Sensing Murder Psychics in Hot Demand

Controversial hit show Sensing Murder is returning soon to TV2. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying the show has made its ‘psychic detectives’ household names with people queuing up to see their shows or get private readings.

• Sue Nicholson told TV Guide she has a waiting list of 3,500 people waiting for private readings


• Scott Russell Hill is fully booked for for the remainder of 2008, although he does offer email readings (with answers to three specific questions) for $AUD145.00 with a five week waiting list


• Deb Webber claims to have a five year waiting list for personal readings, and


• Kelvin Cruickshank has closed his waiting list to all but the most urgent appointments.

So, if you want to know what the future holds for you or commune with the dead, it may be quicker to wait until you arrive at the pearly gates.


Photos: TVNZ

Psychic Sue Nicolson Moves House

Location Location Location is back this Sunday 3rd February on TV One taking a look at Kiwis as they go through the highs and lows of house buying and selling.

In the first episode Sensing Murder and Good Morning psychic Sue Nicholson moves to a new suburb. Wainuiomata, just over the hill from Lower Hutt, is home to psychic medium Sue Nicholson and husband Steve. With Sue's telly work and Steve's new roofing business both going well, they decided to renovate. They moved out while the work was being done and renting over the hill in Lower Hutt has given them a new outlook.

Also in the first show, Gareth and Amanda pursue the sale of their home, as downsizing is the best financial option to pay for Oliver's early therapy treatment for autism.


Photos: TVNZ

Sensing Murder Psychics Private Lives Revealed

Sensing Murder Psychics Revealed is a fascinating look into the lives of the four psychics from the Sensing Murder program, how they deal with sceptics, and the events that have shaped their lives. Unfortunately it also includes tame sceptic Nigel Latta commenting on the “psychology” of the individuals and his theories on psychic phenomenon. Expect another book from him any day.

High point
Scott Russell Hill’s interview included footage of predictions made in 1996 that later came true. Superb!

Low point
Nigel Latta pontificating about psychics and being compared to Albert Einstein.


Nigel Latta
Clinical Psychologist Nigel Latta is touted as an expert at detecting lying and we're told that he was firmly in the sceptics camp until viewing the filming of a segment for the Sensing Murder show. At Nigel's own website he tells a slightly different story, but continues to maintain that the psychics came up with information that he could not explain.

• There was no cold reading on the day. I know what cold reading is because I use many of the same techniques myself when interviewing various criminals over the last 17 or so years. If it was happening I would have seen it.
• The psychic's information was specific and not general. She was not making a bunch of guesses and then fine tuning her statements based on responses from the crew.
• That means either she was told by the production company prior to the reading, or she was getting her information that day from people the rest of us couldn't see, or picking up some crazy quantum mechanical vibe, or whatever.
• Because of all this I am at a loss to explain what I saw that day. I thought it was freaky then and I still think it's freaky now.

The television episode compares Nigel to Albert Einstein who apparently had the same problem understanding telepathic communication. Hmmmm. According to Nigel, Einstein called telepathic communication spooky attraction at a distance. Not quite sure that the parallels apply. Nigel Latta and Albert Einstein, the two great thinkers of their time?

Nigel goes on to say hearing voices is pretty normal, and estimates that 10% of people hear voices, but don’t necessarily have psychosis. Miss Prozac is feeling lonely. Why don't the voices talk to her?

All the psychics described difficult childhoods psychics saying they were physically and or emotionally abused as children. Nigel speculates that children who have experienced trauma develop a radar that is tuned into the bad things in life and may link to the development of psychic abilities.

He says that according to recent research 80-85% of people will experience the voice of their loved one around the time of their death. Miss Prozac searched online but was unable to find any reference to this research. If anyone has a link to this research please post it in the comments.

Nigel goes on to say that all the psychics were “weird from the get go” and were always a bit different as children. He suspects psychics can take background white noise and “stuff” and make meaningful pictures out of them. Okay, sure Nigel.

Nigel Latta works as a clinical psychologist and is the author of Before Your Kids Drive You Crazy and Into the Darklands which includes Nigel's comments on the Sensing Murder show

Talking about the problems some of the psychics have experienced in their lives, Nigel Latta says it’s not surprising that people who give advice to others might have issues in their own lives, saying financial advisers go broke and psychologists may have problems in their lives. Could he perhaps be talking about himself? Is he hinting that all is not right in his life? Whatever the case it’s hardly ideal when financial advisers go broke, and certainly not the gold standard for advisers of any description to not have their own house in order so these inane comments proved of little value.

