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