‘Amazing milestone’
When “America’s Most Wanted” launched in April 1988, there were plenty of skeptics, host John Walsh says.
The crime-fighting series was part of a new genre, reality, on a fledgling network, Fox.
“A lot of people said, ‘They’ll never catch anybody,’ ” Walsh recalls.
The doubters were wrong. Tonight, “AMW” will feature the 1,000th fugitive capture with the help of viewer tips that are passed on to law enforcement agencies.
Walsh will host the episode from Times Square in New York, where the fugitive, Dwight Smith, was wanted on suspicion of murder.
The real estate agent is accused of murdering a friend over a deal gone awry. Smith was caught last month in Richmond, Va., after a tipster recognized him on the “AMW” Web site the same day his case was presented on the show.
“It’s a pretty amazing milestone,” says Walsh, 62.
Tonight’s episode also will feature other memorable captures in the show’s history.
Before Walsh was asked to host, he and his wife, Revi, had been trying to raise awareness about missing and exploited children after the abduction and murder of their 6-year-old son, Adam, in 1981.
In 1984, they co-founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Walsh believes he knows the identity of the killer, who has since died in prison. No one has been charged in connection with the crime.
He says he was reluctant to take the TV job until producers told him the first target was a convicted killer whose victims included children. The man was caught four days after the show aired.
The quickest capture came 29 minutes after a segment on a fugitive couple was broadcast.
In addition to the fugitive milestone, Walsh says, “AMW” tips have helped law enforcement catch 16 people from the FBI’s most wanted list and find more than 40 missing children, including Elizabeth Smart.
Walsh says the series has given him a national platform to advocate for crime-fighting laws. His latest legislative push is to beef up DNA databases.
“It’s the fingerprint of the 21st century,” he says. “It convicts the guilty and frees the innocent.”
He says he plans to host “AMW” – which he calls “a tribute to Adam’s memory” – as long as he can do the job.
The show is getting its own broadcast studio at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, D.C., which opens Friday.
Asked whether there were any fugitives he would especially like to catch, Walsh mentioned Alexis Flores, a man wanted in connection with the abduction and murder of a 5-year-old girl.
“The guys who brutally kill children, those are the guys I like to see caught,” he says.
“This show isn’t just a job. It’s my passion.”