Article Published: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 - 2:30:55 AM EST
Psychic 'sees' Sinclair women's fate
By DANIEL BARLOW
Reformer Staff
CHESTERFIELD, N.H. -- Psychic Carla Baron says she witnessed the last few minutes of Tina and Bethany Sinclair's lives, while on the phone last week.
Baron, a Los Angeles-based psychic investigator, has taken on the missing persons case of Tina Sinclair and her daughter, Bethany. The two Chesterfield residents have been missing since Feb. 3, 2001.
Baron has had several phone sessions with Sharon Garry, Tina's sister, that have lasted two or three hours during which Baron said she contacted the souls of Tina and Bethany.
"Bethany and Tina came through on the other end of the phone ... its sort of like tuning into a radio frequency," said Baron, who was recently featured on a Court TV show called "Psychic Detectives."
When the sessions began, Baron said she knew nothing of the case -- except for Tina and Bethany's names. When she contacts a spirit she usually receives a series of words or images which detail a sequence of events essential to the case, she said.
Some of the things she was shown can't be released, since they could impede the ongoing investigation into the pair's disappearance, Baron said. What she can say is that she believes the two were murdered and their bodies left in a "cave-like" formation in a hilly or mountainous area.
The case and Baron's involvement may be featured this fall on television programs on either Court TV or ABC.
Baron said a brief argument between Tina and a man escalated and that Tina was choked to death. The man was either intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, said Baron, and the killing was spontaneous and provoked by a humiliating comment Tina made.
Bethany likely witnessed her mother's murder, Baron said, and was hit in the head by a heavy object and knocked unconscious. The two women were placed in a truck owned by the man.
"The truck must have had a flatbed because I sensed that Bethany was placed in the back and Tina was up front," Baron said.
The truck took a right out of the driveway, Baron said, and the bodies of the two women were brought to a mountainous area and placed together in a cave-like opening and covered with tree branches for camouflage.
"He posed them together," Baron said, adding that the man then got sentimental and apologized.
Garry said she is convinced that Baron can add information to the search for her sister and niece. The insights and knowledge Baron has displayed during the sessions runs parallel with information that Garry has learned, she said.
"The information she had was stuff that she couldn't possibly know," Garry said. "She was describing personalities of people and locations here in New England that she couldn't know about."
No arrests have been made in the Sinclairs' disappearance, although New Hampshire State Police have searched the home of Eugene Van Bowman at least three times.
Van Bowman, who is currently at a halfway house in Concord, N.H., after being released from prison on an unrelated sexual assault charge against a minor, was Tina Sinclair's boyfriend. At the time of their disappearance, Tina, then 34, and Bethany, then 15, lived at Van Bowman's house on Mountain Road.
Soon after their disappearance, Van Bowman told a Chesterfield Police lieutenant that that the two women moved out of his house after he and Tina had a fight.
Garry contacted Baron soon after the psychic was featured on an episode of Psychic Detectives. At the time Baron said she was swamped with requests and couldn't take on more work.
"I liked her work," said Garry. "We've had other psychics contact us or call us before, some good and some bad. But I was impressed by her."
The two later began talking when Baron discovered the case through Childseek, a Web site that posts pictures and information on missing persons.
How Baron's information will work alongside the police investigation, however, is still a mystery.
Calls to New Hampshire Assistant Attorney General Simon Brown, who is the lead investigator on the case, were not returned Monday. Allison Vachon, a victim's advocate with the attorney general, said investigators are not currently working with Baron on the case.
"It's still considered an unsolved case at this point," she said.
Baron, who was worked on more than 50 cases including missing Penn State student Cindy Song and the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart, said her psychic flashbacks don't solve the cases, but they certainly add new layers of insight and information.
"Police shouldn't let my information lead them," Baron said. "But they should keep it in the back of their mind."
Garry said the reason she turned to the media after enlisting Baron's assistance was to bring added attention to her visions.
"My hope was that by contacting the local media it would prompt the investigators to listen to her," Garry said.
Some police departments welcome information from psychics -- just as they would accept any credible information, Baron said. Since information from a psychic cannot be used to obtain a search warrant, Baron hopes that the information she has can be used in conjunction with the current information that the police have.
She also urges the family of the victims to conduct their own legal searches, she said.
Garry acknowledges that some people will see Baron's involvement into the investigation as self-serving. Baron has not asked for money for her services, she pointed out, and the increased media scrutiny on the case could be a double-edge sword.
While the case puts Baron's name in newspapers, information that is part of the public record would hurt her if it is proven to be false, Garry said.
"It's my impression that this is her professional career and that she can actually lend valuable information to the case," Garry said.
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