Psychic's clues lead to new searches, but no luck

By LEROY SIGMAN\Daily Journal Staff Writer
RICHWOODS -- A segment in which the parents of missing 11-year-old Shawn Hornbeck talked with psychic Sylvia Browne aired Wednesday on the Montel Williams television show, but the information provided has not helped in finding the boy.

Browne told Pam and Craig Akers their son "is no longer with us" but she had the impression his body was in a wooded area about 20 miles southwest of Richwoods. She said it would be near two large, jagged boulders that seem out of place in that area.

The psychic said she believes the bicycle Shawn was riding is in a dump "in another state."

Craig Akers said that since the television segment was taped Feb. 12 there have been several searches conducted in the general area described by Browne, but with no success. He said it is in the middle of a national forest and they did not locate the jagged boulders.

After the segment aired, Craig Akers was asked how he feels about the tips that are provided by psychics. While he said he would not discount anything that might lead to finding Shawn, he added, "I don't know what to think any more. The information from different psychics doesn't match up."

"It was a little helpful," Pam Akers said of Browne's information, "but the results weren't what I had hoped for."

Shawn disappeared on the afternoon of Oct. 6 while riding his bicycle in the vicinity of the intersection of Highway 47 with Routes A and H at the north edge of this northern Washington County community. There has been no sign of the boy nor his bicycle since that day, despite intensive searches by hundreds of people.

Browne told the Akers that it was her vision that Shawn was taken by a "dark-skinned man, he wasn't black -- more like hispanic." She said he had long, black hair that he wore in dreadlocks and was "really tall."

The man in Browne's vision was driving an older model blue sedan, a car with fins like in the late 1950's and early 1960's Chevrolets. She said the man picked Shawn up.

The Akers told Browne their son had gone to visit a friend but never arrived there. She told them Shawn did speak to another boy, who she said is named Keith and lives near the Akers. Browne also said Keith was once a close friend but drifts in and out of that circle of friends.

The parents said Wednesday that while Shawn went to visit a friend who lives less than a mile away, he never got there. He was last seen about three hours after leaving home. None of the children who say they saw Shawn that day were his close friends, the Akers said, and none of his close friends say they saw him.

The Akers also did television segments with James Van Praagh, a psychic who has a television show called "Beyond." He led the search in an entirely different direction, suggesting a person who worked in a railroad car plant was involved and the body might be concealed in a railway car.

That information led to numerous searches, including the De Soto railroad yard and several others.

Despite the lack of success over the past nearly five months, Pam and Craig Akers vowed they are never going to give up on their search for Shawn. They said the Shawn Hornbeck Search Team continues to function and, with the formation of the Shawn Hornbeck Foundation, efforts are also being made to deal with the disappearance of other children.

http://www.mydjconnection.com/articles/2003/02/27/community/news2.txt