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On this day in history, Adam Walsh disappeared from department store, marking start of 27-year case

Published

2 hours ago

July 28, 2024

On this day in history, Adam Walsh disappeared from department store, marking start of 27-year case

July 27, 1981, quickly went from a normal day for the Walsh family to one that seeped into tragedy.

Reve Walsh and her 6-year-old son, Adam, went to Sears in Hollywood, Florida, on that day. While at the store, the boy went into the video game aisle while his mother browsed just a few aisles over, History.com reported.

When his mother went to the aisle to retrieve her son, he was gone. Investigators discovered that Adam left the store with a group of older boys who were asked to leave for causing trouble, according to the source.

Adam Walsh, 6, was kidnapped on July 27, 1981. (AP)

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Adam’s parents launched a massive hunt to find him, and they even put up a $100,000 reward to draw attention to the case.

“When Adam was kidnapped … the FBI did not help us,” Walsh previously told Fox News Digital. “… 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 after Adam went missing from the department store, his severed head was found by two fishermen in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, about 100 miles from where he was abducted, according to History.com. His body was never found.

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“I was dying of a broken heart,” Walsh told Fox News Digital when the tragic discovery was made.

It would take 27 years for Adam’s case to finally close.

Ottis Elwood Toole would eventually confess to Adam’s murder, but his story was given and recanted many times over the years after the discovery of Adam’s murder.

John Walsh speaking on behalf of National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

John Walsh, Adam’s father, is a co-founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/File)

In October 1983, Toole, who was an inmate at a Florida prison, originally confessed to Adam’s abduction and murder, according to History.com. He alleged that serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was also involved in the crime, though it was later discovered that Lucas was in jail at the time of the kidnapping.

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Investigators were unable to locate Adam’s body in the location Toole claimed to have buried it, providing no physical evidence to the case.

Several months after his confession, Toole recanted.

In the following years, Toole continued a cycle of confessing and taking back his story. Another possible suspect of Adam’s murder was serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who was living in Florida at the time, according to History.com.

Toole, who was convicted of six murders, died behind bars in 1996. It wasn’t until Dec. 16, 2008, when the police department announced that the case was closed with enough evidence to declare Toole responsible for Adam’s death, according to History.com.

Since then, Adam’s family, including younger brother Callahan, who was not yet born at the time of Adam’s disappearance, have dedicated themselves to a life of advocacy.

John Walsh looking to the side and Callahan Walsh looking ahead as they stand next to each other

John is the creator and host of the show “America’s Most Wanted,” which has been hunting down criminals for more than 40 years. He launched the series in 1988 after his son’s murder.

“I grew up in a nice, gated community [and] didn’t think crime would touch us,” Walsh previously 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.”

The show has helped capture more than 1,190 criminals.

“What drove me was that no one helped us look for Adam,” Walsh previously told Fox News Digital. “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 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.”

Walsh is also a co-founder of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, a nonprofit organization for which Callahan serves as the executive director of its Florida branch.

President George W. Bush looking at John Walsh as he gives him a thumbs up

On the 25th anniversary of Adam’s kidnapping, President George W. Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act into law in 2006. (TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images)

On July 27, 2006, 25 years after Adam’s disappearance, President George W. Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection Safety Act into law, “which created a national database of convicted child sex offenders, strengthened federal penalties for crimes against children and provided funding and training for law enforcement to fight crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children via the internet,” per History.com.

Ashlyn Messier is a writer for Fox News Digital.

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Southeast

Tennessee removes sex workers with HIV from the sex offender registry

Published

10 hours ago

July 27, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee removes sex workers with HIV from the sex offender registry

Tennessee has agreed to remove sex workers with HIV from the sex offender registry following two lawsuits that argued the state’s law did not account for evolving science on the spread and prevention of the disease, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

The state’s decades-lasting laws made prostitution a misdemeanor for the majority of sex workers, but a felony for those who were HIV-positive.

Eighty-three residents of the state were on the registry for aggravated prostitution, according to the lawsuit. This classification posed limits on housing, work and relationships with minor relatives.

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“Plaintiffs argue that the Aggravated Prostitution statute is rooted in fear and discrimination, targeting people living with HIV for harsh punishment and forcing them to register as “violent sex offenders” for the rest of their lives,” the ACLU said in an October press release when the court case was filed. “Criminalizing people with HIV defies evidence-based best practices and is patently unlawful as it singles out people living with HIV — a protected disability — for harsher punishment.”

Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tenn., signed a settlement agreeing that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation would alert those now wrongly on the sex offender registry that they can make a written request for removal. Victims of human trafficking were able to get their aggravated prostitution records expunged earlier this year after the law was tweaked.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee speaks on stage on the second day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on July 16, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Attorney General’s Office to ask about the litigation.

“The General Assembly recently amended the sex offender registry statutes to remove aggravated prostitution from the list of offenses that require registration,” Director of Communications Amy Lannom Wilhite told Fox News. “The plaintiffs have agreed to drop their challenges to the registry statutes as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation implements those amendments. The TBI has removed multiple registrants who were made eligible for removal by the amendments and who requested to be removed. The litigation is ongoing, though, as our Office continues to defend Tennessee’s prohibition of aggravated prostitution.”

