In 2021, Cindy Sue Hunter found the bodies of missing couple Kylen Schulte and Crystal Beck. She had been frustrated by the police’s efforts to find the women and so, went looking herself. Compelled by a feeling and persistently hearing the words “Go straight and hurry”, she came across the missing women’s car and then found Schulte’s body.
She was later told she was a suspect and remained so until the police found someone else.
Hunter isn’t the only person to have helped the police solve cases claiming psychic help. Authorities are not quick to admit that they ask psychics and mediums for help, but they do. So, can the spirit world help solve crimes?
Etta Smith and Melanie Uribe
Hunter isn’t the only psychic to come under police suspicion after offering her abilities to help. Clairvoyant Etta Smith was arrested after she found the body of missing nurse Melanie Uribe, who had been abducted on her way to work in 1980. After hearing of her disappearance on the radio, Smith had a vision of the site where Uribe’s body was and later, was able to pinpoint the exact location. She was arrested that same night. Luckily, she was released a few days later, after the actual culprits confessed.
Gerard Croiset and Edith Kiecorius
In 1961, the Dutch psychic Gerard Croiset was asked by Brooklyn detectives for help finding the missing four-year-old Edith Kiecorius. Without ever leaving the Netherlands, he was able to lead police to her body and even describe her attacker.
Diane Lazarus Finding Mark Green
Mark Green was murdered in a homophobic attack in 2002, by Robert McMahon. His body was later buried in McMahon’s garden. For five months, Green was missing, until his aunt went to see psychic Diane Lazarus for a reading. Green allegedly came through to Lazarus during the reading, letting her know he was dead. Lazarus was able to lead police to where his body was and McMahon was sentenced to life in prison.
The Soham Psychic
Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman went missing in 2002. In the two weeks while police searched for them, the Wells family reached out to psychic Dennis McKenzie. He told the families both girls were dead and went on to describe Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr, as well as the site they had dumped the bodies. Police later found the girls’ bodies in shallow water, just as McKenzie had described.
Missing Paula Brown
In 1996, Paula Brown went missing after a night out with friends in Sydney. Her fiancé turned to the Belgian psychic Philip Durant for help. Using some of Brown’s hair, Durant was able to suggest the location of her body, which was later found two kilometres from where Durant had stated.
Bristol’s Psychic Detective
Mike Baker was working on a building site in 1974, when his spirit guide, Sukata, gave him information on Alison Chadwick, a 10-year-old girl who had disappeared from her home in Middlesex. After Baker gave the police information the public couldn’t have possibly known, he invited police officers to a séance to prove his abilities. Baker gave the name Stanley Rogers, a suspect who later admitted to murdering Alison.
The Murder of Penney Serra
The body of Concetta ‘Penney’ Serra was found in 1973. Without any leads, the police asked psychic Mary Pascarella Downey for help. Downey told them to look for a mechanic who smelled of oil, wearing a uniform with a nametag beginning with ‘E’. She also said that they wouldn’t find him for years but that ultimately, “blood will tell”. 26 years later, Edward Grant (who had been working as a mechanic at the time) was found using fingerprinting and DNA.
McKenzie and Richard Kelley
Following on from his success in the Soham murders, David McKenzie was able to help another family. In 2006, Mary Kelly, the mother of missing Limerick teenager Richard Kelly, contacted him to help find her son. McKenzie was able to tell Kelly where her son’s body was and that he’d seen a vision of a concrete slab. It later transpired concrete slabs had been tied to the teenager’s legs.
Finding Tyson Efird
In 1991, 17-year-old Tyson Efird went missing from his work in Arkansas. With no leads, Efird’s mother contacted psychic Carol Pate for help. Touching a photo of Efird, Pate let his family know he was still alive and even led police to within half a mile of where Efird was being held. Even stranger, Pate described exact details of the physical and sexual abuse Efird had suffered, that only the victim and the attackers could have known. When Efird was reunited with his family, their stories lined up exactly.
