( This is a rewrite of the op/ed posted earlier. New information surfaced that needed to be included)
Adam Walsh: Blame it on the Dead Guy
There is no proof that Jeffrey Dahmer was at a Hollywood, FL mall on July 27, 1981.
There is no proof that Ottis Toole was at this mall on July 27, 1981.
Most of all there is no proof that Adam Walsh was at the mall on the 27th of July, 1981. We do know that Adam was killed somewhere and by somebody.
A staged abduction at the mall would serve many purposes. Focus would be taken off the family. They would be viewed as victims. This public location offered a variety of scenarios and a wide assortment of possible suspects. In a private setting there are usually a small number of people directly tied to an incident. Let’s look at what we would have seen if public attention had been on the Walsh home.
John Walsh was a big man in a compact body. It appears that loving the females was proof of his masculinity as he made his way through college and went on to become a lifeguard on the beaches of Florida. He eventually decided his dangerous lifestyle would likely lead to an early death unless he got married. That is when he remembered Reve Drew from college.
Getting married does not always mean settling down. As he became a known figure he often made the tabloids with his choice of the day. It seems like morals have never been a requirement for being an expert on our kids. His own children were put through hell by sexual obsessions that have kept him captive for many years.
Being diagnosed as a sex addict was a revelation that he is the man he has spent years warning parents about. This is a condition that is very real and some of the symptoms are fantasy, masturbation, porn, seeking out multiple partners and an overwhelming feeling of regret once it was over. This tells us that we don’t know where he has been, where he is going next, the ages of those that have experienced the direct abuse. He is correct in saying it is an illness but this secret is also a betrayal of public trust. It is certainly possible to get the demons under control but his entire livelihood depends on sexual issues. It is not an environment in which to recover.
Now this is the same man who claimed to be a partner in a multi-million dollar hotel construction project in the Bahamas. It has an impressive sound and may be entirely true. However, the job he was reporting to and getting a paycheck from was in Bal Harbor where he arranged conventions for a hotel in the Bahamas. Salesman is a big step down from hotel magnate but it does help explain why his home went into foreclosure and his utilities had to be paid by others. Without a regular paycheck most of us would have the same experiences and there is no shame in needing help.
Let’s take another step back in time and look at Reve Walsh and her 4 year affair with James Campbell, friend of Walsh and godfather of Adam. After a 2 year stint as a house guest John kicked him out and there was an argument between the two men. But Campbell did not stay away. According to police reports he claims to have gone to the Walsh home on the very day that Adam was reported as missing. His visit took place after John had gone off to work at his sales job and James says he was closer to Adam than than his biological father. This appreciative guest wanted more than was offered.
This is the story that Campbell told more than once while attached to a lie detector. On the other side of the coin John Walsh has stated that Campbell was still living in the home when Adam disappeared. It can’t be that difficult to know who was living in the household. Either way there are still all of the ingredients of a dysfunctional family and disaster.
Police checked and rechecked this entire situation. It led nowhere. They checked and rechecked every lead concerning the mall. There was nothing to indicate that it was the scene of abduction. Over the years all sorts of speculation have been thrown into the mix but no concrete evidence has surfaced. It was a shock when a man that had been a rotting corpse for 10 years was named as the murderer and the case was closed. This has the makings of a cliffhanger and an opening is available for a sequel.
When Walsh dies he may find Toole waiting on the other side with a piece of lead pipe. In life this man did not have the opportunity to face his accusers or speak in his own defense so it was a slam-dunk for Walsh. Blaming a dead guy is a lot less messy and a timetable based on political expediency was possible.Toole had been silent for 10 years so the case was closed based on speculation.
Closing a 27 year old case would have been a great relief to those that were investigated and scrutinized over the years. A stumble by any of them could have swayed the whimsical public. A closed case would likely be reopened only with hard evidence such as a valid confession or an eye witness with inside information.
Losing a child does not make one an expert in saving them. In many cases it does not even make them better parents. Living with any kind of addict can be a huge burden. Living with one that has so much power must be a nightmare. But the dishonesty and sexual escapades speak for who we are as a nation. Morals are not a requirement for being a spokesman for our children.
Parents must show some common sense. Media teaches our children all of the details of illegal acts. We are all aware of the copycat incidents that give these actions momentum. Criminals our our creation.
Concrete answers concerning Adam would be a blessing for this entire nation. Papa John should take his rage and leave the world stage. Society should insist. The public view of an addict is someone who is weak, diseased, despised and disgraced so an inner turmoil is fierce and constant. Self-loathing is also a part of addiction. It must be very frustrating to want normal and find it is so elusive.
