The name of the Denver Post article is<BR>Solving crimes: tall tales or true medium? <BR> <P>Self-proclaimed psychic says she can "see' killers <BR> By Bill Briggs<BR>Denver Post Staff Writer<BR>Thursday, August 01, 2002 - Who done it? <P>Cyd Brewer says she knows.<P> <BR>The story is a long one about a Littleton psychic who says she knows who killed JonBenét Ramsey and who took Elizabeth Smart.<BR> <P>The article quotes are in italics. I didn't include the Smart and OJ stuff here.<P><i> JonBenet Ramsey's killer? It's crystal clear, she says. ....<P>... fist-pounding fact.<P>Some cops she claims to have helped, however, say, "Cyd who?"<P>"Welcome To Cyd International," announces her website, www.findchildren.com Brewer's psychic stable reportedly includes cops from Colorado to Connecticut who, she says, pay for her otherworldly tips. She claims to have worked with more than a dozen police agencies.<P> "When I get called into a police case," she says, "I immediately go to the crime scene in my mind ... and I sit and watch it unfold in front of me, like a movie."<P>For a fee - as much as $10,000 up front for a deep, dark mystery that takes her out of town. This is business, after all. And the competition is fierce.<P>Psychics such as Brewer routinely surface when prime-time crimes lack a smoking gun or a corpse. They dial up detectives to offer their visions. They solicit victims' families to pitch their services. While some investigators listen politely, others accuse the clairvoyants of cold-hearted scams.<P> "If a case hits the paper and we don't have suspects in custody, we get<BR> calls from psychics all the time," says Thornton police Sgt. Dante<BR> Carbone. "... We want to find the bodies so we listen to everything<BR> everybody says - even psychics."<P> But sometimes "they get ahold of families, they bait the families, provide<BR> them with a little information and get the families hooked," Carbone says.<BR> "Then they milk the families for tremendous amounts of money."<P> Is it fraud?<P> "It's a free country," the detective says. "If you wish to consult a psychic,<BR> it's just like going to an herbal doctor instead of a physician. It's your<BR> choice." <P>.................<P> A few months earlier, John and Patsy Ramsey posted on their website a<BR> composite sketch of their daughter's killer - a drawing based on a<BR> psychic's vision. Boulder police declined to comment on the depiction.<P> Some law enforcement agencies, including the Denver Police Department,<BR> say they never use psychics to help crack cases. Others leave it up to<BR> their detectives' discretion, especially if available leads have dried up.<P> And a few cops even turn to psychics as a ploy to flush out suspects.<P> "Sometimes, not in every instance, investigators will use a psychic and<BR> publicize that fact in the hopes of smoking somebody out or causing<BR> somebody to react to that knowledge," says Jim Pasco, executive director<BR> of the Fraternal Order of Police.<P> According to Brewer, however, any cop would be wise to tap her<BR> expertise. She claims in 1992 - about the time she became a professional<BR> psychic - her abilities were tested by the FBI, earning a 98.7 percent<BR> accuracy rating. <P> Asked how the FBI exam was administered, Brewer didn't offer answers<BR> as precise as her score. The tests, she said, were not formal: "Two agents<BR> handed me pictures and mugshots and said, "So tell me what he did? Is he<BR> alive or dead? What's going on with this guy?' "<P> Where did the tests take place?<P> "Colorado."<P> What were the names of the FBI agents?<P> "I have no idea."<P> Brewer, who laughs hard and speaks matter-of-factly - more mom than<BR> mystic - says she began seeing "dead people" as a little girl, four spirits<BR> who lived in her closet. At 30, she claims she truly "became psychic,"<BR> gaining the ability to watch crimes or events replay in her mind.<P> Following a crime, she says she never solicits business from grieving<BR> families or police detectives. "I truly believe the ones who are supposed to<BR> work with me, find me. The people who need my help come to me."<P> Her appearances on 22 radio and TV stations across the country -<BR> including a regular gig on KKMG-98.9 FM's morning show in Colorado<BR> Springs - have helped drum up some of that business, she says.