Interview with John Walsh of America's Most Wanted

Today, I had the amazing opportunity and honor to sit in on a conference interview with America's Most Wanted, John Walsh. In July 27, 1981, Mr. Walsh's son, Adam Walsh, was kidnapped and murdered. This tragic loss motivated John and his wife, Reve, to start helping missing and exploited children.

The Walsh's tireless efforts led to the creation of the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children's Assistance Act of 1984. Later on, John and Reve Walsh established the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center with locations in West Palm Beach, FL; Columbia, SC; Orange County, CA; and Rochester, NY. In 1990, the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center merged with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

On July 27, 2006, the 25^th anniversary of Adam Walsh's abduction and murder, "The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act" was signed into being by President George W. Bush. This new law will "track and apprehend convicted sex offenders who disappear after their release from prison."

John Walsh went on to head America's most popular crime show, America's Most Wanted, in 1988. America's Most Wanted focuses on fugitives wanted for violent crimes. America's Most Wanted, in conjunction with law enforcement, has helped to solve hundreds of Most Wanted cases. America's Most Wanted is also a beacon that guides and encourages regular people, like you and me, to help find fugitives and bring them to justice.

Today's interview focused on the upcoming special episode of America's Most Wanted. At 1:55 PM EST, I called in and prepared to participate in the conference interview. I had my question ready and could barely contain my excitement at actually getting to talk to John Walsh; he's someone I look up to a great deal.

The conversation began with Mr. Walsh discussing the upcoming Sexual Predator Special Edition of America's Most Wanted that will air this Saturday at 9:00 PM EST on Fox. The upcoming show is going to focus on noncompliant sex offenders and the implementation of the "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act". The Sexual Predator Special Edition will profile more sex offenders, including a dangerous male rapist, as well as cover the Medal of Honor Burglary.

Mr. Walsh, who has been doing ride-alongs with the Broward County Fugitive Squad the past few evenings, noted that approximately 150,000 of 550,000 convicted sex offenders are currently fugitives from justice. John called the Broward County Fugitive Squad "top notch" as he spoke of their efforts to keep a close watch on the convicted sex offenders in Broward County. He talked about how the Broward County Fugitive Squad caught three out of four wanted sex offenders last night and how they check up on convicted sex offenders to ensure they are compliant with parole required curfews.

When asked about the recent speculation that Jeffrey Dahmer was involved in his son's, Adam Walsh's, case, Mr. Walsh stated, "Dahmer was eliminated years ago". John also said that there were many mistakes made in his son's case, but that he ultimately believes Ottis Toole was responsible for Adam's abduction and murder. Mr. Walsh also said that it "hurts" every time his son's case is reopened but that it sheds light on a cold case. He also said, "I hope my wife and I get justice sometime in our lifetime."

Another reporter asked if Mr. Walsh thought everything was getting out of control since there were approximately 550,000 sex offenders. He also asked if anything else could be done. Mr. Walsh stated that he often feels the U.S. is "a country of fifty little countries" when it comes to getting all fifty states to agree on uniform requirements for a convicted sex offender registry. Mr. Walsh also stated, however, that he has a great deal of faith in the public and believes the public will do what needs to be done in order to get necessary laws and regulations passed in all states. Mr. Walsh said that it took "six years to get the Amber Alert Bill passed", but now that it is in effect, it has saved many lives. He believes that people are "starting to saddle up" and get things done. John said he is working very hard with Florida to make it the model for other states to follow.

When my turn came to talk to Mr. Walsh, I asked him what he thought about the recent insinuations, by certain members of the media, that Shawn Hornbeck was a criminal. John answered first with, "It breaks my heart." He went on to describe the circumstances of Shawn's abduction and sexual assault and stated that nobody has the right to criticize what Shawn Hornbeck did or didn't do unless they have walked in his shoes. Mr. Walsh said that Shawn did what he had to do to survive. Shawn could not be expected to free himself no matter what opportunities arose. John also mentioned that Elizabeth Smart was similarly affected, psychologically. I told Mr. Walsh that I agreed with him, completely, and then thanked him for answering my question.

Another hot topic discussed by Mr. Walsh was the controversial Border Patrol Agents case. John believes that these two Border Patrol agents, Ramos and Compean, were convicted and imprisoned for doing their jobs. He said that members of the jury have recently stated that they were not instructed that they could disagree with the other jurors and therefore cause a hung jury. In addition, the doctor who removed the bullet from the drug smuggler's posterior said the entry wound was not indicative of a shot fired from behind, but rather from the front. John also informed us that the drug smuggler is currently suing the U.S. for five million dollars. John Walsh believes that President Bush should pardon Agents Ramos and Compean and release them from prison immediately. The beating of Border Patrol Agent Ramos in prison, by about five Mexican illegals, makes it obvious that this situation is in urgent need of attention.

The interview finished up with Mr. Walsh telling us about an upcoming shoot in San Francisco where he will walk around San Francisco with Robert Graysmith, the author of "Zodiac", and chronologically reconstruct the Zodiac murders. John hopes this will jog the memory of people who were around at the time. John also thinks that authorities will reveal a few new details that have yet to be released to the public. Mr. Walsh thinks the Zodiac killer is still alive and still wanting publicity. Ultimately, John hopes the Zodiac show will cause the Zodiac killer to do something that will help authorities arrest him.

As you can see from this interview, John Walsh is a very busy and very effective man. The accomplishments of the Walsh's have made all of our children safer and will continue to make life harder for sexual predators. If one family can accomplish all of this, imagine what could be accomplished if all Americans joined them in their endeavors.