He comes up with gems like

“It isn’t just the psychics who are saying man it’s a wacky universe. The physicists are also saying there’s some strange and bizarre stuff that we are just kind of starting to get our heads around. So just like Columbus being told the world is flat, maybe these people are kind of the modern day equivalent of Columbus. We’re all saying the world is flat, and they’re saying, no, no, I’m pretty sure it’s round.”

At this point, Miss Prozac suspects that Nigel’s credibility among psychologists and scientists is zip, although lovers of Sensing Murder will no doubt applaud him for his “insights’. Miss Prozac wishes that the producers had edited out the entire Nigel Latta segment, as she was on the fence up until this point. She quite enjoys watching the show and getting updates on the hunt for murderers. While she hasn’t seen any definitive proof that the psychics are coming up with new information, they do make for an interesting show, and it’s a heck of an entertaining show to watch.


Scott Russell Hill
Scott Russell Hill is described as a psychic to the stars, including doing several readings for Princess Diana. Interestingly, she dreamed about danger thinking her sons were in danger and spoke to Scott about it. He told her the children were safe, immediately before she died in the Paris car crash. After this he sunk into a deep funk and did no readings for two years. However, this story has a happy ending as other predictions have been spot on.

Scott worked as a DJ before becoming a full-time psychic in 1996 when he accurately predicted a series of events years before they happened. On 28 September 1996 on Radio 5AA Adelaide’s Psychic Saturday Night Scott predicted:

• John F Kennedy Jnr disaster around him to do with a plane crash, a light plane
• Bomb or an earthquake going off in Bali, buildings on fire and devastation
• Key times of danger for the World Trade Centre and New York are the months of September, October and November 2001. It’s like a missile strike or something striking the building from the air
• Princess Diana will be in the wrong place at the wrong time and she could be involved in an accident in a car

He goes on to say that he dreamed about a Woman’s Day magazine cover, Eiffel tower and knowing she died in a car crash. This is impressive stuff. Miss Prozac feels like booking a seat on a plane to Adelaide to see this guy perform live! If only he had had that insight on the day Princess Di telephoned for advice…

Adelaide based Scott found being on Sensing Murder bad for his health. At the end of one show his blood pressure was 210/60 and it became too much for him which is why we don’t see much of him in the second series of the show.

When Scott was seven, he fell into the sea. He believes he died and went to heaven, saw a white light, and then returned to life. After this experience his psychic experiences intensified and he started having visions. He went to his local priest for help and received more attention than he wanted when the priest sexually abused him.

As a 12 or 13 year old he was brutalised by teens who physically abused him while trying to make Scott perform fellatio on them. Yikes, this guy has been through some horrific experiences. Scott is now a trained martial artist.

Scott currently lives with his girlfriend of five years Kerstin who handles all his bookings. He says the worst customers for private readings are the ones that only want you to tell them what they want to hear and don’t want to hear the truth.


Sue Nicholson
In addition to working as a psychic, Sue Nicholson also holds workshops to help people develop their psychic powers and exorcises spirits from homes and offices. She has been married to hubby Steve for 30 years, whom she met before moving to NZ from Birmingham. She reckons spirit told her she would meet him and that it was a soul mate connection. Steve proposed four weeks after meeting.

As a child spirits would sit on her bed and chat to her. She said they told her she was a good person when her mother was abusing her making comments such as:

You’re so ugly, nobody’ll ever like you.
You’ll never do any good in this lifetime.
Get away from me, you make me feel sick.

Nasty stuff.

At the age of 10 years Sue was overwhelmed she thought about attempting suicide by jumping off the window ledge. Her mother found her and vowed to make things even worse for her after this time. In her late teens Sue again planned to commit suicide, and swallowed all the pills she could find. When she woke she was on “the other side” where she was told she had a job to do and go back.

Her youngest daughter Sarah is a professional golfer and uses her psychic ability to help her find golf balls! How strange is that? You can read more about Sue’s psychic family here.

Take note. Sue gets very nervous before the Sensing Murder shows and doesn’t like it when people come for readings just to “test” her. She says

“I’m not a side show. You know, this is real for me. This is a job for me.”

Kelvin Cruickshank
Kelvin Cruickshank works full-time as a psychic medium. After one Sensing Murder episode he found it hard to break the link to Angela Blackmore, who he said would turn up at his home after filming ended, but for the most part Kelvin appears to enjoy working with spirits.

Kelvin is best mates with his 13 year old son Javan, who likes hunting, fishing and going on Dad’s motorbike. Javan also appears to have psychic visions and says it’s “really cool” that he can see things in his head or his dreams before they happen. You can read more about Kelvin here and find out about his T-Shirt being auctioned here. Or at least we're told it's Kelvin's T-shirt complete with "orb".

Kelvin’s mum Rev. Heather Butcher is a hospital chaplain. She said that when he was little Kelvin was always very clingy at night and fearful. Kelvin attributes this to seeing spirits that no one else could see. He says he had difficulty distinguishing between live people and spirits.