Angel McDade
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/15/lkl.00.html
http://www.wisn.com/news/10903529/detail.html
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118782905698506010.html
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960317&slug=2319536
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9 comments:
Angee -- You're right it's not Toole. You're also right, the stuff about Campbell is very interesting. (He died a couple years ago.) You're also right that concrete answers would be a blessing for everyone. You should check out a new book about the case, the writer spent years on it, it's the only book on the story besides Walsh's. It covers the whole case, Campbell and the affair and Walsh's way-exaggerated numbers of missing children but settles on Dahmer. The author found 6 witnesses at the Hollywood Sears who saw him, they were all in the police file that first got opened in 1996 then the remainder was opened last year when the cops said Toole did it and the case was closed. No way Toole did it. His first description of Adam was that he was wearing mittens -- in July, in South Florida! He thought it was winter. Dahmer was in Miami Beach the summer it happened, and had tortured his army roommate for a year before the Army finally threw him out. He came straight to Miami. Dahmer severed heads. Adam's head was severed. One of the witnesses had a straight-on dead-eye encounter with him, and it matches every other similar encounter with Dahmer, by anyone who survived him. Dahmer was a skilled liar and shouldn't be believed when he denied killing Adam. He lied many times after he got caught. Walsh even initially believed Dahmer did it until the cops talked him out of it.
The book is called Jeffrey Dahmer's Dirty Secret: The Unsolved Murder of Adam Walsh.
http://www.amazon.com/Jeffrey-Dahmers-Dirty-Secret-Unsolved/dp/1439236275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248365869&sr=8-1
Here's the author's website:
http://arthurjayharris.com
Good comment,Fish. When the first happened authorities thought Walsh had made a bad money deal. Leaving a child's head would fit that theory.
Dahmer would also fit and it is amazing that 6 people saw him but nobody can say for certain that Adam ever reached the mall. One unfaithful wife's claim doesn't do it for me. I was around when this was taking place and the general opinion was that Adam never reached the mall. Many people today assume that it is a proven fact that Adam was there butt it isn't. And so many investigations start with the mall and go forward so a lot of important info is missed.
Mark Lunsford was released from the Army a year early and the reason behind that is the only question he flatly refused to answer during depositions. He was asked much tougher questions. His reaction to this one is proof there is a tale to tell. Any info or documentation on that?
Thanks, Angee. It sounded like you were local when it happened. By chance, had you been at the mall at that moment?
You're right again about Adam getting to the mall. His mother said she took him and stopped with him along the way at his church school, but neither the church secretary nor the vicar remembered seeing him, although they did well recall his mother. But five of those six Dahmer witnesses also identified Adam at Sears. Sounds like he was there. And most (but not all) of the witnesses said they'd told Hollywood police what they'd seen immediately, only that the police never recorded or kept their comments. Had the cops valued actual claimed witnesses to the event, you'd expect they would have shown them pictures, first of Campbell, then in '83 of Toole, then in '91 of Dahmer. I dare say they would have said no the first two times, then yes to Dahmer.
The Campbell theory, the bad deal theory all needed to be checked out. But when it later turns out Jeffrey Dahmer was in the neighborhood -- like, at the mall, seen by three witnesses holding, carrying, or throwing the child into a getaway van -- that's really compelling. Those six separate, insistent witnesses all have to be disbelieved for Toole or anybody else to have taken Adam. Which is, of course, exactly what the Hollywood Police did, shunting them to the depths of their case file. And why? Because they didn't say they saw Toole.
The police had Dahmer's military record and knew he'd been tossed for drinking. Milwaukee PD apparently knew about his army roommate because he was quickly found by the New York Times and others. Ten years later, in '91, he was still traumatized by what Dahmer had done to him. He speaks at length in Harris's Adam Walsh book. Interesting about Lunsford's similar situation but I don't know anything about that.
No,I wasn't a local but this case has always held a lot of interest for me. I have expanded to include others and the majority of the public trust Walsh. I don't trust any of them.
I am in TX where we lock up innocent people and even execute them when we get the chance. I stay closely connected with the doings of the Innocence Project and eye witness identification is the greatest cause of wrongful convictions. If it is someone known by the witness that would not apply but otherwise one small toothless child looks much like the next.
I am not bashing your view. It has merit and authorities did a lousy job.. I would have to recheck my notes but I don't recall Toole even being a suspect in the very early stages. When did he first come into the picture?
