By Alex Ballingall
aballing@uwo.ca
Even though Jason Jolkowski has been missing for nearly a decade, his mother still receives regular phone calls from people who claim to be psychic. They tell her they can find out what happened to her son, that they can reveal the answers she so deeply craves.
“This one said he's alive. This one says he's dead. This one tells you these visions of a brutal murder,” says Kelly Jolkowski from her home in Omaha, Neb. Once, a psychic even guaranteed he could tell her what happened to Jason – but only if she paid $25,000.
Jolkowski says such psychics re-victimize families by exploiting their hope and desperation for a solution. She also believes they can impede legitimate police work by giving the public the impression that investigations are under control.
When she hears what psychics have to say, she calls it nonsense. When they come asking for money, she calls it fraud. In both cases it’s harmful, she says.
“It’s like, how dare you? How dare you play this game?”
In October 2003 Jolkowski founded Project Jason, an organization that helps families in the aftermath of having a loved one go missing. After experiencing this herself, Jolkowski now encourages people to be skeptical of psychics when faced with a similar crisis.Jason was 19 when he went missing
“Early on, we didn’t know any better,” Jolkowski says. “You’re so numb that you can’t even think straight. And in addition to that you’re just so desperate. It’s like you’ll do anything to find your child.”
Jolkowski says what usually happens is that people claiming to be psychic either collect fees from families desperate for answers, or they “consult” them for free to boost their own credibility and fame.
Of the hundreds of cases she’s familiar with, nearly all of them involve a psychic in one way or another. “Especially a case that has a lot of media, they'll come out of the woodwork,” Jolkowski says.
The result, she says, is never anything more than more anguish and uncertainty for the families of missing people or murder victims. She adds that she’s never seen any scientifically reliable evidence to suggest psychic abilities have ever been responsible for solving a crime or finding a missing person.
And yet, there are countless self-proclaimed psychics in North America who claim to be able to do just that.
Sarnia psychic sparks local controversy
One of them is a “psychic criminal profiler” from Sarnia, Ont. called Robbie Thomas. His website boasts that he has “successfully assisted” police in both murder and missing persons cases.
It also displays a statement written by the aunt of Tori Stafford, the nine-year-old girl form Woodstock, Ont. whose body was found more than three months after she was kidnapped and murdered in the spring of 2009. It expresses gratitude for Thomas’s support during the family’s harrowing experience.
A spokesperson – who went only by the name Tom – from Thomas’s office confirmed the psychic had “consulted” the family during their ordeal.
But Thomas’s opponents say they don’t believe in his skills. One man calls himself “the Sarnia Skeptic,” and conceals his true identity to provide evidence that Thomas isn’t a real psychic. If he was, says the Skeptic, then Thomas would be able to identify him.
“I’m not out to destroy Robbie as a person, I just want him to change his ways,” says the Sarnia Skeptic.
The tension between Thomas and his opponents has even stirred up some controversy in the lakeside city. During one of Thomas’s speaking events held last March at Sarnia’s Imperial Theatre, a rumour erupted that there were men handing out white, unmarked envelopes filled with anthrax to people entering the venue. The theatre doors were locked and the police called in.
A local salesman named Dave Jones was one of the men handing out envelopes that night. “There was no assault, no anthrax,” he says. Instead, the envelopes contained instructions on how to trick people into thinking you’re a psychic.
Family 'distraught' by psychic
As an example of this, the Sarnia Skeptic points to the decades-old unsolved murder case of 14-year-old Karen Caughlin. The girl’s family, which has been working with the Ontario Provincial Police to keep Karen’s case in the public eye since she was killed in 1974, lashed out at Thomas after he claimed to be involved in the criminal investigation.
In a letter provided to the Sarnia Skeptic and published on his blog, Karen’s sister Kathy Caughlin describes how Thomas approached the family in 2005. She says he told them Karen’s case would be solved within six months.
That was six years ago.
“Imagine how we felt when he said that?” says Kathy Caughlin, who now lives in Calgary. “We weren’t just upset, we were completely distraught.”
Thomas also tried to get the family to sign a waiver that would allow him to talk about Karen’s life in one of his upcoming books, Caughlin says.
Even though they turned him down, Thomas kept citing Karen’s unsolved murder case in the promotional material for his upcoming speaking tour. He also repeatedly took down information posters about Karen’s case and placed them in his office to increase his credibility, says Caughlin.
“We want this man to stop exploiting our dead sister and the horrific manner in which her life was ended,” she says.