“Sometimes I have to touch people to make sure they’re real or not.”

Kelvin said he found it difficult as a child to concentrate with the spirits yabbering to him all the time, and as someone with dyslexia he found it difficult to learn new recipes from books when he worked as a chef.

One day he told his ex-wife that he could see her dead great grandparents standing next to her. She freaked out. Tearfully Kelvin says it cost him his marriage, and that she would only take him back if he would get psychiatric help for the voices he was hearing in his head. He was diagnosed with ADHD and told him to take Ritalin or be “locked up”, so he took the drugs. He overdosed on Ritalin and died in his mother’s arms, before coming back to life, and kicking Ritalin for good.

A million Kiwi women rejoiced at the news that Kelvin is currently single. He apparently has quite a fan club with women emailing him proposals and cosying up to him after his shows.


Deb Webber
Deb Webber lives deep in the Queensland rainforest with her two children, and her father, Arthur, who has a heart condition. She tells him he was “pretty much bad at everything” but they loved her for it. She goes on to say he was the sort of man that shouldn’t have children and that she hated him as a child. Ummm, that’s a strange thing to say on national television. Miss Prozac thinks Deb needs to call on one of the spirits to give her a wee bit of counselling, as she sounds a tad bitter. However, you only have to look at her skirmish with Eating Media Lunch's host Jeremy Wells to see that Deb finds it hard to get past being hurt - which means she won't have enjoyed EML's final episode of 2007.

Mind you her father Arthur, who is a believer in spare the rod and spoil the child, says Deb was a show off as a child, so perhaps Deb has a point about him not being very supportive.

Describing her spiritual experiences, Deb says at one stage she spoke to Jesus Christ who gave her a piece of paper that opened up to a list of all the questions she ever had as a child, but he didn’t let her keep the piece of paper. Apparently this was a huge revelation that convinced her about spirit.

Before working as a psychic Deb worked as a nursing assistant, chattering to spirits. She now believes that the Aboriginal spirits chose her to guard over the forest in her backyard and loves spending time in the bush. It did look very peaceful…

Deb was married for 13 years, and says her ex taught her hate and that this teaches her love. Sounds like a bunch of cockamamie to Miss Prozac, but Nigel Latta says the hate makes her more human. Huh? After the relationship break up Deb started drinking heavily to try and dull the sounds of the voices in his head. Honestly, given the choice between having to listen to voices in her head or having to listen to Nigel, Miss Prozac would choose the voices every time.

Deb is currently single and seeks advice from other psychics to get help for her own love life.


Watch Sensing Murder online
Sensing Murder is now available on TVNZ ondemand for a small charge. You can watch this episode for 12 play points, which you have to purchase from the website. TVNZ currently offers 20 free points on registration, so you can register to download this episode for free and still have a few points left over.

Sue Nicholson's Psychic Family

According to Medium Allison Dubois, psychic ability can be nurtured and skills can be honed with practise. Psychic Sue Nicholson, who works as a 'psychic detective' on Sensing Murder and as a psychic reader/fortune teller on TV One's Good Morning program, takes this advice seriously saying she trained her three daughters Samantha, Sacha and Sarah by devising guessing games for them. She used to task them with finding hidden treats, and guessing the fillings in chocolate (Miss Prozac is guessing the answer would be fattening) as a way to develop their psychic skills.

According to a recent interview with New Zealand Woman’s Weekly

Sue Nicholson and her daughters don’t need toll calls – they send telepathic messages

Miss Prozac had visions of Sue and her daughters conducting conversations via the psychic highway, but no, this misleading caption in NZWW simply means that Sue intuits when the girls want to speak to her, picks up the phone and calls them.

Sue also encouraged her daughters to listen to the voices in their heads. It’s probably a good thing she didn’t mention this to her doctor, otherwise the trio would have been bundled off to a padded room.

If any of them said they heard words in their head I would just tell them to go with it. I had to teach them that the words they were getting in their heads were not from their own imaginations but from the spirits talking to them.

Sue’s daughters decided against becoming professional psychics and instead work in other careers. Perhaps after hearing that mum Sue, had to repress her gift for 40 years because no one understood what she was on about. She says

When I was four years old, I remember I would spread our old family photos over the floor and when I put my hand on the pictures the people in them would talk to me and tell me things

Her parents refused to believe in her talent or in the spirit world. If only her parents were more enlightened, they could have got the spirits to tell Sue to tidy her room and get her homework done, maybe even got her to fetch the dinner for the family!

