Free Republic

The host of America's Most Wanted, who also helped create a national registry for sex offenders, says the same system is needed for mentally ill people looking to buy guns. We got John Walsh Saturday at LAX and asked what he made of Florida's new gun law -- in which the age limit to purchase guns was raised to 21 ... and teachers can now be armed. He says it's a step in the right direction, but also thinks arming teachers is the wrong way to protect schools from potential shooters -- he wants trained pros on the ground instead....

President Barack Obama is going to appear on 'America's Most Wanted' to mark the milestone of its 1,000th episode. Obama will be interviewed by the show's host, John Walsh, in the episode that will air this Saturday. Obama will then discuss some of the administration's crime-fighting initiatives and the impact that the show has had on thousands of victims in its 22 years. The two will also talk about his administration's initiatives to go after and prosecute 'white collar' criminals, which 'Most Wanted' has recently focused on.

Psychologically, we tend to believe that what we see with our own eyes, especially if it is “acted out” for us, is the “truth.” Our brains are wired so that visual images assume a permanent reality–even if that reality is a computer-generated or photo-shopped Big Lie. Mohammed al-Dura did not die in his fathers’ arms even though that carefully staged image was seen round the world. Israel did not massacre anyone in Jenin even though that Big Lie has also taken on a life of its own.

After more than 10 years on the run, Antonoliy Valenko is finally in custody, thanks to AMW.com. Valenko was wanted for two murders in New York. The search for Valenko ended in the Netherlands, where cops say a tipster who had been in touch with Valenko went to AMW.com after noticing Valenko acting strange. To the tipster's surprise, Valenko was listed as a fugitive on our website. The tipster notified Dutch authorities, and after they went to AMW.com, they contacted Interpol in Washington D.C, confirming that Valenko was in fact wanted. Valenko is still in the Netherlands, but is awaiting...

Richard Lee McNair is a crafty escape artist and a smooth-talking con-man who's been spotted again and again since his April 2006 prsion escape, but he always slips away. On April 5, 2006, Richard Lee McNair escaped a federal penitentiary in Pollock, La. Later that same day, running along the railroad tracks, he managed to convince a Ball, La. police officer that although he had no ID and seemed to match the physical description of an escaped convict he was really Robert Jones, out for a 12 mile jog -- from a hotel to a roofing job. Even when he...

Did Dahmer Confess To All His Crimes? Witnesses Say They Saw Dahmer In Mall Where Adam Walsh Disappeared POSTED: 3:34 pm EST February 2, 2007 UPDATED: 4:30 pm EST February 2, 2007MILWAUKEE -- Did Jeffrey Dahmer confess to all his crimes? There's a call to reopen the investigation into Milwaukee's most notorious killer.Milwaukee TV station WISN reported that there are new questions about Dahmer's criminal history before he returned to Milwaukee and never-reported details that some believe link Dahmer to one of the United States' most notorious cold cases.The boy at the center of that cold case is now a...

Suspected killer and former police officer John Addis has been discovered dead of an apparent suicide in Guatemala. Tragically, it appears Addis continued his murderous ways even with a new life: Police also discovered the bodies of his new wife and two small children.

LAWRENCEVILLE — A fugitive wanted on a host of charges including attempted murder and kidnapping has been arrested after allegedly breaking into a Norcross apartment and falling asleep on the couch. Police said 24-year-old Juan Javier Tapia forced his way into a Harmony Station apartment in Norcross and attempted to fight with a resident. Officers dispatched to the scene discovered Tapia had eaten all the resident’s food and drank all his alcohol before falling asleep on the man’s couch, said Cpl. Darren Moloney, spokesman for the Gwinnett County Police Department.

The Michael Astorga described in court and prison records is fiercely different from the one described by people who have known him for years. A recent neighbor, now so afraid of Astorga's family that he wouldn't give his name, called Astorga courteous and a man of his word. Today, Astorga, 29, is sought by authorities for two killings, including a Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy on March 22. Police say he shot Deputy James McGrane Jr., 38, once in the head, rather than be caught on an outstanding warrant for killing a long-time acquaintance in November. << snip >> Friday afternoon,...

A woman on the run for six years before she was caught was found guilty Monday of killing her next-door neighbor and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Malaika Tamu Griffin, 34, was found guilty on all counts connected with the 1999 murder of Jason Horsley. On May 18, 1999, Griffin and Horsley argued in front of their Denver homes, located in the 2300 block of Humboldt Street. At one point, Griffin went back into her home and retrieved a 9mm handgun with a laser sight and shot Horsley in the back, killing him instantly, prosecutors...