The world was a mess at the time. The hysteria of the satanic day care sex scandals were taking place and horror movies were being churned out weekly. Folks like being scared and they fed on this stuff.
I assume this is your book and I have heard discussions that support your findings. My gut tells me that something happened at home. If my theory is correct the 3 adults would have had to work together to recreate the mall situation. I expect they would have been scared enough to do that and cover their own butts.
I didn't know Campbell had died. So that leaves 2 that know for sure if Adam was alive that morning. Walsh has done all of the talking to prevent screw-ups but the fact is that they did have things to hide.
Our nation is a mess and Walsh is a madman regardless of what happened.
Is the book getting decent sales? How do you portray Walsh? Whatever he said is what the majority believe and anything else pisses them off. The Toole solution was snapped up with no questions. I never made any real Dahmer connection but I am interested in reading the book to see what details I don't have. Where are you?
Angee - No question that eyewitness IDs are often flawed. There need to be reasons to trust them. In your original post you linked to the WISN (Milwaukee) story. There you can meet the two original witnesses. The most powerful is the one who had the direct encounter with Dahmer inside the mall. The book spends an entire chapter, at the end, arguing and matching why this witness truly saw Dahmer. The other 5 witnesses had more momentary looks, but their stories are each like snapshots taken at slightly different times. But beyond that there's a whole narrative about Dahmer, and Dahmer's time in Miami, that makes the case.
The book is on Amazon. I am in FL. I will contact you if tell me how.
angelmcdade@gmail.com
Reve Walsh claimed to have been gone for only 7 minutes. Are we to believe that she left Adam in a place where the other boys were so rowdy that they had to be kicked out of the mall. Of if they were not yet rowdy, that in those 7 minutes, not only did they become rowdy, but a security guard was called and came over, talked to the boys and ushered them out all in those 7 minutes before Reve returned? None of the boys placed Adam at the scene, nor did the security guard. Someone had to have called the security guard. Wouldn't that same person in that room have been able to tell Reve what had happened. If only 7 minutes had passed from when she had left Adam, if things were as said, Adam would not yet have been ushered out from the store and the guard could have been called on her radio. But the issue of the boys being escorted out came up afterwards and probably the same things happens there nearly every day. But was Adam there when that happened? Was Adam even in the store that day? Why would any mother leave a 6 year old alone in a busy department store? Would she have left her purse unattended for those same 7 minutes? What would have made her think that a small, shy child, as John Walsh described him, would be any more safe than her handbag?
Thank you for your comment. I find this case unique in many ways. There isn't another case that comes to mind where the public accepted the word of one woman that her child had been at the mall and was abducted. This was a woman that John Walsh assured us we could trust but that was far from the truth. In the beginning she was the primes suspect and she remained a suspect until Toole was deemed guilty. But Adam Walsh sold America on his wife's innocence. And Walsh is a salesman. With that ability he shaped the story to his advantage and that is the story that has been handed down. Many of those who hear the story never knew there were other aspects and no proof that the accepted version has any resemblance to the truth. So many lies and deceptions have been exposed that one must wonder where the lies and deceptions end.
I still can't buy Dahmer. If that was the case then Walsh just kicked into high gear and sped off to become rich. If Adam never got to the mall we don't know how much time they had to plan. A day? A couple of days? Maybe a week? That's why I tried so hard to find the last sighting. The Walsh's have been portrayed as warm and fuzzy parents. Hell, they can't even decide who lived in the house at the time they say Adam was abducted. Reve was playing around but John is known for being unable to keep his zipper closed. I don't know what happened to Adam but I see a planned production at the mall. Reve had a walk-on role, screaming that her son had been abducted and then was hustled off into the shadows. Campbell was interviewed by the police but he stayed in the background. If Reve was responsible for something happening to Adam I believe Campbell would have protected her with silence and the public was not aware that this loyal wife had things to hide. Walsh had a dream of riches and didn't care who he had to step on to achieve that goal. Three people knew what happened and Campbell is now dead. Walsh has always been the spokesman and I expect there was a lot of tension when Reve filed for divorce. A bitter divorce tends to open mouths and change loyalties. I can imagine Reve making statements that would have incriminated her as well. Of course they got past that so promises of change must have been made. I'm sorry, Jay, but I still don't buy the Dahmer thing or the mall thing. I say something happened to Adam on another day and in a different location. And now you are presenting evidence that no sign of Adam was ever found. Walsh offered a $200.00 reward that he didn't have because no one would be claiming it. Did God toss the opportunity to fame and fortune right into the lap of someone who craved such an opportunity? I don't think so.
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