Sue says the three Sensing Murder cases that most affected her are:

1. Murdered teen Tracey Ann Patient. During the reading Sue said she felt as if she was being strangled.
2. After investigating the death of drowned 12 year old Agnes Ali’iva’a, Sue she said she felt her lungs filled up with fluid, as if she was drowning. Sue spent seven days in hospital with a mystery illness that stumped doctors. She “cured” herself by telling Agnes it was time for her to leave.
3. Missing mum Judy Yorke struck up a friendship with Sue visiting her after the filming of the show to tell her she was “starstruck” after seeing herself on television. Apparently the pair stayed up late gasbagging in Sue’s room.

You can write to TV One's Good Morning Show for a free psychic reading online, but due to the large number of requests only a few get chosen to have their reading done on air.

Related Stories:
Kelvin Cruickshank interview

Photos: TVNZ
Source: NZWW 12 November 2007

Sensing Murder: At Home With The Psychics

TV2’s Sensing Murder psychics have delved into the lives of murder victims, now the viewers get to take a look at the lives of the psychics themselves.

In Sensing Murder: Psychics Revealed we get up-close-and-personal with the four main Sensing Murder psychics; New Zealanders Kelvin Cruickshank and Sue Nicholson, and Australians Deb Webber and Scott Russell-Hill; turning the tables on those who examine us…

For the first time, the psychics open their homes and their hearts to candidly share the highs and lows of their dramatic lives. They discuss their spiritual awakening in childhood, struggles with learning difficulties, conflict with abusive parents, near-death experiences, suicide attempts, relationship troubles and their own personal and terrifying violent encounters with violence.

They also talk about how they deal with the sceptics who question both their gift itself and their motives, and clinical psychologist Nigel Latta shares his impressions of the psychic's experiences.

Nigel says, "in some of the cases that the psychics have looked at they have come up with specific information about the cases that was known only to the Police. They have also come up with specific names that were persons of interest to the Police but were never made public. I know this for a fact."

Also in Sensing Murder: Psychics Revealed; Deb, Kelvin, Sue and Scott's loved ones discuss what life is like for them living with a psychic; while the psychics explain for fans of the hit show how their gift works, as well as the reasons why they do what they do. They offer an insight into the afterlife - a world most of us simply don't understand, and Nigel gives his professional opinion on how the trauma and tragedy the psychics have experienced in their lives may have influenced their psychic awareness.

Sensing Murder: Psychics Revealed screens this Tuesday 13 November at 8.30pm on TV2.


Photos: TVNZ
Source: TVNZ Press Release

Sensing Murder Jim Donnelly's Secret

On the weekend prior to his disappearance Jim Donnelly cancelled an outing with wife Tracey to go to an unplanned meeting. He wouldn’t discuss the meeting in any way, where he was going or who he was seeing, but said he needed to hire a suit for the meeting. On his return he seemed in good spirits.

The next day Jim’s behaviour was also out of character and he went out in the afternoon to search for his friend Stephen Taylor. Stephen wasn’t there and Jim was told to leave as he was trespassing. In the evening he seemed preoccupied and told his wife there was something he couldn’t tell her.

The following day, 21st of June 2004, he went to work as usual and his car was seen arriving at the carpark around 6am but he didn’t turn up for his first meeting at 9am. Later work shut down the steel mill and conducted a search and found no trace of him. His car was in the carpark, his lunch on his desk and his belongings in his locker but Jim was nowhere to be found. Police were alerted and they searched for miles around the Mill site, to no avail.

Five days later Mill workers found his hard hat near a vat of acid together with his destroyed belongings. The only clues left behind were the contents of Donnelly's wallet and work keys found in a vat of acid.

This raised questions as to whether these items had been there from the time of his disappearance or were later placed there to mislead police.

Donnelly had worked at the Glenbrook Steel Mill for 20 years and was a loyal family man. There was no obvious reason for his disappearance. Frustrated with not knowing what happened to Jim, his wife Tracey approached Sensing Murder for help.

"I miss him dreadfully," said partner Tracey Donnelly. "He was my partner, I loved him. I just want to know what happened to him."

DI Rutherford says this case has sparked outrageous rumours about what happened to Jim Donnelly.

"It's bizarre. Some people - very intelligent people - will have you believe he is working for the government overseas, he is in the army on a special mission - or he's perhaps come out of the closet."

Police were reluctant to participate unless they could review the psychics’ findings and the investigation before it aired.

Glenbrook Steel Mill also refused to participate and didn’t allow the psychics access to the plant or permit Sensing Murder to interview employees.

DSS Neil Grimstone was clearly a sceptic but said he would look into any new information. He stated that as far as the police are concerned it is a missing person case, not a murder and they have no facts to suggest that it was a murder. There was no evidence that Jim was involved in any criminal activities that could have led to his death. With regard to the psychics, he says

I believe that it’s a load of drivel. And it won’t get us anywhere. However, you know, I’m not saying that anything that comes from any psychic won’t be looked at and won’t be taken seriously.

