[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 101 (Thursday, July 27, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6005-H6006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THREE FATHERS--THREE STOLEN CHILDREN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about three stolen children and 
three fathers.
  Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old in Hollywood, Florida, disappeared on July 
27, 1981, from a shopping store. His mother told him to play video 
games while she paid for a lamp. When she turned around, he had 
disappeared from the store. Apparently, the management had told him to 
leave.
  On August 10, 1981, Adam's decapitated head was found in the water at 
Vero Beach, Florida. The rest of his remains have never been found.
  Otis Toole, a serial killer, confessed to killing Adam in 1983. 
Police were not sure he was the killer, although he confessed again, 
but later recanted. Toole died in 1996 on death row for other crimes, 
and Adam's murder technically remains unsolved.
  His father, John Walsh, partner in a hotel management company, lived 
the ``All-American Dream'' with his family in Hollywood, Florida, but 
the effect of his son's death, Adam, was devastating. He lost 
everything, not only his business, his home, but his pride, Adam Walsh.
  He began campaigning for missing and exploited children, and his 
drive

[[Page H6006]]

created the Missing Children Assistance Act of 1984, which established 
the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Also, John and 
his wife established the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, and he has 
been host on ``America's Most Wanted'' since 1988. This TV program 
helps capture the worst criminals in America. He still is married and 
he has three children now, and he works daily to protect our children.
  Polly Klaas was abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night 
on October 1, 1993, by Richard Allen Davis in California. He later 
strangled her and sexually assaulted her, and in December of that year, 
Davis led police to her body, and they discovered that she had been 
buried alive. Davis, a previously convicted felon, was sentenced to 
death in September 1996. He is on death row now in California waiting 
to be executed, as he needs to be.
  Marc Klaas, her father, worked in a Hertz car rental center in San 
Francisco prior to her death. Memories of his daughter Polly were 
sitting on the couch, watching her favorite show ``The Simpsons.'' She 
had a love for performing. She also loved to play her clarinet and 
would have loved to have been an actress.
  But the effect of her death, Mr. Speaker, in the words of her father, 
Marc, he said, ``I wanted to be dead for 10 years. No one has affected 
my life so positively and nothing has affected my life so negatively.''
  After her abduction and murder, Marc gave up his business and 
dedicated his life to protecting our children. He is the founder of the 
Klaaskids Foundation, a nonprofit organization; and in 1994, he was 
instrumental in establishing the ``three strikes, you're out'' law in 
California. A third felony conviction means those criminals go to 
prison for 25 years to life.
  Mr. Speaker, number three, Jessica Lunsford, 9-year-old girl in 
Florida. She was abducted also from her bedroom on February 23, 2005, 
by a repeat sex offender, John Couey. This occurred in Homosassa, 
Florida. He repeatedly sexually assaulted her, and then he buried her 
alive in his backyard.
  It is interesting to note that ``America's Most Wanted'' helped 
capture this individual.
  On March 18, 2005, Couey confessed to raping and killing Jessica and 
told police where she was buried. He is waiting trial; and, hopefully, 
the folks in Florida will administer their corrective punishment, the 
death penalty, in his case.
  Mark Lunsford, her father, normal guy. In fact, he moved to Florida 
to protect his children. He was in the Army after high school and he 
loved his kids. He just worked as a heavy equipment operator at a 
recycling center. He says about his daughter that she loved to work 
with him and operate this heavy equipment. They took care of each other 
because that is what families do.
  The effect of her death has helped him to also work for children. He 
is helping get Jessica's Law passed in 18 States, which increases the 
minimum penalty for sex offenders to 25 years for first offenders.
  Mr. Speaker, these three fathers from three different backgrounds had 
a child stolen from them by a child predator. As a father of four and a 
grandfather of five, there would be nothing worse than to have a child 
murdered.
  I know all three of these fathers. In fact, two of them are in 
Washington today. They are still fighting for kids, and they are here 
today because the President signed the Adam Walsh Child Safety Act to 
toughen up registration of child predators.
  Twenty-five years ago today, Adam Walsh was kidnapped.
  Mr. Speaker, children are our greatest resource, and every time a 
child is born, God is making a bet on the future of our culture. We are 
not judged by the way we treat the rich, the famous, the powerful, the 
influential. We as a society are judged by the way we treat the weak, 
the innocent, the children.
  The voices of these three children, the roll call of the dead, 
Jessica, Polly and Adam, call from the graves for justice. America must 
be the land that concerns itself with the protection of its children, 
and we must win this war against those child terrorists who steal the 
lives of our children.
  And that's just the way it is.

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