DECEASED
Newsday
In the end, there was no smoking gun, no new evidence, not even anyone police
could charge. All they had was what was right in front of them the whole time.
Yesterday investigators finally closed the 27 year old case of Adam Walsh, the little boy whose
gruesome killing helped spur improvements in finding missing children and catapulted his father to
fame as the host of "America's Most Wanted." Police said the man long considered the lead
suspect, Ottis Toole, was conclusively linked to the murder, but largely with circumstantial
evidence that they've had all along. And it came far too late: Toole died in prison more than a
decade ago. Toole had confessed to the killing, but later recanted. Toole's niece told
John Walsh her uncle gave a deathbed confession to the crime. He died in prison of cirrhosis
in 1996 at age 49. he was serving five life sentences for murders unrelated to Adam's death.
(Hollywood, Florida)