In Pursuit With John Walsh

The story of John Walsh is one of a man who lived through an awful tragedy and decided to do something about it. In 1981 his 6-year-old son, Adam disappeared from a department store. 16 days later his severed head was found 190km away from their home. The rest of his body was never found. After that, John Walsh made it his mission to find missing children and to bring criminals to justice.

The Walsh family went to congress, and after a lot of difficulties, they managed to pass the Missing Children Act of 1982 and the Missing Children’s Assistance Act of 1984. Later, The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act was signed into law. Thanks to his and his family’s efforts, child abductors and abusers are much easier to prosecute and the consequences of their actions are far more severe.

John Walsh wasn’t content with legislative changes, however, so he became the host of America’s Most Wanted, Fox television network’s longest-running program in its history only surpassed by The Simpsons. The goal of the show was to help the authorities catch criminals. With John Walsh narrating, crimes were re-enacted and interviews were held by families of the victims so that people would understand the crime and sympathise with the victim, then a toll-free line was displayed in which people could call in their tips which would be passed on to the police. In 2008 they reportedly assisted with their 1,000^th arrest.

Despite being 74 years old, John Walsh isn’t done with helping the police catch dangerous criminals. He uses this show to capitalize on his extensive experience and fame to get the public involved in catching dangerous criminals and saving missing children by means of a tip hotline. Each episode covers two wanted fugitives and two missing children and features interviews with concerned family members. His son, Callahan, has joined his father in this noble pursuit and leads the operations on the ground.

Monday at 9:50 PM on ID (ch 223) from 10 August