New York ? Elizabeth Smart’s safe return home represents a coup — perhaps the biggest ever — for television personality John Walsh, who has made it his mission to help capture fugitives and find missing children.

Walsh, longtime host of “America’s Most Wanted” on Fox and of a syndicated talk show that began last fall, had focused on the Smart case several times on both shows in the nine months Elizabeth was missing.

Elizabeth’s father, Ed Smart, was interviewed Thursday on “The John Walsh Show,” the first time that show had gone live.

“The rest of the media kind of forgot about the Smarts,” Walsh said in a later interview. “I didn’t.”

Anita and Alvin Dickerson — one of the two couples who told police they had spotted Brian Mitchell, the suspect being held in Smart’s kidnapping — said they had recognized Mitchell from pictures shown on “America’s Most Wanted.” The other couple said they recognized Mitchell from television reports.

The latest “America’s Most Wanted” episode focused on Mitchell’s alleged involvement in Smart’s disappearance. It was done with the assistance of Mitchell’s ex-wife, Walsh said.

Walsh was working in hotel management in 1981 when his 6-year-old son, Adam, was abducted and murdered. The prime suspect in the case died in prison. He has made it his life’s work to help capture fugitives and find missing children.