She crossed the railroad tracks and scrambled down the banks of the Licking River, calling out the name of her teenage son, Randy, who went to the county fair one night and never came home. Mrs. Cotton, two inches shy of 5 feet tall and unable to swim, would return covered in mud and scratches. Randy Sellers was missing for weeks, then years, then decades. He vanished in 1980, the year before the disappearance of 6-year-old Adam Walsh in Florida would change the way America looked at missing children. Adam’s father, John Walsh, became a household name and a beacon for parents like Mrs. Cotton, who felt alone and ignored by the authorities.

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Persons: Wanda Cotton, Randy, Cotton, Randy Sellers, Adam Walsh, Adam’s, John Walsh Locations: Licking, Kenton County, Ky, Florida, America