He goes on to say there are four possibilities for Jim's disappearance

• Accident
• Suicide
• Runaway
• Murder

Jim’s wife Tracey firmly believes her husband wasn’t murdered. She believes it is most likely an accident. She also believes that someone out there knows exactly what happened.

There are still outstanding questions over the mystery meeting that he attended on the Saturday night, and none of the locals can think of a meeting or even that would require him to hire a suit. This seems to overlook the obvious – maybe the meeting wasn’t local…

Psychic Readings
This week’s psychic detectives are Sue Nicholson and Deb Webber. Talking about their communications with the spirit world they say:

Sue Nicholson

I feel, hear and see spirit

Deb Webber

It’s a gift, it’s a curse. It’s both.

As usual, Deb Webber starts with the photo face down but “instantly” starts channelling a male. Sue Nicholson feels a man tap her on the shoulder. On turning the photo over she says that this is the man she has been seeing. They start describing his appearance and personality and say that he has a scientific mind (he worked as a scientist at the Glenbrook Steel Mill, south of Auckland.

Both psychics suggest that they are talking to someone who would have been sceptical of psychics in real life. Sue says that Jim is telling her that he could be eccentric or mad, and that he has the sort of intelligence that could cross into insanity.

They start investigating his work life and suggest that there is a disagreement or argument with that happened while he was at work, possible with a workmate. Sue asks if it was foul play. Jim says yes.

Now they ask him to take them back to the day of his disappearance. They feel he’s on his way to work in the morning and was seen at work. They both say his car was found at work. Next they think there was a telephone call when he’s at his desk.

Sue: There is an unpleasant conversation or argument, and then he goes back downstairs with a satchel with papers or books in it.

Deb asked if he was doing fraud but the answer is unclear. Both feel a car driven by a male pulls up outside work, and wants him to get in.

Sue thinks the man may hold something over him. The driver is known to him, but there is someone in the backseat that he doesn’t know. She says Jim thinks the man in the backseat was on drugs.

Sue thinks it is something to do with money and says she can hear them saying this has gone on too long. She believes they take him to the driver’s house and he can’t leave. They offer him a beer, but Jim says he doesn’t drink during the day. She says there is big money at stake and feels that Jim could be selling something to these guys.

Both feel he is beaten by these men and feel his head is damaged. He tries to stand up to them but when it doesn’t work he tries to get out of there but he gets stabbed or cut.

Deb is describing a dark-skinned large male. She feels like money has something to do with it but can’t quite work out why it’s happened. They didn’t intend to kill him. Sue says a black handled steak knife is used.

The psychics think that his body is wrapped in plastic or a tarp and they transfer his body to the boot of a car and take his body for dumping. Sue feel he’s thrown in or near water with something weighting him down. She says it’s not near the shore.

Police have always treated this as a disappearance not a murder. The psychics see it differently and believe he was murdered over a deal gone sour.

Next they are given maps of Auckland. Apparently within seconds Deb has located Waiuku as the location of his disappearance and then points to the Eastern suburbs as the location of his home.

Deb thinks he has discovered or created something that has to do with defence and other people want what he has created. She believes he has jotted down a draft and some sketches. The government would be interested in buying it. She says he says, “The mind can be the downfall”.

Sue also thinks they were buying something that Jim has invented. She says they were ideas that had something to do with his work, but it needed expertise to get the idea to work. The murderers have the book or a draft of the idea but they won’t be able to implement it without someone who knows how it could work.

Sue says everyone could use it, but he wanted more for it than they were offering. She thinks he upped the price and they got angry. She believes there is a Kiwi and an offshore person. The connection came from someone at work who passed on Jim’s phone number, but Jim had second thoughts about the deal or the amount of money.

When Deb gets to the Mill location she mentions a name or six. Miss Prozac has no way of knowing because all she can hear is beep beep beep.

Sue says Jim scribbled a number down on his desk pad with a contact number that relates to this. She says the murderers are trying to cover their tracks but they dropped something on the floor.

Deb asks if there were any clues left at the Mill. She says it’s something small and grey that could fit into a hand. It has writing, words and pictures. Sensing Murder suggest she could be talking about his palm pilot.

Third Psychic Consultation
Sensing Murder asked a third psychic to investigate. Numerologist Scott Russell Hill is given his birth date. He uses astrology and tarot cards in his reading. Scott describes a highly intelligent person and he feels certain there was foul play, and some form of secret to do with money. He says something along the lines of:

There was some sort of fraud involved or some big idea that was about to be revealed. The meeting was prearranged by phone and they had known each other for a while. A cargo or warehouse involving transport is involved. The man who murdered him was non-negotiable and wouldn’t be reasoned with. Jim was roughed up and hit by more than one person. It was two people. The man he went to meet was immovable in his attitude. He was bashed and stabbed. That’s how he died.

