reflects on his son's brutal murder: 'I was dying of a broken heart'

John Walsh has been hunting down bad guys on "America’s Most Wanted" for nearly 40 years — and he’s not done yet.

The show’s creator is returning to host a new season on FOX alongside his son, Callahan Walsh, a child advocate for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

The patriarch, 78, originally launched the series in 1988 after he faced a personal tragedy — the murder of his firstborn, Adam Walsh.

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John Walsh, left, is returning to host "America's Most Wanted" with his son Callahan Walsh. (Michael Becker/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC.)

"I grew up in a nice, gated community — didn’t think crime would touch us," Walsh told Fox News Digital. "… I’ve learned in all of these years that the bad guys will come right into your area. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are. They can do something to you and get you."

Before he was a victims' rights advocate, Walsh was living "the American dream." In the 1980s, he was a successful developer of luxury hotels. But that dream quickly became a nightmare on July 27, 1981.

Adam, who was 6 years old, and his mother Reve entered a Sears department store near their Hollywood, Florida, home. The matriarch allowed him to watch a group of other boys play video games in the toy department while she shopped nearby. But less than 10 minutes later, he was gone.

Adam Walsh was kidnapped and killed in Hollywood, Florida, in 1981. (AP)

The Walshes led a massive hunt that was televised as they desperately searched for their son. They pleaded with the public, urging them to provide any leads that would bring Adam home. The couple even put up a $100,000 reward to draw as much attention to the case as possible.

Walsh recalled paying for the gasoline of those who offered to help in the family’s search. Meanwhile, local police found themselves "overwhelmed," leading to "a huge amount of mistakes" in the investigation, he alleged.

Walsh previously claimed that it took 16 days after Adam’s disappearance for his picture to finally be shown on national television.

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John Walsh and his wife Reve Walsh are seen here at a subcommittee on missing children following the murder of their son Adam Walsh. (Getty )

"When Adam was kidnapped… the FBI did not help us," Walsh explained. "… The FBI refused to enter Adam in the NCIC, or the National Crime Information Computer, which, at the time in 1981, stored millions of records of convicted felons, stolen boats, stolen cars, stolen planes… There was no unidentified dead file, no missing children’s file — nothing."

Less than two weeks later, Adam’s severed head was discovered by two fishermen in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, some 100 miles from where he was abducted. The child’s body was never found.

Walsh said his health spiraled down "into hell." He lost 30 pounds and his will to live.

John Walsh said he lost the will to live following the death of his child. (Michael Becker/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC.)

"I was dying of a broken heart," he admitted.

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who was living in Florida at the time of Adam’s abduction, was considered a possible suspect. It wouldn’t be until 2008 when Hollywood Police Chief Chadwick E. Wagner announced that Adam’s case had been solved, Investigation Discovery reported. Serial killer Ottis Toole, who had been a prime suspect, was declared the murderer and police were closing the case file, the outlet shared. Investigators believed that their case against Toole was strong enough.

Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was, at one point, a suspect in Adam Walsh's murder. (EUGENE GARCIA/AFP)

In 1983, Toole, who was then an inmate at a Florida prison, confessed to Adam’s abduction and murder, History.com reported. He also implicated his accomplice and companion, Henry Lee Lucas. Toole claimed he buried Adam’s body, but investigators were unable to find the remains. Without physical evidence, the Florida state attorney couldn’t prosecute the case.

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Ottis Elwood Toole, the prime suspect in the 1981 kidnapping and murder of 6-year-old Adam Walsh, is shown in October 1983. Toole confessed to police that he killed Walsh, who disappeared from a shopping mall in Hollywood, Florida. (AP)

Over the years, Toole would confess to Adam’s murder and then take back his story, the outlet revealed. Toole, who was convicted of six murders, died behind bars in 1996. He was 49.

Walsh’s pain turned into purpose. Along with his wife, he successfully pushed for the passage of national legislation to make efforts to find missing children more effective. He was also instrumental in the founding of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The nonprofit works with families, law enforcement and the public to prevent child abductions and recover missing children. It also provides services to combat child sexual exploitation.

According to Callahan, it has helped recover over 450,000 missing children since its inception.

John Walsh is seen moderating a panel discussion during the White House Conference on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2, 2002. (Alex Wong)

Callahan is the executive director of the organization’s Florida branch. He told Fox News Digital that Adam has always been a part of his life.

"I was born after Adam's disappearance," the 39-year-old explained. "But I grew up in a home where we celebrated that little boy. I knew his favorite sports and movies, which were baseball and ‘Star Wars.’ There wasn’t a time when I can remember when my parents just sat me down on the couch and dropped a bomb. It was something I always knew because we always talked about him. There are pictures of him all across my childhood home."

"I watched my parents channel their emotions and their anger over what happened to Adam, to make sure that Adam didn’t die in vain," Callahan shared. "My parents said… that if Adam’s song was to continue, then we must do the singing. I saw them do the singing every single day. And I’m trying to continue that in making sure that Adam didn’t die in vain and to continue his legacy both in my work at the National Center, and the work I do with my father on ‘America’s Most Wanted.’"

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Callahan Walsh said that growing up, his parents told him stories of his late sibling, Adam Walsh. (Michael Becker/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC.)

In 2006, 25 years after Adam went missing, then-President George W. Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act into law, History.com reported. According to the outlet, it created a national database of convicted child sex offenders and strengthened federal penalties for crimes against children, as well as provided funding and training for law enforcement to tackle crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children online.

When FOX initially approached Walsh to host "America’s Most Wanted," he believed it would be an outlet for him to feature cases from across the country of children who were harmed or missing. The show offers a tip line at the end of each episode where viewers can provide leads in hopes of bringing justice to victims. Since its inception, the show has helped capture more than 1,190 criminals, including serial killers, child abductors and rapists.

"America's Most Wanted" has raised awareness on thousands of cases across the country, including the case of Elizabeth Smart, a former kidnapping victim. (Mark Wilson)

"What drove me was that no one helped us look for Adam," Walsh said. "We put a man on the moon, and we couldn’t put missing children into the big FBI computer. But we persevered. We loved that little boy so much, and we didn’t have a clue who murdered him. It took 27 years to find out. It was a wonderful retired detective and DA [district attorney] who looked at those files, discovered Adam’s murder and solved Adam’s case. But it’s that driving force, our love for him, that has pushed me."

President George W. Bush, left, receives a thumbs up from John Walsh, far right, and his wife Reve before signing H.R. 4472, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, surrounded by congressional backers of the Bill in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., in 2006. (TIM SLOAN/AFP)

"That little boy was our first son," he reflected. "I loved him so much, and he died in a horrible way."

It was also the public’s support, Walsh said, that has kept him going over the years.

"I remember the post office came one day with a truck," he said. "They dumped 40,000 letters and cards on our driveway and in our garage. They all came from people who said, ‘We pray for you.’ Or, ‘I have a runaway child’ and ‘I have a murdered child and no one is helping me.’"

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John Walsh hopes "America's Most Wanted" will continue to help families in search of justice for their loved ones. (FOX )

Walsh said his work to bring about justice for other families in need is far from over.

"I’m a horse guy," he said. "I live on a ranch. And we’ve got to saddle up… So, Callahan and I are going to saddle back up… You tell me where those dirtbags are, and I’ll go get them."