Did Jeffrey Dahmer kill Adam Walsh?
Probe of possible connection between cannibal Dahmer and Adam Walsh pushed Associated Press Published February 5, 2007, 7:59 AM CST MILWAUKEE -- The FBI agent assigned to investigate cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer's horrendous murders and other crimes believes a possible connection to the murder of Adam Walsh in 1981 should be re-examined. WISN-TV reports there are new questions about Dahmer's criminal history in South Florida before he returned to Milwaukee. The questions are raised in a new book by Miami author Arthur Jay Harris. He started looking at the Walsh case after a legal ruling opened the 10,000-page Walsh file to the public. Six-year-old Adam vanished from a shopping mall in Hollywood on July 27th, 1981. His head was found in a drainage canal, two weeks later. His body was never found. Dahmer was living in South Florida when the boy disappeared. And when the trail of Dahmer's notorious crimes unfolded in 1991, Hollywood police asked Milwaukee investigators to question Dahmer about the Walsh case. Milwaukee Detective Dennis Murphy says Dahmer repeatedly denied killing Adam. Murphy says Dahmer had been forthcoming about his other crimes. Retired FBI agent Neil Purtell says Dahmer was a talented liar, and given the evidence that Harris uncovered, it's time to re-open the Walsh case with a team of seasoned investigators. Adam's father, John Walsh, agrees. He told WISN that Dahmer became a suspect years ago when Dahmer's father, Lionel, called "America's Most Wanted" and told them he thoughy Jeffrey Dahmer might be responsible for Adam's slaying. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/sfl-25adamwalsh,1,5986800.story?coll=chi-news-hed

FBI Agent Says Dahmer Raised Suspicions In Walsh Case Book Raises Questions About Case POSTED: 2:44 pm CST February 2, 2007 UPDATED: 1:24 pm CST February 3, 2007 MILWAUKEE -- A retired FBI profiler who interviewed Jeffrey Dahmer said the Milwaukee serial killer's answers when asked about the murder of Adam Walsh raised suspicions he might have been involved in the boy's murder. The 6-year-old boy disappeared from a shopping mall in the Miami suburb of Hollywood in 1981, and his head was found two weeks later in a drainage canal. His body was never found and his murder was never solved. His father John Walsh went on to start the crime-fighting TV show "America's Most Wanted." A Milwaukee television station reported that there are new questions about Dahmer's criminal history in Florida before he returned to Milwaukee. The questions are raised in a new book by Miami author Arthur Jay Harris. He started looking at the Walsh case after a legal ruling opened the 10,000-page Walsh file to the public. Dahmer lived in south Florida when the boy disappeared. A police investigator said Dahmer denied killing Walsh. But retired FBI profiler Neil Purtell said he asked Dahmer whether, if he had killed Walsh, he would tell him. He said Dahmer responded that he knew Florida had the death penalty and that whoever killed the boy would not survive in prison. Dahmer himself was later killed in a Wisconsin prison by another inmate. The station said that two witnesses have reported seeing someone they now believe was Dahmer at the mall where the boy disappeared. Also, Dahmer had use of a blue work van, and a blue van was seen speeding from the mall. The station said Florida state investigators plan to review information from the report to see if key details were overlooked. http://www.channel3000.com/news/10914513/detail.html

Posted on Wed, Feb. 07, 2007 John Walsh not swayed that Dahmer killed Adam BY WANDA J. DeMARZO wdemarzo@MiamiHerald.com John Walsh, who embarked on a TV crime-fighting crusade after his son Adam was abducted and killed more than 25 years ago at a Hollywood Sears store, says he is not swayed by a new published report suggesting that serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer may have been responsible for the crime. The statement was issued by a spokesman for Walsh's television show, America's Most Wanted. ''Despite news stories prompted by the publication of a recent article in a Florida newspaper, America's Most Wanted is aware of no credible information connecting Jeffrey Dahmer to the murder of Adam Walsh, the son of AMW's host John Walsh,'' said the statement issued on behalf of John Walsh. Avery Mann, spokesman for the show, said, ''Mr. Walsh feels that any potential new information should be thoroughly investigated,'' but added: ``We are not aware of any new information.'' Adam was 6 at the time he disappeared on July 27, 1981, from the toy department at Sears in Hollywood. His severed head was found in a Vero Beach canal, 100 miles from where he was last seen. The crime has never been solved and the case remains open. A recent story written by true crime writer Arthur Jay Harris and published in the Daily Business Review says two witnesses saw someone resembling Dahmer at the Hollywood Mall the day Adam disappeared from the Sears store there. The story has led to a series of TV news show appearances by Harris, who has a book manuscript he hopes will be published. The Dahmer allegation has been reported previously -- and has been looked at by both Hollywood police and Broward prosecutors. Nonetheless, Broward State Attorney Michael Satz said in an e-mail to The Miami Herald on Tuesday that his office ``spoke with John Walsh last week and offered to go back and look at the statements given by the two witnesses.'' The e-mail did not provide Walsh's response. Besides living in the area, Dahmer had access to a blue van -- like one seen leaving the mall with a small child thought to be Adam -- through his job at a Sunny Isles Beach sub shop, Harris reported. Dahmer, a Milwaukee native, was charged in 1991 in the deaths of at least 17 men and boys. He was murdered in prison. Hollywood police, who consider the case still open, scoff at the idea Dahmer is the person responsible for the murder of Adam. ''We investigated the Dahmer link and spoke with Dahmer,'' said Hollywood police Capt.Tony Rode. ``We don't believe he murdered Adam.'' Rode added: ``This is not anything new. We've gone over it again and again.'' The crime transformed Adam's parents, John and Reve Walsh, a young couple who lived on McKinley Street in Hollywood, into public figures. They channeled their grief into a movement, becoming the nation's most powerful activists for the rights of missing and exploited children. The couple was involved in advocating the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, signed into law by President Bush last year on the anniversary of Adam's abduction. http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/nation/16643930.htm