ATLANTA – “America’s Most Wanted” returns—bigger, bolder, and more determined than ever—as John and Callahan Walsh team up to track down the “worst of the worst.”
Fox News Digital spoke with the father-son duo ahead of their third season premiere on Monday, April 21. The original host, John, is back alongside his son, Callahan.
“We’re still profiling the worst of the worst bad guys, still relying on the public, but we’ve given them new ways to contact us,” Callahan said. “Back in the day, it was a phone number. Today, they can go to our social media and give us tips anonymously.”
In a new age, the Walshes have turned to “internet sleuths” to help capture fugitives.
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“There’s a whole new genre of these armchair detectives, these internet sleuths, and it’s really blown up,” Callahan said. “All over the internet, you see these individuals coming together, sharing information, sharing timelines and details of cases that aren’t always easy to get to find.
“It’s pretty incredible what the viewers can come up with and some of the theories that they have that lead to the apprehension of these fugitives. We rely on the public so much, and it’s just so great to have this new era, this new group of crime fighters in partnership with us sitting at home watching the show.”
John said that the show has faced new challenges as the toll of illegal immigration hits American families.
“It’s going to be a power pack,” he said. “And the challenges are great because of the different types of bad guys that came across the border. Some countries emptied their mental institutions. Some of them definitely emptied their jails.”
Pointing to Homeland Security data, John said that they estimate that there are 700 different terrorists that have come across the border in recent years.
“Not to start a new life here, [but] came here to blow up buildings like the trade towers,” he said. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
In light of the crisis at the southern border, John said that there are hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minors that were scooped up by gangs, sex trafficking rings and the cartels.
“We have the greatest challenge America’s ever had that has walked across that border for the last four years,” he said. “So we’ve got to saddle up because we have real challenges.”
We have the greatest challenge America’s ever had that has walked across that border for the last four years…
The patriarch, 79, originally launched the series in 1988 after he faced a personal tragedy — the murder of his firstborn, Adam Walsh.
Adam, who was 6 years old, and his mother Reve entered a Sears department store near their Hollywood, Fla., home. The matriarch allowed him to watch a group of other boys play video games in the toy department while she shopped nearby. But less than 10 minutes later, he was gone.
The Walshes led a massive hunt that was televised as they desperately searched for their son. They pleaded with the public, urging them to provide any leads that would bring Adam home. The couple even put up a $100,000 reward to draw as much attention to the case as possible.
Some of Adam’s remains were found less than two weeks later in a drainage canal in Vero Beach, more than 100 miles from where he was kidnapped. In 2008 Hollywood police determined Adam’s killer was Ottis Toole, a serial killer who died behind bars in 1996.
“Adam’s case took 27 years to solve. I love the cops, but this was a horrible, bungled case,” John said. “I always say, justice delayed is not justice denied, but it took 27 years to solve my own son’s case with the pro bono help of a cop, a well-known detective and a district attorney.”
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“It’s not about closure,” he said. “It’s about ending that chapter, knowing who hurt your beloved family member and that they’re caught. They’re going to pay for it. There’s no closure. I’ll always have that big bleeding hole in my heart for Adam, that beautiful 6-year-old boy.”
The Walshes’ story was first told in the 1983 television movie “Adam.”
“America’s Most Wanted” then premiered on FOX in 1988 and ran until 2011, when it was canceled and later picked up by the Lifetime network—though without its original host, John Walsh.
Over the course of its run, “America’s Most Wanted” was instrumental in the capture of 1,198 fugitives.
“America’s Most Wanted” is returning for a third season on FOX, premiering on Monday, April 21 and available on Hulu the next day.
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