Bringing Adam Home - Les Standiford [107]
In the end, and following a rehash of missed opportunities and dead-end investigations, Herald reporter de Vise concluded, “The prospect that it will ever be solved has never looked so dim.”
So it had always been at Hollywood PD, it seemed, and so it would remain for most of Chief Scarberry’s tenure as well. Despite Detective Smith’s upbeat contentions, five more years would pass without further pronouncements on the case, until the Miami Herald published yet another milestone story, this one proclaiming the twenty-fifth anniversary of failure, though this time there was a positive coda to add: “25 Years after Crime, a New Federal Law.” The piece, mirrored by many in South Florida and around the nation, recounted the grim outline of Adam Walsh’s kidnapping and murder, calling it “a crime that would change the nation.”
Few parents would ever again leave their children alone or unattended in public places, reporters noted, pointing to such widespread practices as the “Code Adam” alerts broadcast by big-box retailers such as Walmart and Home Depot any time a child is reported lost in their stores.
In addition, laws had changed to help police mobilize and defend on behalf of children, including the new Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, legislation that President Bush was poised to sign on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the tragic event. The act mandated ten-year prison sentences for sex crimes against persons under the age of eighteen, created a uniform sex offender registry in every state, and outlawed any depiction of sexual abuse of children and its dissemination.
As to the case itself, however, commentators held out little hope for a solution. “The Walshes—and all families of missing children—never get closure,” said Bill Fleisher, a Philadelphia forensic scientist and commissioner of the Vidocq Society, a cold case investigative group. Despite the likelihood that their son’s murderer would never be found, Fleisher called attention to the good that had come out of personal tragedy. “They are likely the most important advocates that the country has ever had for preventing and solving crimes against children.”
Still, there was always reason to hope, some opined. Detective Mark Smith again told reporters of his hopes that someone might come forward one day with information that would allow him to close the case, a prospect echoed by noted criminologist Vernon J. Geberth. “A new witness could come forward,” said Geberth, former commander of the NYPD Bronx homicide unit. “A relative of the killer who knows about the crime may want to finally unburden himself.”
The Walshes had survived on such hopes for a quarter of a century, of course, and while John had assumed a role as a celebrity crime fighter in his own right, the years in the spotlight had not always been kind. In 1983, just a few weeks shy of the statute of limitations in such matters, the couple had contemplated suing Sears over what they considered shortcomings in store security, including the fact that six-year-old Adam had simply been turned out on the street without so much as a “Where are your parents, little boy?”
However, attorneys for the company countered by saying that if the Walshes sued, they would parade details of Revé’s affair with Jimmy Campbell in court and paint her as an unfit mother. It wasn’t really a threat, a Sears attorney told reporters—he was just trying to save the Walshes some embarrassment. Faced