New evidence revealed in Adam Walsh case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- A new chapter has been written in the murder case of Adam Walsh, as an author has published never-before-seen evidence.

The victim's father, John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted," said this should prove, once and for all, who killed his son. "For 27 years we've been asking who could take a 6-year-old boy and murder him and decapitate him," Walsh said. "The not-knowing has been a torture. That journey's over."

During the taping of the "All Points Bulletin" radio show with Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti Thursday, Walsh spoke about the up-coming release of a book that will contain evidence photographs that should once and for all settle the murder case.

Otis Toole had died on death row in Florida state prison, 18 years before Hollywood Police officially concluded he killed Walsh. That was on Dec. 16, 2008.

Walsh was snatched from a Hollywood mall on July 27, 1981. His parents were left with only a severed head to bury.

His father would then launch a crusade against crime on the Fox televison network, entitled "America's Most Wanted." "He turned a tragedy into truly a saving grace for law enforcement," said Lamberti.

Although Toole had confessed twice to the murder, he also recanted his confessions twice. "It ain't true. I didn't do that kid," Toole had said.

But now come the Luminol photographs. Luminol is a toxic compound police use at murder scenes. It reacts to the hemoglobin in blood. If blood has been wiped clean from the scene to the naked eye, a spray of luminol will reveal where the blood had been in bright blue with the use of black light.

It turns police had sprayed Luminol inside Toole's car and took photographs of the results. Those photos were never developed until 2008 and never made public.On March 1 they will be published, and they will reveal the outline of Walsh's severed head, etched in his own blood.

The photos will be published in a book titled "Bringing Adam Home" by retired police detective Joe Mathews and Florida International University creative writing professor Les Standiford. "I'm not going to look at them," the elder Walsh noted. "I don't think any parent wants to do this. They're good evidence that Toole was the killer, and Joe has every right to write the book. He helped close that case."

If you want to hear Sheriff Al Lamberti's radio program with John Walsh, it airs Sunday at 2 p.m., on AM 1470.

(Copyright 2011 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)