Case Closed (?) John Walsh son's killer found! (?)

[MA-Caver]

Fla. police close books on '81 Walsh killing


4 mins ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_on_re_us/adam_walsh

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A serial killer who died more than a decade ago is the person who decapitated the 6-year-old son of "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh in 1981, police in Florida said Tuesday. The announcement brought to a close a case that has vexed the Walsh family for more than two decades, launched the television show about the nation's most notorious criminals and inspired changes in how authorities search for missing children.
"Who could take a 6-year-old and murder and decapitate him? Who?" an emotional John Walsh said at Tuesday's news conference. "We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey's over."
Walsh's wife, Reve, at one point placed a small photo of their son on the podium.
The suspect, Ottis Toole, had twice confessed to killing the child, but later recanted. He claimed responsibility for hundreds of murders, but police determined most of the confessions were lies. Toole's niece told the boy's father, John Walsh, her uncle confessed on his deathbed in prison that he killed Adam.
Police said Toole was long the prime suspect in the case and that they had conclusively linked him the killing. They declined to be specific about their evidence and noted they had no DNA proof of the crime, but said an extensive review of the case file pointed only to Toole, as John Wash long contended.

After 27 years they say the man they've long suspected is indeed the killer of little Adam Walsh. One wonders if they're just doing it to close the case. His (deathbed confession) isn't viable enough IMO but they say they do have evidence... if so why wasn't it used before to help bring the man to trial and convict him.
One wonders if this is just a means to an end.
Adam's death while tragic did help change how police handle missing children and start a program that helps get the message to a broader number of people and has helped solve many missing children cases.
Still one wonders after all this time and 10 years after the confessed killer died that they now come up saying this is it!

There are many who will never have their killers brought to justice. Simply because there wasn't enough evidence to link them to the crime.
Seems that Walsh and his wife are content with the findings and that they can bring closure to their lives and their loss. I'm glad for them.
But still have that sense of doubt.

How many cases were actually closed on real evidence and how many were closed because it was convenient?