Amanda Berry was one of three women kidnapped in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2003. About a year after her disappearance, her mother went on “The Montel Williams Show” to talk to a psychic. She wanted to see if she could get information regarding her daughter’s whereabouts. The psychic she spoke to that day was Sylvia Browne.
It seemed that her specialty was giving psychic readings on TV. She told Amanda’s mother, Louwanna Miller, that Amanda was no longer living. Understandably, Miller broke down crying on the show. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Browne told Miller on the show, “She’s not alive, honey. Your daughter’s not the kind who wouldn’t call.”
According to the newspaper, Miller took what the supposed psychic told her to heart, believing her “98 percent.” Miller passed away from heart failure about a year after receiving this dreadful news in a sad turn of events. She was only 44 years old, and many believe she died of a broken heart after Browne led her to believe her daughter was dead.
This past Monday, Berry and the other women, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, managed to break free from the house. They were held hostage at a residence in Cleveland for about ten years, and it was only 3 miles from where Berry disappeared.
Browne’s Lips Were Sealed When Asked For Comment
When ABC News tried to reach Browne for comment, she returned no calls. They also tried to contact The Montel Williams Show but were again unsuccessful. The Montel Williams Show is no longer filming. People have scrutinized Browne and several other psychics for their involvement in legal cases.
For example, Browne was wrong again in 2003 when she told missing teen Shawn Hornbeck’s parents that he was dead and that her premonition told her his body was near “two jagged boulders.” About four years after Browne’s comment, Hornbeck was found alive, and the media heavily criticized her for causing his parents additional unnecessary pain and suffering.
In 2006 people who wanted to keep track of Browne’s failures created a website called “Stop Sylvia Browne.” Dwayne Baker knows all about psychics trying to contact you in the worst times. His son, Travis Baker, disappeared in 2007, and he told ABC News that psychics were bombarding him with phone calls telling him that they had potential leads as to his son’s location.
“It’s very hard,” he says, “I went through everything. My son was missing for two years, two months, and 12 days. Psychics called me. I even received a DVD in the mail that a guy claimed he could talk to the dead, and this was Travis’ voice, with no return address. I don’t understand why people would want to do that.”
He continues to say, “The psychics…” and then lets out a long sigh, “I hate to say how many of those called me and said they knew where Travis was. My mother and wife went to one and paid them $100.” Unfortunately, authorities discovered Baker’s remains in 2009.
Unfortunately, Anyone Can Call Themself A Psychic
According to a former FBI special agent named Brad Garret, alleged tips that psychics give them hardly ever contribute to solving a case. “As far as finding a victim, finding remains, finding evidence, or in any way helping to solve the case, it’s never been my experience,” he says. “So, it’s really a disservice to victims.”
After Samantha Koenig, 18, went missing in Anchorage, Alaska, Lt. Dave Parker of the police department said, “We’ve never had a psychic lead that turns out to be correct.” Sylvia Browne is receiving a lot of backlash on social media sites for mispredicting Amanda Berry’s fate.
Whether her psychic predictions have ever been correct or helped solve a crime is unknown. However, that isn’t to say that police shouldn’t believe all psychics’ information about a case. There have been many stories of cases solved with the help of genuine psychics, such as these and these.
That’s why reputable psychics don’t try to predict a person’s death and follow a code of ethics.
Sylvia Browne’s incorrect prediction has caused unnecessary heartache for the family, friends, and supporters of Amanda Berry.
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