Critics say 'psychics' disrupt real investigations
One of her main worries expressed in the letter is that by claiming to be using his psychic abilities to solve Karen Caughlin’s case, Thomas was impeding the ongoing police investigation.
Jolkowski echoes this concern, saying that when psychic investigators claim to be involved in missing person or murder cases, they can give the impression that everything is under control. That may dissuade people from coming forward with tips, or it could make the investigation seem less urgent.
“We always have to fight to keep a case alive and to keep people looking no matter what,” Jolkowski says.
Thomas eventually removed all mentions of Karen Caughlin’s unsolved murder case from his website, according to John Ramses, Thomas’s former business partner. But for Kathy Caughlin, the anger and pain she says Thomas caused for her and her family is inexcusable. Caughlin maintains that if Thomas ever mentions her sister’s name again, her family will sue him.
According to his spokesperson, Thomas was too busy for an interview. When invited to answer to his critics, he didn’t respond.
But Angie Aristone, a self-titled psychic from London, Ont., was willing to speak on the record. She says there are a lot of fake psychics, and that it’s heartbreaking to hear that psychics can add to a family’s trauma in a difficult time.
Aristone admits to having worked with such families in the past, but says she would never approach a family if they weren’t ready and willing to hear from her.
“It doesn’t get any worse than that. That’s like human exploitation at its deepest and darkest level,” Aristone says.
Police rarely use psychics
Although people like Aristone and Thomas mention having worked on murder and missing persons cases, most police organizations say they have never used psychics in their investigations.
Wes Veenstra, a veteran missing person’s detective from the London Police Service, says he takes any tip he can get, regardless of who provides it. Through his entire 35-year career, he’s never heard of any investigation in which a psychic was used.
“I couldn’t qualify it as being scientific,” he says.
Staff Sgt. Doug Warn of the Sarnia Police Service expressed similar experiences, adding that his organization doesn’t ever use psychics like Thomas in their investigations.
“We have to be able to justify every fact in court,” Warn says. “Our job is to deal in facts.”
Still, many families do speak with psychics, usually out of desperation, Jolkowski says. She describes how she felt tremendous pressure from those around her to accept psychic readings after her son disappeared. She says this comes from how many people are uneducated about the implausibility of psychic abilities.
“There's all the influences of the media and TV shows,” she explains. “I've actually had people insinuate that I was a bad mother and I didn't care about my son because I would no longer have anything to do with the psychics.”
Jolkowski says there’s also an aspect of guilt that causes people to turn to psychics for a solution to their pain. No matter what one believes, says Jolkowski, there’s always the hope that the next psychic may be on to something. Maybe this psychic is for real, maybe this is the one with the real answers – or so the logic goes, she says.
“You’re always kind of haunted by that,” she adds.
But now, just a few months before her son Jason’s 30th birthday, no self-proclaimed psychic has ever been able to help her figure out what happened to him. Much like Kathy Caughlin, Jolkowski sees psychics as nothing more than deceptive profiteers of the desperation of families in crisis.
She says psychics either give you false hope where there is none or kill hope when it should be there.
“No one has the right to do that,” she says. “No one."
Playing with Hope - Psychic Detectives
Inside Edition Investigates Psychic Detectives
John and JoAnn Lowitzer have been searching for their 17-year-old daughter Alexandria (Ali) since she vanished in April, 2010.
But when the case made national news, the Houston parents say they became inundated with calls from so-called psychic detectives. They say some even showed up at their front door promising their psychic visions could help bring their daughter home.
"He guaranteed me that he'd find Ali in three days. I mean what parent wouldn't be excited to hear that you were going to have your daughter home in three days?" said JoAnn.
Mark Klaas, whose daughter Polly was abducted and killed more than 20 years ago, warns families to avoid psychics, saying they prey on the desperate and send police on one wild goose chase after another.
"They descend like vultures," he told INSIDE EDITION. "Never in the history of the world has a psychic solved a missing child case. Never."
But countless psychic crime fighters like Portland, Oregon clairvoyant Laurie McQuary claim they've helped solve hundreds of missing person cases.
McQuary says she has been in the psychic detective business for over 30 years.
So we decided to see what would happen when we asked a psychic detective to help solve a missing person's case.
Posing as the distraught brother of a missing child, we sent a producer to meet with McQuary.
Our producer showed her a photo of a missing girl and the psychic agreed to take the case for $400.
"I think it's solvable," McQuary said, upon reviewing the case.
