Walter Harlan "Mike" Echols (April 1, 1944 – January 10, 2003) was an American author who wrote several books, mainly dealing with

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

. His books include ''

I Know My First Name Is Steven ''I Know My First Name Is Steven'' is a 1989 American television miniseries about kidnap victim Steven Stayner. The two-part miniseries was first broadcast by NBC on May 22 and 23, 1989. Screening rights were sold to a number of international ...

'', which chronicles the story of

Steven Stayner Steven Gregory Stayner (April 18, 1965September 16, 1989) was an American kidnapping victim. On December 4, 1972, seven-year-old Stayner was abducted in Merced, California, by child molester Kenneth Parnell. He was held by his abductor away in ...

, and ''Brother Tony's Boys'', which tells the story of Brother Tony Leyva, a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

revivalist preacher and pederast. Echols infiltrated

NAMBLA Nambla is a census village in Baramula district, Jammu & Kashmir, India. As per the 2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House ...

and wrote of his experience in ''I Know My First Name is Steven''. Echols was known for researching the Internet for

pedophile Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pubert ...

chat room The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

s and forums. In 1998, Echols created Better a Millstone (BAM), a child-safety advocacy group, that identified and reported pedophiles to authorities. BAM's website also listed child porn sites, including web addresses, in an effort to publicly pressure sites' hosts. Echols died in 2003 at age 58 in the

Monterey County Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Monter ...

Jail in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

from a

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include shortness of breath, chest pain particularly upon breathing ...

. He was in jail for failing to appear in court after being charged with

indecent exposure Indecent exposure is the deliberate public exposure by a person of a portion of their body in a manner contrary to local standards of appropriate behavior. Laws and social attitudes regarding indecent exposure vary significantly in different ...

for exposing himself to police, among other misdemeanors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Echols, Mike American male non-fiction writers 1944 births 2003 deaths Deaths from pulmonary embolism American people who died in prison custody Anti-pedophile activism Place of birth missing Prisoners who died in California detention 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers