Ottis Toole

Ottis Elwood Toole (1947–September 15, 1996) (sometimes spelled Otis) was an American criminal. Though he claimed to be a serial killer and cannibal, and was the suspect in several unsolved murders, he recanted and restated a number of confessions.

Adam Walsh case

In 1983, Toole made a shocking confession. He claimed to having committed one of the most famous, unsolved crimes in recent American history, the abduction and murder of six-year-old Adam Walsh in 1981.

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Walsh was abducted from a Florida Sears store, and his head was later found in a canal. The rest of his remains were never recovered.

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Adam's father John became a crusader for victim's rights and was the host of America's Most Wanted.

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Toole stated to many people that he had murdered Adam; he even wrote to his father and offered to show him where he buried the body for a cash reward. Toole would recant this confession, but "Lucas still firmly insists that his friend was responsible for that killing" http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/pmc/issue.501/11.3knox.html#foot6, and after Toole's death, Lucas claimed Toole had shown him Walsh's body http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/aol-metropolitan/96/09/26/lucas.html.

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John Walsh, and many police officials, suspected Toole in Adam Walsh's murder.

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It was later revealed that there were many mistakes the authorities made in their investigation. For example, Toole's car was impounded, and blood-soaked carpet was in the front seat. Toole had said he had cut Adam's head off with a machete in the front seat. This evidence was lost by the crime lab, and many have said that modern-day DNA detection could have easily convicted Toole. Toole also said that he had punched Adam in the face, and forensic examinations of Adam's skull revealed trauma consistent with such an injury. Toole had pointed out the exact department store where Adam had been abducted, a fact that was not made public.

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