But what McQuary didn't know was that the photograph our producer gave her was actually a snapshot of INSIDE EDITION's Chief Investigative Correspondent Lisa Guerrero as a child.
"I don't believe she's alive. I'm sorry. I believe that it was a violent passing," McQuary said.
McQuary's "sixth sense" told her the girl in the photograph was brutally murdered and sexually assaulted.
"I think she was hit in the head with a rock," said McQuary.
But her visions didn't end there. Pointing out a remote location on a map, she even said she could help bring the girl's body home.
The next day McQuary sat down with INSIDE EDITION's Lisa Guerrero for an interview to talk about the work of psychic detectives.
"I just had a gentleman in yesterday. 30 years ago his sister disappeared," she said.
She soon began talking about a recent case. But clearly her psychic abilities didn't tell her that Lisa Guerrero was actually the girl in the picture.
"One of the first things I do in a case, Lisa, is I always make sure people know if I feel the person is living or not," McQuary explained.
"So you always know when you talk to a family member when you start a case, you'll know if this person is dead or alive?" Guerrero asked.
"Yes," said McQuary. "And that's the point."
"Every time?" pressed Guerrero.
"Yes."
But apparently McQuary's psychic abilities didn't see this coming:
"Laurie, I'm going to show you something. Does this girl look familiar to you?" asked Guerrero, holding up the picture INSIDE EDITION's producer showed McQuary the day before.
"Yes she does. I worked this case," confirmed McQuary.
"This is a girl who you said was beaten and killed," Guerrero said. "This little girl is me and you told somebody that she is dead."
"Wait a minute, you didn't disappear?" McQuary asked.
"I'm right here," Guerrero said.
"Well, that's interesting, isn't it," said McQuary.
"How do you explain being completely wrong?" Guerrero asked.
"I can't explain it. I can't explain it. Okay, you know what dear, I think we're done," said McQuary, and then stood up to go.
"You're taking advantage of desperate people with a bunch of hocus pocus aren't you?" Guerrero asked her.
"No I'm not," said McQuary. "I think we'll go, thank you. It's been an interesting experience. You all have a lovely, lovely evening."
JoAnn Lowitzer told INSIDE EDITION, "Until I see my daughter physically, I'm not going to believe anything that any of them say."
Altogether, ten different psychics told our producer that the girl in the photo of Lisa Guerrero had been murdered. The FBI tells INSIDE EDITION they are "not aware of any criminal investigation that has been resolved as a direct result of information provided from a psychic.
WATCH INSIDE EDITION'S EPISODE HERE
How To Engage A Psychic To Solve Your Cold Case (or Missing Person's Case)
Each year in the United States and Canada there are countless victims of crime, but for the families involved, sometimes the most difficult aspect is closure. Many crimes remain unsolved, even those with high-publicity and police activity.
From missing persons to unsolved murders many families remain in limbo not knowing what has happened to their loved one. Perhaps you are in this situation yourself, and you are desperate to finally find out what exactly happened and to also bring justice to the perpetrator.
Local police, FBI and other specialized law enforcement agencies usually provide a great deal of assistance to the family and work diligently to solve the case. In some instances, they are unable to find a missing person, or solve a crime. Days pass, months go by and suddenly years later the file is labelled a cold case. There are no further leads and the police are no longer able to pursue the case as they would normally do.
We have all seen countless television shows of psychic detectives – psychics who work with law enforcement to solve crimes. It gives us hope, that, if only, we could find a psychic, we could also solve our cold case and bring closure and end the heartache.
Many of the psychics who appear on television are represented by agents and lead very busy lives within the entertainment industry. The television shows are documented and edited to create drama and entertainment – something you are probably not interested in.
A quick Google search and you will find hundreds, if not thousands of psychics. And the majority of these psychics say that they have been involved with law enforcement and have the ability to solve missing person's cases or unsolved crimes.
How do you find the right psychic?
Weeding through the psychic ocean is difficult. Let's first examine how to weed out the phony psychics who wish only to gain notoriety from your grief or gain monetarily from your loss. Let's look at how a Psychic Detective like this works, so that you can identify them and avoid further grief and heartache.
Take a look at the web page of the psychic you are interested in using. Look for clues that this person is using their ability (if they truly have one that is), solely for the purpose of financial gain. Do they sell books? Are they on a lecture circuit? Do they host paranormal events? Do they offer their psychic readings online, over the internet or in person at inflated rates?
