FATHER & SON CRIME FIGHTERS

JOHN WALSH IS 'SADDLING UP' TO CATCH MORE CRIMINALS ON THE NEW AMERICA'S MOST WANTED THIS TIME WITH HIS SON CALLAHAN

- K.C. BAKER

Callahan Walsh remembers idyllic days playing soccer as a young boy, hanging out with friends at his family's home in South Florida and vacationing in upstate New York. But when he wanted more time with his father, John Walsh, host of the groundbreaking true-crime TV show America's Most Wanted, there was only one place to go. "I grew up on-set," says Callahan, 39. From age 10 he had a front-row seat to watch his dad shooting episodes of the popular Fox series, and he gradually picked up the skills needed to work in production. After college at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., he says, "I did postproduction audio and then was a PA shooting stand-up segments and eventually producing the show's reenactments. My father made sure I knew how to do every position."

Two decades later Callahan is working once again on America's Most Wanted, this time in front of the camera. He and his famous dad cohost the new reboot of the iconic weekly series on Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET. Beloved by fans and law enforcement alike, the original, Emmy-winning program, which debuted in 1988, helped to catch more than 1,100 criminals and bring home 50 missing children during its 24-season run. John starred on the show on the then-fledgling network after becoming a prominent criminal justice advocate following the murder of his firstborn son. Six-year-old Adam Walsh was kidnapped after wandering into the toy department of a Sears store in Hollywood, Fla., on July 27, 1981, while his mother, Revé, shopped nearby. Adam's partial remains were found two weeks later in a canal in Vero Beach, Fla., 130 miles north of where John and Revé lived at the time.