Fla. police: 1981 murder of Adam Walsh is solved

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Authorities in South Florida plan to announce that they've finally solved the 1981 killing of a little boy whose father later gained fame as the host of "America's Most Wanted."

Hollywood police have scheduled a news conference Tuesday afternoon to close the case of the abduction and homicide of 6-year-old Adam Walsh.

Adam's parents, John and Reve Walsh, long ago derided the investigation as botched. Both were expected to attend the news conference.

The boy went missing from a Hollywood mall on July 27, 1981. Fishermen discovered his severed head in a canal 120 miles away two weeks later. The rest of his body was never found.

The suspect, Ottis Toole, had twice confessed to killing the child, but later recanted. He claimed responsibility for hundreds of murders, but police determined most of the confessions were lies.

Toole's niece told the boy's father, John Walsh, her uncle confessed on his deathbed in prison that he killed Adam.