Confirmation, Finally, For John And Revé Walsh

In 2006 I had the distinct pleasure of working for 3 very fine people. Julie and Bill Clark (Julie is the founder and creator of The Baby Einstein Company) and John Walsh.

Together, Julie, Bill and John launched a child safety company named The Safe Side, focused on creating fun and informative safety videos for kids.

During that time I worked closely with Julie and Bill to launch the company, and communication with John was infrequent. Mostly faxes to his home as he doesn’t like to use email.

On one occasion I was able to spend some quality time with John during an extended dinner at the hotel we were all staying at in Washington DC. We were attending the annual National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Hope Awards benefit and congressional breakfast where John was keynote speaker.

During dinner he shared all about the horrible experience he and his wife Revé went through in the immediate aftermath of Adam’s abduction, the challenges he faced working with local law enforcement, and his certainty, though the police would not confirm it, that Ottis Toole was responsible for the crime. The announcement yesterday by police that the case has been closed and Ottis Toole confirmed as the abductor and killer of Adam is a much needed “period” to the awful chapters to date in their life. John said yesterday though that there’s not really closure. His mission and life’s purpose is still ahead of him.

I will never forget that dinner with John- It was heart wrenching listening to him recount the details (I kept thinking what I would have done had it been one of my four precious kids). Both the pain he showed as he told the story, and the determination that flowed out of him to have the case closed and to do everything he could to prevent another family going through what he went through was very motivating. I left that time together wanting to brandish a sword and chop something or other off every child abuser I could find.