Chances are, they see your case as another stepping stone to their quest for fame and fortune. They will use your deceased family member and your grief to further their agenda. You, and your loved one will end up being a footnote in a book, or an online testimonial. Whether or not the psychic has solved your case, does not really matter to them. Another case, another name, creates buzz – both online and on the news.
There are countless newspaper articles and evening news clips that show psychics about to or are working on cold cases. The truth is, that newspapers want articles that sell, as does the evening news want viewers to stay tuned-in and psychics and the paranormal are hot topics that sell. The newspapers rarely follow up to see what, if anything, resulted from the psychics vision. Because sadly, that story of a cold case remaining cold, and a failed psychic does not interest the public.
Psychics in turn use this free publicity, once again, to further their own agenda. They use the articles on the web sites to promote themselves and to offer evidence that they are working cases. Most suggest they solved the crimes because a small case in Canada will never be investigated by a web site visitor from Kentucky. It is simply believed to be true. Many of these psychics are quoted as saying they have worked with police and the FBI further adding to the credibility.
It is true that some law enforcement agencies have requested the help from psychics, but it is also true that none of these agencies, ever, have said that the psychic's vision helped solve any crime.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have stated that they never use psychics because they have never found their information to be useful in an investigation and have never once solved a crime based upon a psychic's impressions. The FBI has stated that it is their policy not to use psychics.
You will find many psychics online who claim to have solved crimes suggesting they worked with police and even have testimonials from police officers. But upon further investigation, you will find that that the police department's have never heard of the psychic or they have dismissed the psychic's visions as fantasy.
The direct quotes from police officers about psychics is also questionable. Many psychics will write a testimonial and then apply a name such as F. Smith. The name is ambiguous and the testimonial false. Some psychics will intentionally misspell names so that they appear to be legitimate, but again are false.
Once again, you must be careful here. Many psychics have claimed to have worked on high-profile cases because this adds to their resume and the ability to fool you into thinking they are very credible. The truth is, the psychic has attached themselves to the case so that others believe they are someone special and they have true psychic powers. It's all marketing.
You may have found a psychic who does not want to charge you directly for their services. But you have to ask yourself – what is it they wish to gain? Many people fall to the charm and compassion the psychic is displaying. The psychics want to gain more exposure, that is the bottom line – more exposure, more press, more books sold, more paranormal event tickets and more psychic readings.
But isn't it worth it? To have your family member found or your crime solved – so what if they psychic makes money doing this? Who cares! It's a win-win situation, right?
Not necessarily. One example, of many, is the Psychic Justice Tour, performed by Psychic Robbie Thomas. Psychic Robbie initially set out a National Tour across Canada and the United States to assist families to solve cold cases and missing person's cases. Sounds wonderful...
The Psychic Justice Tour and Psychic Robbie Thomas performed for the families created buzz. A new book, Paranormal Encounters was being published and a television-series Psychic Justice was supposed to be marketed. And it was.
Psychic Robbie claimed he had helped all the families, but not one of the crimes were eve solved. Not one. It left the families further questioning and further grieving. Psychic Robbie continued to sell books, develop paranormal events and provide expensive psychic readings all at the cost of the grieving families.
The families and crimes forgotten. Many in the public were led to believe the crimes were solved and hindered the real investigation.
One family has written a statement about their dealing with Psychic Robbie Thomas and can be found here.
Psychic Robbie Thomas is exposed by WANE TV and Fort Wayne Police. Click the Play Button Above To View.
Are you suggesting I do not use a psychic at all?
No, I am suggesting you do your own research and if you must, find a psychic that doesn't charge, isn't interested in being on television, doesn't sell books, does not have a psychic phone line, or even a web site.
How do I find a psychic that can help with a cold case or missing person's case?
There are many people who believe in psychic abilities and paranormal forums and groups are a good place to start. But once again, many of the forums and groups are infiltrated with phoney's or the groups themselves are interested in fame and fortune as well.
Another area to search is the scientific community. Many universities have conducted or have ongoing research into psychic phenomenon. They may be able to assist you in finding candidates willing to assist your case. You may also wish to visit the sites below to conduct research and to find assistance.
RESOURCES:
International Remote Viewing Association
IRVA is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the responsible use and development of remote viewing. We are an independently formed member organization of scientists, remote viewing professionals, students, and other interested persons.
The Parapsychological Association
The Parapsychological Association, Inc. (PA) is the international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of ‘psi’ (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition.
PSICAN – Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada
A Canadian-based Education Organization
Society for Psychical Research
Founded in 1882, The SPR was the first society to conduct organised scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models.
CSICOP
The Committee for Skeptical Enquiry
