One of the best known and longest running child murder cases in the United States has been solved, dpa reported.
Police in Hollywood, Florida identified Tuesday a deceased serial killer and pedophile, Ottis Toole, as the man who abducted, murdered and decapitated six-year-old Adam Walsh.
Toole was a convicted murderer who died in prison in 1996 and had long been the suspect in the case that elevated the boy's father, John Walsh, to national fame.
"For 27 years we've been asking who could take a six-year-old boy and murder him and decapitate him? Who? We needed to know," Walsh said at the press conference with police, tears streaming down his face.
"And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture but that journey is over," he said, according to ABC News. His wife and their three children were present.
Walsh has been a tireless advocate for families of missing or murdered children. He helped create the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and became the host of a television show America's Most Wanted.
The show details crime and describes the fugitive authorities believe was involved. It has a hotline for people to call in with tips and federal authorities praised the programme.
Walsh has been a frequent guest at the White House. In 2006 President George W Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which set up a national database of convicted child molesters and toughened penalties for crimes against children.
Adam Walsh was last seen at a shopping mall on July 27, 1981. Two weeks later his head was found in Vero Beach, Florida, and the rest of his body has never been located.
Hollywood Police Chief Chad Wagner apologized to the family for mistakes made early in the investigation, and said there was a "vast amount" of circumstantial evidence that should have led to charges against Toole while he was still alive.
"If Ottis Toole was alive today he would be arrested for the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh," said Wagner, who was not with the police department at the time of the killing.
Toole had confessed to murdering Walsh, but later recanted. Police had also been sceptical of his confession because Toole had also tried to claim responsibility for crimes they knew he did not commit.
Toole evidently told police where the boy's body was stashed, but officers did not find it at the stated location.
"Our agency has devoted an inordinate amount of time seeking leads to other potential perpetrators rather than emphasizing Ottis Toole as our primary suspect," Wagner said.