PD Gets "Help" From Psychic

By Karl Klockars in News on May 15, 2008 6:10PM

Working cold cases has gotta be a bitch. Looking to solve crimes that happened decades ago with no new evidence or information must be some terribly frustrating work. But does that justify using hocus-pocus bullpucky to try to unravel some of these cases? We might be a little more skeptical than others, but when police departments bring in psychics to try to help with long-unsolved crimes, we tend to think that there are better ways that cops can be utilizing their time. Like, say, ramming their heads into a wall, or watching paint dry.

The Trib has the story of the Lake County PD bringing in psychic Mel Doerr to try to shed a little light on an unknown person's death dating back to 1991. With no background on the case whatsoever, Doerr held an unidentified skull and "the information just started flowing," says he. We've actually had a personal prediction done by the guy. It was a bunch of shit. Your mileage may vary.

Information that "flowed" included feeling dizzy at times while holding the skull. We're kind of dizzy right now too, but that's from the rum at Pub Trivia last night. He also had a "strange taste" in his mouth while holding the skull, which apparently is an indication that the victim had a substance abuse problem. Or Mel had a burrito that day. Either or. Local anthropologists, forensic dentists, and forensic anthropologists at the Center for Justice in Texas also tried to determine who the bleached and weatherbeaten skull belonged to.

Police brought in Doerr because he's "worked with [them] in the past and he has done readings for many law enforcement agencies." Absolutely no evidence that it actually helped was given in the article of course. And if you think it's harmless for a psychic to work these things at no cost to us (except for the free publicity), think about the families of other missing persons who might be given false hope by this hocum. Is that fair? [Trib, photo via]