A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".

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Montel: Shawn Hornbeck Reading

Sylvia Browne tells the parents of a missing boy that their son is dead. She was wrong.

Shawn Hornbeck on the FBI Web Site

Shawn Hornbeck on the FBI Web Site

Background

On October 6, 2002, eleven-year-old Shawn Hornbeck disappeared while riding his bike to a friend's house in Richwood, Missouri.

After four months of fruitless searching, Shawn's parents, Pam and Craig Akers, appeared on an episode of the Montel Williams show with Sylvia Browne on February 26th, 2003.

The Reading

NOTE: I do not as yet have a copy of the show. As soon as I do, a video and complete transcript of the reading will be made available on this web site.

UPDATE: The video and transcript are now available in this follow-up article.

The February 27, 2003 edition of The Daily Journal contained the following article about the Akers' appearance with Browne:

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.

Feb 27, 2003 - 11:35:05 CST

Shawn Hornbeck being escorted into police station after police rescue.

Shawn Hornbeck being escorted into police station after police rescue. (CNN website)

Shawn Hornbeck Found Alive

As of this writing (Jan 12, 2007 - 4:30pm PST) this is still very much a late-breaking story, but here is what is known so far:

Police serving a warrant in an apartment complex in St. Louis, Missouri, noticed a rusty Nissan pickup truck which matched the description of a truck involved in the kidnapping of another boy, William Owenby, who had disappeared only days earlier.

Investigating this, the officers found both Owenby, 13, and also Shawn Hornbeck, now 15 years old, and very much alive.

The police arrested Michael J. Devlin, 41. He has been charged with first-degree kidnapping, and is being held on one million dollar bail.

Analysis

I think it is too early to offer much analysis of this, other than the fact that Browne was, thankfully, totally wrong on the main issue: When she told the boy's parents that he was dead, and that his body would be found near some jagged rocks, he was in fact very much alive.

Conclusion

Once again, Browne's totally incorrect "psychic visions" added anguish and horrible mental images to the burden already being carried by the parents of a missing child, as well as wasted man-hours for search teams as they tried to follow up on her worthless leads.

More on this case when more is known.

Right now, it's just time to feel good for Shawn, William and their families.

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