The Unsolved Murder of Adam Walsh - 12
Episode 12: Mrs. Walsh left Adam alone in Sears, and he was abducted. The Walshes sued the store and mall, blaming them.
Or start at the series beginning and binge from there: (Link to Episode 1)
In July 1983, five days before the expiration of a two-year statute of limitations, the Walshes had sued Sears and Hollywood Mall, alleging their “gross and callous disregard for the safety of Adam J. Walsh.”
They alleged that Sears was responsible for his disappearance because a security guard had ordered him out of the store with children who were causing a disturbance.
Reve had said it was a lamp. And Jack Hoffman had written in his initial narrative of the case that she was gone for fifteen minutes.
The Walshes’ source on that?
Days later, Sun-Tattler columnist Gary Robbins wrote:
To prepare its suit, Hollywood Police allowed the Walshes’ counsel some access to its case file. When the defense realized that, they asked the police for similar access but were denied. They then went to the judge, who ordered the police to let them see it. There they saw police interviews with and polygraph examinations of Jimmy Campbell, Reve, and John.
And that was how the defense found out what no one had told Tropic – or any other news source.
From then on, the Walshes must have been anxious. On September 12, the defense took pretrial deposition testimony from Reve, under oath, but chose not to ask her about her affair with Jimmy Campbell. “We didn’t want to embarrass her,” attorney Rex Conrad later told the press.
Until October 9, the day before the movie was released, Campbell hadn’t been mentioned in the press since the Tropic story. Then on October 22, Hollywood Police had its late-Friday night surprise press conference to announce that they had Adam’s killer, Ottis Toole.
At his own press conference the next day, John Walsh didn’t fully endorse the idea, but Toole wasn’t Campbell, so that was reason to cheer. Still, Walsh took the moment to blow up at the Herald:
The next week, attorneys for Sears deposed John Walsh. Although the press didn’t get to see it for another week and a half, the attorneys were not as courteous to him as they’d been to his wife:
On November 5, a Saturday, Campbell was deposed. On Monday, the defendants’ attorneys told the Court they’d offered the Walshes a deal: drop the suit, and we won’t file Campbell’s depo, no one will see it.
The Walshes said no. As in, Drop dead.
The deposition hadn’t been filed, and might not even have been transcribed yet, but the defense filed a motion to the court which included what Campbell had testified to:
And there it was, why the cops had leaned so hard on Jimmy:
Depositions in civil matters become public record once placed in the court file. The Walshes asked the judge to place it under seal, away from public view, arguing that an alleged affair had no bearing on the liability of Sears and the mall.
The defense attorneys objected:
Which is what the police had suspected.
The judge agreed with the defense:
Since the testimony itself was public record, the judge suggested that reporters wouldn’t have to wait for the court reporting service to actually file it. If the transcription was done they could buy their own copies of it directly from the service.
And that’s what they rushed to do.
What was in it was not complimentary to the Walshes:
The next day, Fort Lauderdale News columnist Gary Stein wrote:
John Walsh vowed to continue the suit, but two weeks later they changed their minds:
Years later, Larry King asked John Walsh about it:
Next on Adam Walsh: America’s Missing Child:
Keep reading, there’s lots more about this story you had no idea about. And we’ve just started Part 2, of six parts. You can subscribe now for FREE to lock in every new episode. But please consider a PAID plan to support my work. (There’s three decades of reporting in here.)
I'm enjoying this saga! I don't believe John Walsh knew nothing of this affair either.