Woman's concerns lead to sex abuse probe Wednesday, January 25, 2006 By CONNIE BAGGETT Staff Reporter EVERGREEN -- A 58-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman were being held without bond in the Conecuh County Jail Tuesday as investigators worked to unravel a disturbing case of alleged sexual abuse of a teen-aged boy and a 3-year-old girl, according to District Attorney Tommy Chapman. The two adults remained in custody due in part to the diligence of a woman who saw one of the children, believed something was wrong and pressed authorities for days to check on the child, Chapman said. Chapman...

A man who helped make famous the songs "YMCA" and "In the Navy" is still scheduled to be featured on the television show "America's Most Wanted," after failing to surrender in a San Mateo County courtroom today, according to San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Victor Willis, 54, the original policeman from the musical group the Village People, was scheduled to turn himself in today after a $200,000 warrant for his arrest was issued on Oct. 20. Willis's new defense attorney Dean Johnson indicated Willis would appear in court today, although he failed to do so, Wagstaffe...

05/04/2005 By BRUCE SCHREINER / Associated Press Russell Winstead spent two years eluding Kentucky authorities who wanted him in the brutal slaying of his aunt, but his luck eventually ran out at a casino in Costa Rica. Winstead was arrested Tuesday by Costa Rican authorities at a casino in the capital city of San Jose. Kentucky prosecutors were eager to try him on murder and first-degree robbery charges. "It's a day we've been waiting for," Hopkins County Commonwealth's Attorney David Massamore said Wednesday in reacting to Winstead's arrest. Winstead, 40, fled in June 2003. A month later he was indicted...

Escaped Convict, Warden's Wife Found April 05, 2005 OKLAHOMA CITY — The wife of a deputy prison warden who disappeared 10 years ago along with a convicted killer has been found unharmed in East Texas but doesn't appear to be in any hurry to return to her old life, authorities said. A tip generated by the TV show "America's Most Wanted" led law enforcement to a mobile home in Campti, Texas, where escaped convict Randolph Dial (search) was arrested Monday, said Salvador Hernandez, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oklahoma. The assistant warden's wife, Bobbi Parker (search), was...

The Secret Service is looking for an armed, mentally unstable upstate New York man in connection with a plot to kill President Bush and Sen. John Kerry. The agency put out a "national lookout" yesterday for Lawrence Ward (search), a 57-year-old resident of Bainbridge, N.Y., who is said to have an obsession with guns, a history of violence and a hatred of the president. A neighbor told authorities that Ward has a picture of the president in his home with the words "dead man" spray-painted near it. The neighbor also said Ward held "anti-government" positions and often spoke of "fighting...

Suspect in Slaying of Officer Kills Himself in Jacksonville The Associated Press STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) - A man suspected of killing a city police officer as he sat in his patrol car committed suicide early Sunday with the officer's gun as a law enforcement team led by U.S. Marshals closed in on him in Florida, authorities said. Timothy W. Berner, 33, was found in Jacksonville, Fla., after authorities received a tip late Saturday by a viewer of the television program "America's Most Wanted" that he was in the area, police said. Berner was accused of stalking police officers the...

'Karaoke killer' lived it up on lam Fugitive vacation By Lawrence Buser buser@gomemphis.com June 29, 2003 Joseph Leroy Crouch Jr.'s 21-month Florida vacation filled with gambling, golf and karaoke came to a dramatic and abrupt end this year after a series of armed robberies. Just before midnight on March 16, the FBI and several SWAT teams burst into his third-floor condo in Daytona Beach Shores and arrested him in the killing of his wife in Memphis two years ago. The 61-year-old former mortgage broker knew his secret life under the alias Jay Nelson was over and that he likely had...

go to the site above, scroll down. The woman, Anette Hernandez, is wanted for 2nd degree murder and other crimes. Her projected 2002 picture on the website looks like Janet Reno!

Bomb suspect turns self in Dallas victim's half brother arrested after 'Most Wanted' episode 11/11/2002 By RICHARD WHITTLE / The Dallas Morning News A man wanted in the July pipe bombing that nearly killed his Dallas half brother turned himself in after America's Most Wanted profiled the case on TV, a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms spokesman said. Prescott W. "Scott" Sigmund, 35, who disappeared three days after the explosion in a Washington, D.C., parking garage, walked into a police station in Missoula, Mont., shortly before 11 p.m. Dallas time Saturday after the broadcast aired, said ATF...

Bomb victim heading home to Dallas TV's 'Most Wanted' to feature half brother sought in attack 10/15/2002 By RICHARD WHITTLE / The Dallas Morning News WASHINGTON - Car bomb victim Wright Sigmund is coming home to Dallas, eager to sleep in his own bed and hoping America's Most Wanted can flush out the fugitive half brother he thinks nearly killed him. "They catch a good amount of people this way," Mr. Sigmund said Monday of the Fox TV show, which plans a segment on the disappearance of his half brother, Scott Sigmund, three days after a pipe bomb exploded...