John Walsh and His Wife Had More Children After Their Son Was Murdered — It Helped With the Pain

The horrific murder of Adam Walsh was the kind of crime that paved the way for public service announcements about stranger danger. On July 27, 1981, Revé Walsh was shopping at a mall in Hollywood, Fla. with her 6-year-old son when he disappeared. While shopping for a lamp at Sears, Revé left her son in the toy department where he was playing with some other children. When she returned, Adam was gone. After searching the mall to no avail, the distraught mother was in full panic mode.

Revé and her husband John Walsh were hopeful that their son would be found safe and alive. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. Two weeks later, his severed was found in a drainage canal 120 miles away. The murder of Adam Walsh was never solved. The little boy's father then went on to create America's Most Wanted. John Walsh has since become synonymous with catching criminals, but his family never fully recovered from the murder that started it all.

One year after Adam was killed, John and Revé had a daughter they named Meghan. They then went on to have two more children: Callahan, who was born in 1985, and Hayden, who arrived in 1994. In July 2006, The Walsh family were guests at the White House as then-President George W. Bush signed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act into law. They ended that day chatting with Larry King for Larry King Live.

The signing of the bill coincided with the 25th anniversary of Adam's death, which made the experience a tad bittersweet. "It took almost 10 years, but I'll tell you, this used to be a very, very sad day for this family," shared John, who added that it was always especially difficult for his wife. With this bill, a new positive layer was added to the devastating anniversary. It's worth noting that this bill established the National Sex Offender Registry.

John told Larry that he never fantasizes about what life would be like if Adam was still alive and feels lucky that he was in their lives for nearly seven years. Things have been a bit different for Revé, who was with her son the day he was taken. "I gave up the luxury of being naive on that day," she told Larry. Both of them became more suspicious of the world around them.

Revé revealed that one of the reasons she and John chose to have more children was to get rid of the agony they felt about losing Adam. When Larry asked Meghan what it was like growing up with this legacy, she said it has always been hard. "They have always been very cautious with us and things like that, but I think growing up, you know what their intentions are, you know that this gets them up every morning, and this is what drives them," she explained.

Callahan, who later joined his father on In Pursuit with John Walsh, was the first son born after Adam's death. "They don't put any sort of pressure on me as far as the oldest son," he said. "I'm very proud to be part of this family, to see what work they have done for children all across the country."

The couple's youngest child Hayden was 11 at the time of the interview. He shared that his parents were role models, though he felt overwhelmed at times. Hayden also revealed that everyone paid a lot of attention to him because he was the baby of the family.