The reading is remarkably similar to the readings given by Sue and Deb.

Investigation
Glenbrook Steel cooperated fully with police but refused to cooperate with Sensing Murder’s investigation. The investigators were able to speak to former employees but Glenbrook Steel wouldn’t permit them to speak to current employees.

Duncan Holland investigates. He says that Jim usually turns on his computer on arrival but his computer wasn’t turned on, which is unusual. The investigators believed that he had the intelligent and skills to develop a new scientific idea or invention, but they do not mention any evidence of a specific new idea. It’s apparently a “secret” idea. This makes it extremely hard to verify that Jim was killed over a secret invention so there is no way to know if the psychics are on the right track.

Duncan says they have discovered “new information” that Jim may have been communicating with someone in secret from a message centre. Also, a number was used to retrieve messages from a mobile phone, but Jim doesn’t have a mobile phone. All very mysterious but it doesn’t prove anything. We already know from the wife that there is a secret as Jim attended a meeting he wouldn’t discuss.

A contact number with a person’s name was found on the desk message pad as Sue suggested. The number belongs to a company with overseas links that specialises in disposal of waste and ships overseas. They confirmed that the person had dealt with Jim but no longer works there. This is a genuine new lead, but it’s hard to know whether this will prove helpful.

If you have any new information for the police contact
Counties Manukau Police
Ph 09 295 0200

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Psychics issued with $2 million paranormal challenge
A physicist says psychics are bunk
Sensing Murder responds to $2 million psychic challenge
Episode Recap Simon Buis
Episode Recap Jayne Furlong
Episode Recap Amber-Lee Cruickshank
Not Fakes - Sensing Murder responds
Sensing Murder psychics - real or fake?

Photos: TVNZ
Interview source: TVNZ

Sensing Murder Judy Yorke

Judith Ann Yorke (Judy) disappeared October the 21st 1992 after attending a party at a packing shed in Matapihi and is believed to be murdered.

She left her daughter with her parents so she could go to a pub in Mount Maunganui. When the pub closed at 11pm she travelled with friends in her car to a packing shed at a Matapihi orchard to continue the party.

Some time between 1 and 2am her friends noticed she was missing and had a search for her in the orchard. When they didn’t find her they searched her car, and finding her car keys under the mat decided to drive themselves home.

Her family wondered what happened to her, but strangely didn’t raise the alarm until a week later when Judy didn’t turn up for her daughter’s 4th birthday celebration. Retired Detective Inspector Alan Collin said he immediately suspected foul play and initiated a murder inquiry as well as conducting searches of surrounding areas.

Spooky Stuff
Sister Tira swears she woke at around 2am thinking she heard her sister yelling for help but could see or hear nothing outside. Could she have somehow heard her sister’s final screams?

Her sister usually phoned her at 7 each morning, when even the sparrows are still yawning, but Tira heard nothing from her. Concerned, she went to her place later that day but couldn’t see her and could find no trace of her.

Deb Webber
Kelvin Cruickshank and Sue Nicholson were the psychics assigned to the investigation, however psychic detective Deb Webber was called in to investigate the case in June 2006.

Her reading is completely different to that given by Kelvin and Sue.

They had been lying in wait, watching from across the road in the van in what was probably the early morning hours of October 22.

Immediately, Judith was scared and did not like the look of the pair, one of whom was from Te Puke, while the other was from outside the town. The men had a lot of associates and may have had gang connections.

One, a big, dark man, she did not know. The other was known to her and her family.
Judith was told there was an emergency and that she must go with them.

She resisted, repeatedly saying no. But she was bundled into the van and the vehicle was seen by a witness.

By the time it reached its intended destination - Lake Rerewhakaaitu, near Rotorua - Judith was dead.

She was alive in the van for 30 or 45 minutes. She was then told to be quiet, her mouth covered with a cloth and everything went black. Smothered most likely, or strangled. She did not suffer, she simply went to sleep and could not wake up.

Her grave is close to the lake's edge, just six or seven metres from the water.
Her body is buried in sandy soil not far from the bank in a patch of sand.

It is near where rivers or streams flow into the lake and there may be warm water nearby.

Deb also identified specific detail about who was responsible for Judith's disappearance, that confirmed what her family have always thought.

For legal reasons, we cannot reveal that detail. Deb also mentioned a "shivery sort of feeling" in relation to the two men on the driveway.

She is almost certain of the method of Judith's death. When Tira Yorke asks what actually happened to her elder sister, Deb pauses then says baldly "she was smothered".