<P> Once clients are secured, Brewer offers "readings" on the phone or in her<BR> office, a quiet space adorned with Christmas icicle lights and dark wood<BR> furniture. Those sessions cost $235 for an hour, $150 for a half-hour. If a<BR> criminal case appears like it will require weeks or months of work, she<BR> may ask for a $10,000 retainer.<P> Some police "precincts are hesitant to pay me a dime. So they try to get<BR> the family to hire me. Other departments don't want the family to know<BR> I'm involved," she says.<P> One more fact from her website: "Cyd is not God. She merely acts as a<BR> transmitter for spirit."<P> Brewer's online resume also lists "past case highlights," including what she<BR> describes as her role as a "consultant," brought in by the Colorado Bureau<BR> of Investigation to offer her insight on who killed JonBenet Ramsey in<BR> 1996. An agent, she says, privately asked for her help.<P> "I can't say his name," Brewer says. "He's an individual I've worked with<BR> on a number of cases. Because of the protocol in his office, he uses me<BR> secretly. I never formally worked on the (Ramsey) case."<P> Her claim: JonBenet was killed by her father, John Ramsey.<P> But according to current CBI Director Bob Cantwell, his investigators<BR> never asked any psychics for help during their probe of Jon Benet's<BR> murder.<P> Here are three other "highlights" listed by Brewer, including how she<BR> claims she helped solve the mysteries. Police officials recall the events<BR> differently.<P> THORNTON: A woman dies in 1998. Cyd says that, based on<BR> information she provided, including reenactment of the time of death,<BR> detectives were able to prove the woman killed herself with the help of a<BR> friend and made it appear as though her husband did it.<P> "She's taking credit for a lot of information the police obtained. That's<BR> really kind of far-fetched," Carbone says. "The case was solved through<BR> forensics, interviews, alibis. I don't think she was any assistance one way<BR> or another."<P> CONNECTICUT: Brewer claims she helped police in that state find the<BR> bodies of seven missing children who had been murdered. Asked for more<BR> details, Brewer claims she is "not at liberty to discuss the case" because a<BR> judge has attached a gag order. She would not reveal the name of the<BR> police department or the town. She did say the bodies were recovered<BR> within the last nine years in Connecticut, though not in the city of<BR> Hartford.<P> "The file was completely closed, sealed because of the heinous,<BR> horrendous acts. The seven family members requested that this never go<BR> to press," Brewer says. "If you go try to look it up, you're not going to find<BR> anything."<P> She was correct. Librarians at the Hartford Courant could not find any<BR> published accounts of the bodies of seven murdered children being<BR> discovered by police in Connecticut in the past nine years. One mass<BR> murder involving eight children did occur in Hartford in 1977 but the<BR> bodies were found immediately after the suspect set fire to their house.<BR> Brewer would have been 14 at the time. The court files were never<BR> sealed.<P> Hartford police also couldn't recall a case like the one Brewer described. <P> "I've been in Connecticut for 20 years. I think if there were seven little<BR> kids being dug up out of the ground, I'd know about it," says Sgt. Maura<BR> Hammick, spokeswoman for Hartford police.<P> BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M.: Brewer claims she helped solve the<BR> murders of three teenagers in January 2000 by giving police a description<BR> of the assailant's height, weight, hair color and the weapon used, plus the<BR> make, model and color of the suspect's car. She also says she provided an<BR> accurate re-enactment of the murder, motive and psychological profile of<BR> the assailant.<P> A spokeswoman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department<BR> acknowledges Brewer was consulted, but denied the psychic's version.<P> "Basically none of the information she gave us panned out. It was fairly<BR> general," says spokeswoman Michele Arviso Devlin. "There were no new<BR> leads established, no re-enactment she gave us of the crime scene."<P> But Brewer maintains she has heard police departments shoot down her<BR> work before. <P> "They will turn around and look you flat in the face and say, "I don't know<BR> who she is. I've never worked with a psychic.' It's just because of the<BR> police mentality."</i><P><b>My thoughts?<BR>Not credible.<BR>She is another Ruthee.<BR>FAKE!!!!!<P><P><BR>