Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker remains skeptical
Sheriff unsure about psychic team in case
Michael Simmons Madison County Sheriff Randy Tucker remains skeptical over a one-page report given to him by a group of psychic detectives who claim to have new evidence pointing to the whereabouts of missing Camden toddler Myra Lewis. The group, "Find Me," never met with the sheriff, Tucker said, but instead dropped off a report with different scenarios involving Lewis' disappearance. "They came up with scenarios and GPS coordinates where (Lewis) is supposedly buried or found alive," Tucker said. "We're checking them, each one." While he wouldn't release the submitted report, Tucker said half of those are said to be nearby the Lewis family home. The locations were already exhausted when the FBI and law enforcement made multiple search efforts following her disappearance on March 1. Another had Lewis in Carthage. "We're going back over them again," Tucker said. "This is taking a lot of work and manpower." Tucker said he's skeptical of the psychic "powers" and said he deals in facts. "Somebody's going to have to prove to me psychic abilities work," he said. "I've never had it work for me, not that I've actually solicited the help of psychics." The sheriff said this isn't the first group of psychics to give tips on the Lewis case, either. "We've had other psychics contact us with other locations," he said, "the Pearl River and everywhere else. They're just all over the dang place. I don't know if each psychic has a different ability or gets crossed over with different souls." Despite the skepticism and disbelief in psychic abilities, the sheriff said they look into all the leads they receive because he would hate to dismiss one that actually led to finding Lewis. "That would be my worst fear, to not go and that be where she is," he said. Lewis went missing on March 1 but her disappearance wasn't relayed to police until several hours later. Her mother, Ericka Lewis, said she last saw Myra playing in the front yard while she left to go to the grocery store. The father, Gregory Lewis, said he was in the back of the house with an infant child. The FBI was quickly called in to assist and a $20,000 reward was issued for information leading to Lewis' whereabouts. Since that time law enforcement agencies have chased multiple leads, including one to Rhode Island. Tucker said there was a child in Rhode Island that had similar facial features and a skin tone as Lewis but they were able to speak with that child's pediatrician to determine she wasn't Lewis. "It's just a roller coaster of emotions," the sheriff said of the case. Attempts to contact "Find Me" founder Jerry Snyder were unsuccessful. His organization was founded in 2002 and have supposedly helped solve 59 of 300 missing person cases. The group consists of retired law enforcement investigators, forensic scientists and psychics.
