The program's greatest achievements and proudest moments - our greatest captures, most notorious fugitives, and the heartwarming tales of victims who fought back, and viewers who made a difference.

• 2/7/88 – America's Most Wanted debuts on the seven Fox owned-and-operated stations (New York, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Los Angeles).
  
  
• 2/11/88 – Four days after the show's debut, AMW marks its first capture as the FBI announces the arrest of one of its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, David James Roberts, in New York City, as a direct result of viewer tips to the program.
  
  
• 5/7/89 – AMW makes international news with the capture of New Jersey mass murderer John Emil List, at large for nearly 20 years.
  
  
• 4/25/90 – AMW Host John Walsh is honored by President George H.W. Bush at a White House ceremony for his work on behalf of crime victims and Missing children.
  
  
• 5/10/90 – AMW helps recover its first Missing child, Nicole Ravesi, and aids in the arrest of her abductor, Kenneth Cole, her former babysitter.
  
  
• 10/5/91 – The FBI honors John Walsh with its highest civilian award – The Louise E. Peters Memorial Service Award, presented by the FBI and Society of Former Agents of the FBI.
  
  
• 5/25/96 – AMW broadcasts one of its greatest and proudest accomplishments: a reunion of the 20 children the show has helped recover.
  
  
• 11/9/96 – Following the cancellation of AMW, an outpouring of support from governors, law enforcement officials and viewers changes Fox's plan – and the nation's No. 1 crime-fighting show returns to the airways, kicking off its "debut" by capturing Alan Eugene White just 30 minutes after the show airs.
  
  
• 5/10/97 – AMW is the first show to bring the search for Andrew Cunanan nationwide. He was profiled six times on AMW before his body was found on a houseboat in Miami Beach, reportedly a suicide. John Walsh and his crew were on the scene when the discovery was made and John was the only member of the media who was allowed to enter the scene.
  
  
• 9/20/97 – Jack and Mona Volgares, wanted for the murder of Mona's 8-year-old daughter, Seleana Gamble, are arrested and their three other children recovered just 29 minutes after a segment about them airs on AMW.
  
  
• 1/8/01 – Stephen Edward Tatro, a self-proclaimed medicine man and accused killer, becomes the only fugitive ever captured by AMW twice. Six hours before the show aired on April 1, 2000, Tatro was captured when alert AMW viewers saw him featured on a promotional spot for the show. He was arrested but soon escaped. AMW went on the hunt again and in January 2001, tips led us to his hideout in the Arizona desert.
  
  
• 1/24/01 – A tip to AMW leads to the capture of the infamous "Texas 7." In December, 2000, seven dangerous convicts escaped from the state prison in Karnes City, Texas. They went on a crime spree, stealing an arsenal of weapons and killing a police officer on Christmas Eve. An AMW viewer in Colorado recognized the new tenants in his mobile home park as the fugitives, and their run from the law was over.
  
  
• 10/12/01 – At the request of President George W. Bush, AMW airs a special episode featuring the U.S. government's Most Wanted Terrorists, a list of 22 international fugitives identified in the wake of the 9-11 attacks.
  
  
• 4/23/02 – After a profile of accused child molester Michael Bliss airs on AMW, FBI agents and cops get a break in the case in the form of numerous AMW tips. They lead to a small motel in Los Angeles where the FBI "Most Wanted" fugitive is staying, and Bliss becomes AMW's 700th direct capture.
  
  
• 3/12/03 – Tips from AMW viewers lead to the recovery of Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart after a nationwide search. Elizabeth had been abducted from her bedroom nine months earlier.
  
  
• 7/2/04 – AMW's 800th Direct Result Capture. Richard Newman, accused of killing a man in a Toronto night club, seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. But AMW tips led U.S. Marshals to an apartment building in Brooklyn, N.Y. After Gooden attempted to shoot his way out of the building, the Marshals made their move and Gooden was taken into custody.
  
  
• 7/27/06 – President George W. Bush signs the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act into law in a ceremony at the White House, on the 25th anniversary of Adam Walsh's abduction and murder. Among other things, the act creates a national sex offender registry, and makes failing to register a federal crime.
  
  
• 8/9/06 – Marlon Morris, wanted for repeatedly raping and assaulting a 13-year-old girl just outside of Boston, becomes AMW's 900th direct result capture when tips lead to police to New Orleans, where he was hiding out.