MURDERED: Adam Walsh (Preview)

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now wherever you get your podcasts. [00:30] Hi, Crime Junkies. This is Ashley Flowers. If you listened all the way to the end of our episode, which I know some of you don't do, you'll know that we're taking this week off for Labor Day, spending some time with our families. However, we never take off in the fan club when a fan club episode is due. And today, a fan club episode was due. So if you need your fix, if you can't get enough true crime, I'm going to play a clip of the episode that we have available right now. [01:00] crimejunkiepodcast.com and click the fan club link to learn how to sign up. You can get this episode for $5. And when you sign up for $5, you also get the entire backlog of fan club content as well. That's over 36 episodes. You can binge for $5. It's a little crazy, but [01:21] If you just want a little taste of true crime, enjoy this little teaser. [01:25] Music

[01:55] It was around 1215 on July 27, 1981, when Reve Walsh was making her way from the lamp aisle at Sears to a video game display station to get her son. They had gone there to get some very specific lamps that her husband, John, told her were on sale, but the store didn't end up having any in stock, so the trip was kind of a bust. When they had come in, Adam was begging to play the game. I mean, like, what six-year-old kid wants to just look at lamps? [02:25] she rounded the corner when she was coming back from the lamp section the game station was totally empty and I have to imagine at first her thought wasn't like immediate panic she was gone five ten maybe fifteen minutes tops like right he probably went looking for her and Rave even said in an interview with ABC that the last thing she said to Adam when she left him was I'm going to the lamp section and he says okay mommy I know where that is so I'm going to the lamp section and he [02:51] You know, my logical thinking is that she was probably thinking like, oh, he went to look for me. Somehow we missed each other. Yeah, just like past each other in the aisles or whatever. Yeah. So she began to search up one aisle, down another, no Adam, up another aisle, no Adam. Like, is it possible they're just missing each other? Yeah, like they're just missing each other again. Like she's in the lamps when he's at the games. He's at the lamps when she's at the games. It's just right. It just happens. I get it. Right. [03:21] clerk to page Adam overhead. They ask him to meet his mother in the toy section, which is where like the games would have been. When Revae walks back there, she sees someone she knows. And I imagine it's just like relief that washes over her because it's her mother-in-law. She must have Adam. Now, they didn't come together and neither of them knew that the other was planning to be there. But surely

[03:51] She's not as confused as Reveille. She tells her no, like he's not with me. The two wait in the toy aisle for what feels like an eternity. And still, Adam does not appear. [04:02] Eventually, what's happening becomes clear to everyone. Someone calls John who rushes to the scene to be with Reveille, and by 1.55, the police are called. All the store clerks who are working are questioned, but impossibly, no one says that they saw Adam at any point. There was an incident that the store manager mentioned to Reveille, though. She said that a group of boys had gotten in a fight over the game and whose turn it was to play or, like, who had controlled the joystick or whatever. [04:32] boys out. The problem, though, is that when they showed the security guard, who was this young female guard who just started on the job, they show her a picture of Adam. She says that she doesn't recognize him as one of the boys she told to leave the store. Okay, but if he actually had been kicked out of the store, that would make sense, right? Like why he wouldn't be responding to the overhead pages? Right. And to top it off, the kids that all got kicked out were sent out of the store's west entrance, which isn't the same one that Reve and Adam had come in. So when they [05:02] look for him outside. I'm sure Revae was even worried because she's like, you know, he would have had no idea where he was. And she said in her husband's book, Tears of Rage, that Adam was super shy and probably wouldn't have told the lady, the security guard lady, that he didn't know where he was or that he wasn't with those boys and his mom was still inside. Like he would have just kept quiet and gone outside to the sidewalk. So now their biggest fear isn't that Adam is wandering the store, but that he was maybe one of those boys put out of the store,

[05:32] And now he might be wandering outside, lost and alone. As afternoon turns to evening, it becomes more and more clear to both John and Revae that something worse could have happened. And when that horrible day turns into two, turns into three, and then four, everyone is sure wherever Adam is, whoever he's with, he isn't able to get home on his own. [05:56] In the time right after Adam went missing, John took point for the family, and he was the one in front of cameras, trying to get on every single news station, making sure that Adam's picture was spread far and wide. They had no idea where he could be at this point or how far from home he was. But in those first few days, police weren't super concerned with far and wide. Police thought that the answers to Adam's whereabouts were much closer to home. [06:26] and those closest to them, the lead investigator uncovered a secret that he thought was the key to solving the case. [06:35] If you'd like to hear the rest of this episode, you can by going to our website, CrimeJunkiePodcast.com and joining our fan club. For just $5, you get this episode about Adam Walsh, but you also get over 30 other episodes right away, all for just $5. And as a part of the

[07:05] I don't know if a lot of people know this, but every week you get our regular episodes a day early and ad free. [07:12] And if that's all not enough, our merch store will be opening again really soon. And fan club members always get first access to shop. So if you've been around a while, you'll know that the fan club always cleans us out of stock before it even opens to the general public. And we have some super cool stuff coming. So I hope to see you in the fan club. And if not, I will catch you next week. [07:31] Thank you. [07:49] you [07:49] you [07:51] you [07:54] *music* [07:57] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [08:04] Okay, Crime Junkies, you know I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [08:23] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [08:27] I think you'll love it too. [08:28] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.