During the show, Judy's mother spoke scathingly about some "dick" of a psychic that didn't know what they were talking about. Sensing Murder producers say that the mother was not referring to Deb Webber.

Police feedback
The producers of Sensing Murder were reluctant to investigate this case, given that psychic Deb Webber had already given a reading on the murder. However, they said that after being approached by the original investigating officer they decided to undertake the enquiry, but use different psychics for the investigation.

During the filming retired Detective Inspector Alan Collin said that he doesn’t believe in psychics so it seems surprising that he would approach Sensing Murder, but perhaps he felt that renewed media coverage may uncover new information.

Alan Collin confirmed that much of the information produced by the psychics matched the assumptions that the police had made.

Judy Yorke’s story
Judy Yorke met the father of her children when she was in Intermediate school and set up house with him. Her parents clearly didn’t like her partner talking describing him as being an unemployed drunk however Judy was smitten.

The de facto relationship produced two children, Joseph and Shanelle, but was not a happy union. Her partner became violent after drinking but Judy defended him and wouldn’t let her family interfere.

Things changed when her partner went to prison for armed robbery. She became close again to her family, especially her mother, and started to go out socially and enjoyed drinking and partying.

On the night in question she left her daughter with her parents so she could go out drinking. A week later when she didn’t turn up for her daughter’s birthday the family went to her home. Seeing a small window open in the bathroom, they lifted four year old Shanelle through the window so she could let them into the house. They could find no sign of her, and found her car keys on the bathroom floor. They checked her car and noticed that it was tidy. Knowing that Judy was a neat freak they knew something was wrong and telephoned the police.

Retired Detective Inspector Alan Collin said he was advised on 4th November 1992 that Judy was missing and cranked up the search.

Judy’s secret life
Much was made of the fact that Judy had a secret life that her family didn’t know about. She was said to be having a sexual relationship with a man while her partner was in jail, and also some occasional prostitution. Psychics Kelvin Cruickshank and Sue Nicholson also believed she may be pregnant.

Detective Collin confirmed that Judy was seeing a man and was known to sometimes have sex for money.

Judy’s family were adamant that she was not pregnant.

Psychic Reading
One interesting point during this episode. Each week Rebecca Gibney runs through the criteria for the readings, but this week there was a subtle difference. In past weeks it has been mentioned that only correct information is confirmed. This week, the point was made that correct statements can be but are not always confirmed. This should satisfy some of the skeptics who commented that confirmed correct statements, would by deduction, also let people know which statements were incorrect.

Sue and Kelvin gave remarkably similar readings. We are told that they do the readings on separate days and have no contact with each other and are supervised to ensure that they do not do any additional research on the case.

Both described Judy as a Maori lass with large eyes who has two children and is close to her mother. Kelvin believes that her mother’s heart was broken by the loss of her daughter and will never be fixed. They both describe a partner who is in jail and believe she is seeing someone else while he’s in the big house. They see the new man as possessive, and Sue says she has let go of one man but attached herself to another man that is very similar in temperament i.e. violent.

Both believe Judy was murdered in her own car and that it was an unplanned murder. They think that Judy revealed that she was pregnant and he flew into a rage, not wanting a child and possibly not believing he was the father. Both psychics think Judy was strangled and both stated that her body has not been recovered, that it was dumped nearby with the man returning to the party. They think the murderer returned the next day or possibly a couple of days later to dispose of the body, possibly with mates to help move the body. They think the body was disposed of in or near water, possibly the Kaituna River. Both psychics state that Judy’s shoes were found in grass, and Sue says that an item belonging to her was found near a railway line. Investigators confirm that a savings passbook was found by the railway but the young boy who found it threw it away so they can not be certain it belonged to Judy

One of the unanswered questions was… why would Judy leave without her car? Police had a possible sighting of her walking on the road back to Te Puke however it was too far for her to walk home from Matapihi. Sue Nicholson believes that a man took the keys off her telling her she couldn’t drive home and then later drove the car down the road and picked her up while she was walking.

Subsequent Investigation
The psychics believe that she fought and scratched the man and gave a physical description. Naturally, all the good bits were bleeped out due to legal concerns. Both believed it was a man that she was sexually involved with and give similar but bleeped descriptions of a Maori man.

Interestingly the investigators reveal that a key suspect was absent from the party and returned with a jersey around his arm. The next day he was seen with scratches on his arm.

The car was searched but police could not find any blood or other evidence that would assist in solving the crime.

The psychics say that the man who murdered Judy is in Australia and will have to come back to NZ to answer for his crimes. Investigators confirm that the prime suspect is living in Australia. The general impression that comes through is that police believe they know who committed the crime, but do not have enough evidence to take it further. They need an eyewitness or forensic evidence to make an arrest.