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Southeast

Tennessee girl charged with suffocating cousin, 8, in her sleep after fight over iPhone

Published

1 day ago

July 27, 2024

Press Room

Tennessee girl charged with suffocating cousin, 8, in her sleep after fight over iPhone

A 12-year-old Tennessee girl is charged with suffocating her 8-year-old cousin as she slept while they were visiting family, prosecutors said last week.

Home security video shows the girl, who will turn 13 this week, allegedly used bedding to suffocate her cousin on July 15 at a home in Humboldt, 98 miles northeast of Memphis, and then cleaned up the victim and re-positioned her body, authorities said.

The younger girl was sleeping in ther top bunk of the bunk beds they shared. The older girl is charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

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Demeria Hollingsworth, 8, was suffocated to death in her sleep by her cousin, authorities said. (GoFundMe)

The victim’s mother, Rayana Smith, identified her as Demeria Hollingsworth, Fox 59 reported.

“She liked to read books, go swimming, play outside, ride her bike every day, play with the kids in the neighborhood, play with my friends’ kids. My baby was sweet,” Smith told the news outlet.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Smith, who said the girls were staying with their grandmother for the summer.

Before the killing, they had both argued over an iPhone, she said.

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“When they told me about that, I should have just gone to get my kid,” she said. “But they were having fun for the summer and I didn’t think she would kill my baby.”

Frederick Agee, the district attorney general for the 28th District in West Tennessee, said his office is petitioning Juvenile Judge Mark Johnson to transfer the child to Circuit Court to be tried as an adult, which would allow for a weightier sentence.

A Humboldt police vehicle (Humboldt Police Department)

“I consider this to be one of the most disturbing violent acts committed by either an adult or juvenile that my office has prosecuted,” he said in a statement.

A service for Hollingsworth will be held on July 26, according to a GoFundMe page created by her mother.

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Metro Nashville Public Schools confirmed to Fox News Digital that Hollingsworth attended Cockrill Elementary School.

“The Cockrill community is mourning the unexpected loss of Demeria Hollingsworth, a beloved student who had been part of Cockrill since Pre-K. Demeria was known for her hard work, intelligence, and sweet demeanor,” school Principal Casey Campbell said in a statement provided by the school district. “She was cherished by everyone who knew her. Her passing has left all of us at Cockrill devastated. She will be greatly missed.”

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Southeast

Trump early strategy targets state that hasn't gone red since Nixon

Published

1 day ago

July 27, 2024

Press Room

Trump early strategy targets state that hasn't gone red since Nixon

Former President Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance are planning a stop in Minnesota, a surprisingly close state that hasn’t gone to a Republican presidential candidate in 52 years.

Trump and Vance plan to make the trip to St. Cloud, Minnesota, on Saturday, the campaign announced Tuesday, with a Real Clear Politics report noting that Trump pollster John McLaughlin believes the state is in play.

McLaughlin believes Vance, who Trump announced as his running mate on the first day of the Republican National Convention last week, could help put Trump over the top in the state, with the Ohio native expected to have appeal to voters throughout the Midwest.

Trump narrowly lost the state to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016, coming up about 1.5% short. The former president’s 2020 performance against President Biden wasn’t as encouraging, with Trump losing Minnesota by about 7% that year.

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Former President Trump and Sen. JD Vance greet supporters during a rally at the Dayton International Airport on Nov. 7, 2022, in Vandalia, Ohio. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

But polling shows signs that Minnesota, which hasn’t gone to a Republican presidential candidate since Richard Nixon in 1972, could be competitive once again in 2024. A June poll of likely voters in Minnesota conducted by the Star Tribune, MPR News and KARE 11, showed Trump trailing Biden by just 4% in the state, 45-41.

The Real Clear Politics polling average in the state is even slightly closer, with Trump coming in only 3 points behind Biden. One poll cited in the average, a Hill/Emerson poll, shows Trump and Biden tied in the typically dependably blue state.

The Trump campaign has become increasingly bullish that it can put more states in play in 2024, attempting to expand the map from the most heavily contested swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Minnesota and Virginia have been of particular interest to the campaign, which has insisted the two states could be winnable for the former president.

Like Minnesota, Trump has trended favorably in Virginia in recent weeks. The former president now holds a narrow lead in the state, the Real Clear Politics polling average shows, with the two most recently cited polls showing Trump up two and three points, respectively.

Former President Trump holds his first public campaign rally with his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, at the Van Andel Arena on July 20, 2024, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON HARRIS REPLACING BIDEN AS THE DEMOCRAT’S 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE

Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a Trump campaign spokesperson pointed to recent Emerson polling that shows Trump with a one-point lead in Minnesota. The spokesperson also noted that the campaign has opened eight new field offices in the state.

Trump has also mentioned Minnesota as a potential state he could grab, touting Vance’s Midwestern roots as a reason the state could be in play in November.

“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond,” Trump said in a Truth Social post that announced Vance as his running mate.

But Trump and Vance’s trip to Minnesota comes amid a rapidly shifting race, with Biden announcing Sunday that he was dropping out. Biden immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place at the top of the ticket, spurring Democrats to rally around her.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White House on July 22, 2024. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Less polling has been done on how Trump would fare against Harris in battleground states, though the former president will hope to get a head start on taking the state with his trip on Saturday.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

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