John Walsh, left, and Callahan Walsh.Photo:Michael Becker /FOX
Michael Becker /FOX
As a young boy,Callahan Walshremembers idyllic days playing soccer, hanging out with friends at his family’s home in south Florida and vacationing in upstate New York.
From age 10, he had a front-row seat to watch his dad shooting episodes of the popular Fox series and gradually picked up the skills needed to work in production.
John Walsh with wife Reve (far right) and children Megan (far left) and Callahan.Robin Platzer/FilmMagic
Robin Platzer/FilmMagic
After college at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., he says, “I did post-production audio and then was a PA shooting standup segments and eventually producing the show’s re-enactments. My father made sure I knew how to do every position.”
Two decades later, Callahan is working once again onAMW,this time in front of the camera. He and his famous dad co-host the new reboot of the iconic weekly series on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET.
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John Walsh on America’s Most Wanted from 1988 to 2012.AMW
John starred on the show on the then-fledgling network after becoming a prominent criminal justice advocate following the murder of his firstborn son.
“That period after Adam was murdered was debilitating,” says John, 78, who grew frustrated with law enforcement’s efforts to find his son. “They never found anything but his skull,” he says.
The case remained unsolved until 2008, when convicted serial killer Ottis Toole, who had confessed to the crime but died in prison, was named Adam’s killer.
When the originalAMW, then the longest running show in Fox’s history, was canceled in 2011, John continued his work on behalf of crime victims.
Last year, Fox CEO Rob Wade called him to offer him a job returning to the network to host the reboot.
“I only had one condition,” says John. “I told him, ‘You’ve got to buy the family pack—it’s Cal and I.”
No stranger to working in front of the camera, Callahan had been the co-host of ID’s In Pursuit with John Walsh since 2019. He also serves as the executive director of the Florida branch of theNational Center for Missing & Exploited Children,the organization his parents helped to launch in the wake of Adam’s murder.
He jumped at the chance to join his father on a new show to track down the nation’s most dangerous criminals and reunite families with missing children.
Seated next to each other for an interview in L.A., John and Callahan seem as close as a father and son can be. “I’m lucky to have Callahan. I’m such an old bastard and I’m still cooking, but I got the young legs right here helping me out,” he says.
“He’s loving and caring and compassionate with the victims.” As with his siblings, Callahan’s love and support have been crucial to his parents’ recovery in the unfathomable aftermath of losing Adam. “These kids saved our lives,” says John.
Those days were dark. A successful hotel developer when Adam was abducted, John put work on hold and devoted himself entirely to searching for his young son, and then for his killer. “I lost everything. Our house was in foreclosure,” he toldPeoplein 1997.
And in a case of “old school meets new school,” adds John with typical cowboy swagger,AMWis asking its army of armchair detectives to submit tips on social media “to help catch the bad guys” and make the streets of America safe for all. “We’re saddling up—and hoping people will watch.”
America’s Most Wantedairs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.
source: people.com
