( CNN ) -- The man now synonymous with hunting bad guys had no intention of a career catching fugitives . John Walsh was a hotel developer in south Florida , living a seemingly idyllic life with his wife and son , when a horrific tragedy changed his life -- and the lives of thousands of strangers . Here are five things to know about the host of CNN 's The Hunt with John Walsh : . 1 . His son was kidnapped and killed . Walsh 's life unraveled in 1981 when his 6-year-old son , Adam , was abducted from a mall near their home in Hollywood , Florida . Two weeks after Adam 's disappearance , his severed head was discovered in a canal 120 miles away from the mall . The devastation led Walsh to dedicate himself to catching fugitives and seeking justice for crime victims . 2 . Helping nab the bad guys is his mission . For more than a decade , Walsh was known as the host of America 's Most Wanted -- a groundbreaking show that put fugitives ' profiles in the national spotlight . The FBI credits America 's Most Wanted for leading to the capture of 17 of the fugitives who have appeared on the agency 's 10 Most Wanted list . Walsh says 1,200 suspects have been caught as a result of the show . What was one of his best gets ? Walsh says he accomplished in three days what the FBI could n't do in 18 years : finding and capturing murderer John List , who killed his wife and three children . 3 . He 's a co-founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children . Before Adam Walsh 's kidnapping and death , there was no national database on missing children . Law enforcement officers could enter information on stolen cars , stolen guns and stolen jewelry -- but there was no central place to keep information on missing children . So John Walsh and his wife Reve pushed Congress to pass the Missing Children Act , which led to the creation of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children . According to its website , the center has helped law enforcement find more than 196,000 missing children since it was founded in 1984 . `` Our recovery rate for missing children has grown from 62 percent in 1990 to 97 percent today , '' the center says . The site is n't just for law enforcement officers and missing children 's families . At least one young woman discovered she was abducted as a newborn by using the database . Carlina White , now 27 , knew something was amiss when the woman who claimed to be her mother did n't resemble her and could n't provide her birth certificate . So she logged onto the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and found what turned out to be her baby picture -- eventually solving her own kidnapping . After reading about White 's case , a Philadelphia man who was adopted from an orphanage also searched the database and found a baby photo of himself . His father had reported him missing three decades earlier . 4 . Elizabeth Smart 's family counts Walsh among her rescuers . After her abduction at age 14 , Elizabeth Smart was held captive for nine months . She was starved , threatened , tortured and raped on a daily basis . While she was missing and her family searched for answers , her father Ed Smart turned to Walsh . `` He said , 'Be straight with me . Tell me what the odds are . You 're the one guy who can tell me the truth , ' '' Walsh told CNN in 2010 . `` And I said , 'You know what Ed , 99 % of the cases I do have a very unhappy ending . You 're lucky to find the remains , if you do . ' `` But Walsh put a photo of Elizabeth 's suspected kidnapper on America 's Most Wanted . Days after watching the show , a woman spotted the suspect in suburban Salt Lake City . 5 . Walsh also has a connection to the Ariel Castro case . For roughly a decade , Ariel Castro kept three young women captive in his Ohio home , abusing and raping his victims in what became known as the `` house of horrors . '' Walsh profiled two of the missing women -- Georgina `` Gina '' DeJesus and Amanda Berry -- several times on America 's Most Wanted . In a bizarre twist , it was Castro 's daughter Arlene who appeared on the show to appeal for help in finding her friend DeJesus -- unaware that her father was actually hiding and abusing DeJesus in his home .
John Walsh started a career in victim advocacy after his son was shot and killed . More than 1,200 suspects were arrested due to his show America 's Most Wanted . Walsh is now the host of CNN 's The Hunt with John Walsh . He is also a co - founder of the National Center for Missing and Lost Children .