Duncan Holland’s investigators tracked down several of the party goers and state that they have “stunning” new information, including one individual that is prepared to give a statement to the police. Great news! It would seem that the breakthrough, if it comes, will be from the work of the private investigators, and not from any leads provided by the psychics, as this individual was already under suspicion.

If you have any new information you would like to pass on to the police contact Detective Sergeant Lew Warner on 07-577-43200 or 0800 SPEAKUP.

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Photos: TVNZ

Sensing Murder Simon Buis

Background
Building Inspector and part-time photographer Simon Buis was savagely beaten and kicked to death in Auckland’s Gribblehirst Park in 1980. Simon was viciously kicked and stomped to death in an attack so brutal almost every bone in his face was broken. To this day, his killers have evaded capture and police have few clues to the identity of the killers. There were no witnesses to the murder, but neighbours described hearing noises at the park, and described two cars seen leaving shortly after Simon Buis was murdered.

One of the missing pieces of the jigsaw puzzle is determining how Simon Buis got to Gribblehirst Park from where he was last seen on the corner of Upper Symonds Street and Khyber Pass Road in the early hours of April 4th 1980.

In this episode of Sensing Murder, entitled Taken for a Ride, psychics Deb Webber and Sue Nicholson turn to the spirit world for clues about Simon's unsolved murder. Armed with only a photograph of Simon, the psychics are asked to reveal the circumstances of his death and lead a team of investigators in a hunt for new clues.

How the psychics operate

1. Psychics are not given the location of the filming in advance, or any details of the case or people involved, and are only given the flight details at the airport
2. They are kept under constant supervision to prevent them from undertaking any research on the case
3. Only correct statements are confirmed
4. Each psychic is kept separate from the other and filmed on separate days
5. All the filming is conducted on a single day

Unfortunately the good parts are bleeped out, due to legal concerns with naming potential suspects, so we are unable to hear the names that the psychics come up with during the show.

Episode Recap
The show opens with background about Simon's murder as well as interviewing friends and family of Simon, including friend Tim Shadbolt.

Next the psychics are given a photograph to aid them in "connecting" to the spirit world, although both place the photo face down during their initial read which is conducted from a downtown hotel.

Deb Webber believes that he is a European immigrant and picks up Holland. Sue Nicholson also believes he is Dutch. Both psychics believe he is married with children and is a social drinker. They seem to be on track with their descriptions of Simon.

Deb is picking up letters. She comes up with o, n, i, s and then says Simon. She looks very pleased with herself and very excited at coming up with this. Presumably the Sensing Murder production crew confirmed that she was right with the letters as she came up with them. We have no way of knowing whether Deb also came up with incorrect information that isn't shown during filming, but from what we see she appears to be uncannily accurate.

During the filming of Deb's segment a photo falls off the wall, leading Deb to believe that Simon is communicating with her to show her that photography is his hobby. The photo was screwed to the wall and is believed to be the result of poltergeist activity, according to presenter Rebecca Gibney.

The next stage is for Deb and Sue to describe the events of the night of the murder and attempt to identify the killers. They both point to Gribblehirst Park on the map they are given. Rebecca Gibney says there are more than 800 parks in Auckland, but both psychics appear to find the right park relatively quickly.

Finally, Deb Webber and Sue Nicholson visit the murder scene and further describe Simon Buis's murder and describe the people they see and the car they believe was used to transport Simon to the park. They come up with very similar descriptions of the murder, believing he was kicked by two young men who initially appeared friendly and then turned violent.

The Investigators
Duncan Holland heads a team of investigators that takes the information provided by the psychics and checks it with local police as well as using their own resources to investigate the leads. He states that a lot of the information provided by the psychics matches information held by the police.

Both psychics believed that there were two young men (age 16-20 years) driving a stolen car. Two men found driving a stolen car were initially charged with the murder but charges were later dropped. The descriptions provided by the psychics did not match these two individuals, however there was another pair of men joyriding in a car around the same time. They weren’t investigated at the time, and this is considered a possible lead.

During the show psychic Deb Webber gave three names which match those of someone who lived in the area at the time. These names were bleeped out by producers for legal reasons.

The psychics describe the killers as driving an older car, possibly a light coloured 1950s DeSoto Chrysler. Witnesses saw a similar car leaving the area. Given the age of the vehicle, and its uniqueness it seems astonishing that this didn't lead to the owner of the vehicle at the time of the murder, however it appears to be a loose end.

In addition, an orange Torana was seen arriving about one hour before the murder and leaving shortly after. Detective Senior Sargeant Scott Beard would still like to hear from anyone who may know anything about the orange Torana or has any other information relating to the case.





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