Maybe second only to the Lindbergh baby kidnapping in the early party of last century, the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh in South Florida in 1981 was the most infamous case of child kidnapping in US history. It was every parents' nightmare--one second their child is playing video games in a department store, the next, he's gone forever. It changed the way we look after our children, and how cops look for children when they are taken.

But exactly what happened is still something of a mystery. One of South Florida's most versatile writers, Les Standiford - no stranger to suspense and crime, though mostly in novels--teamed with Joe Mathews, a former Miami Beach police officer that worked on the Walsh case for more than two decades, to write the most comprehensive book on the case to date. Cultist asked Standiford some questions about Bringing Adam Home: The Abduction That Changed America ahead of his appearance at Books and Books this Sunday.

New Times: How did the Adam Walsh case change the way we views and deal with child abduction?

Les Standiford: Before Adam, it was a fact that the FBI would respond more quickly to a

report of a stolen horse than to a report of a kidnapped child.

Thankfully, that is no longer the case. The case of Adam Walsh is to

child abduction response as 9-11 is to transportation and border

security.

After police closed their investigation, the Miami Herald published a story implicating Jeffrey

Dahmer in the abduction. What is your take on that investigation? Any

major holes you see?

The Adam Walsh case was so momentous to the country at large and went

unsolved for so long that it is no surprise that people began to develop

what might be termed extra-logical theories to "solve" the case, much

as we see in alternative versions of the Kennedy assassination and

"truther" accounts of 9-11. It is a diverting coincidence that Jeffrey

Dahmer did reside in Sunny Isles, FL at the same time that Adam Walsh

went missing, and authorities from Florida did question him following

his arrest on other charges back in the early '90's. But Dahmer denied

any involvement in the crime and police never found any evidence to the

contrary.

The Adam Walsh story made real the worst nightmare of all parents. What

is the single greatest lesson that can be gleaned from it?

We learned that even our children are not safe from senseless

predation--and so, to modify an old maxim of a former Senator from

Arizona, we now accept that eternal vigilance is the price of

parenthood.

You co-wrote this book with Joe Matthews, how did the case define his

life? Did his eventual conclusion provide closure or can there

never really be closure in this type of case?

You'd have to ask Joe how he feels defined by his success in doing what

hundreds of cops before him--including the FBI and the Florida

Department of Law Enforcement--could not, but to me I'd say what he has

done marks him as a very remarkable and honorable individual indeed. I

would call him a hero. For parents who have lost a child in whatever

manner, I do not think there is ever such a thing as closure. But the

Walshes certainly feel great gratitude for what Joe Matthews did, and as

John Walsh has said, "At least now the not-knowing is over, and a

different phase of life can begin."

The Walshes are models of how to take the worst life can give you and

turn it into a positive. What is the single most impressive aspect of

their story?

When I grew up, parents who lost a child often turned inward and seemed

to live in a perpetual demi-world of grief. The Walshes transformed

their grief into efforts on behalf of missing and endangered children

that have literally transformed a nation's way of parenting and our

entire legal system's response to missing children. Their

accomplishments are really astonishing.

Same question for Matthews?

He did what he did because he believed it was the right thing to do. Two

and a half years of cold-case investigation essentially for no other

reason than that. So for all the sadness in this tale, there is in my

mind a powerfully redemptive conclusion.

Les Standiford and Joe Matthews will be at Books and Books (265 Aragon

Ave., Coral Gables) at 6 p.m. talking about the case and signing copies

of their book. The event is free. Call 305-442-4408 for more information

or visit booksandbooks.com.

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