Bringing Adam Home Analysis

Bring Adam Home Book Critique
Instructor: David Ojo
Liberty University

Abstract
The book Bringing Adam Home by Les Standiford and Detective Joe Matthews, is the story of the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh. Adam Walsh was abducted by a stranger from a Sears store parking lot on July 27th, 1981 in Hollywood, FL. This case gained national publicity and changed the way law enforcement responded to cases such as this one. Convicted serial killer Ottis Toole confessed over twenty times to the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh. He knew details of the case that only the perpetrator would know. Toole would not be formally declared responsible until some twenty seven years later. There are four main points that will be critiqued
Detective Matthews finally had the chance to interview Ottis Toole but was abruptly removed from case by Chief Witt. It is not exactly clear though, why Detective Matthews received such opposition. The author suggests that it was possible that the Hollywood PD wanted credit for getting Toole’s confession. It could be possible that by this time, the Hollywood Police Department was trying to do damage control and had known that they let the ball drop in moving forward with handling Toole’s confession. It would be some twenty seven years later when Detective Matthews would be able to complete his investigation, have access to the evidence collected during the investigation, and have access to witnesses, before the Hollywood PD would name Ottis Toole as having been responsible for the abduction and murder of Adam
Anytime a question of jurisdiction is involved, it is important for agencies to work together and share information to solve the case. It is not uncommon for the Federal investigators to get involved in child abduction cases. In this particular case, Florida senator Paula Hawkins tried to get the FBI involved in the search for Adam Walsh. The FBI was reluctant to interfere in the case however. If Hollywood PD was searching for a suspect somewhere out of state then the feds would be more than happy to lend a hand (Standiford & Matthews, 2011, p. 149). In 1988, FBI Deputy Director Alan Burgess advised that the Adam Walsh case had entered into the new nationwide database known as VICAP, the Violent Crime Apprehension Program. The FBI-VICAP became the national repository for violent crimes, collating data on homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, and unidentified human remains (Standiford & Matthews, 2011, p. 164). In 1988, the Walsh family received a letter from Toole confessing to the crime and trying to extort money in exchange for the location of Adam Walsh’s bones. The letter was given to Detective Hoffman and he filed the letter away citing a lack of physical evidence. Several years later, when the Walsh Family spoke to the Michael Satz at the State Attorney’s Office, he advised that he was not aware of the letter. The book demonstrated Detective Hoffman’s failure to share information based