Was discovery of body a coincidence or psychic phenomena?

<p>Residents wonder whether it was a mere coincidence or an eerie phenomena that a missing man's body bobbed up in a lake just as a psychic drew near.</p><p>A self-described "psychic detective" contacted by the man's family found the body in the lake after she says a feeling pulled her there. On March 19, Lynn Ann Maker made her discovery as she waded into the lake.</p><p>"I walked four or five steps and in front of me I saw something come out of the water," she said. "It was the top of his head. I didn't know for sure it was him.</p><p>"After his neck came out of the water, he turned," she said. "I could see it was him and I called 911."</p><p>Police agree she found the body, but are attributing the find to luck rather than a sixth sense.</p><p>Steve Mauldin, chief investigator for the Turner County Sheriff's Department, said other psychics who came to assist provided tips that didn't pan out. Then Maker reported her discovery.</p><p>"The psychic found the body floating and that's about all we can say," Mauldin said.</p><p>Authorities are still investigating the death of Greg Wallace, 30, who disappeared on March 14, while driving to his job in Tifton, about 30 miles away. The cause of his death and the circumstances remain unclear.</p><p>A few days after his disappearance, Wallace's abandoned car was found parked off a highway with the hood up and the keys in the ignition, but searchers were unable to find him.</p><p>Anxious to learn the fate of their loved one, Wallace's family searched the Internet for a psychic they believed could help them. They chanced upon Maker, 33, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She agreed to come to Ashburn, a farming town of 4,000, located about 150 miles south of Atlanta.</p><p>"I want some answers and some justice, if anything was done that wasn't supposed to be done," said Wallace's mother, Geraldine Wallace. "Some people believe in psychics. I can't say I believe in them fully ... but I believe in them more."</p><p>On her Mystical Touch Web site, Maker offers services as a medium, a palm reader and a "psychic detective" specializing in murder and missing persons investigations. She describes herself as a "psychometrist," meaning she has to touch personal items to receive her visions.</p><p>After holding one of Wallace's shirts, Maker said she got a sense that he had "passed on" and was submerged. Later one of Wallace's cousins gave her a photo of the missing man, and she was drawn to the site where his car had been found, Maker said.</p><p>"I kept feeling he was near the car," she said, which led her to the nearby lake.</p><p>The sheriff has turned the investigation over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.</p><p>Gary Rothwell, special agent in charge of the GBI's Perry office, said the State Crime Laboratory's autopsy of Wallace was inconclusive and more tests were planned.</p><p>"We don't have an obvious cause or manner of death yet," he said. "It's not uncommon for the initial autopsy results to warrant further tests."</p><p>When a body is submerged, it begins to decompose and fill with gases that could cause it to rise, authorities said.</p><p>Rothwell confirmed that Maker found the body, but added, "In my opinion, it's a coincidence."</p><p>Kita Burgess, Wallace's next-door neighbor, said she believes Maker had special intuitive powers that led her to his body.</p><p>"I believe in her because she came down and did her job," Burgess said.</p><p>Doug Hester, 68, a retired deputy sheriff, said he believes psychics have a role in law enforcement, but he's not convinced that a sixth sense led Maker to Wallace's body.</p><p>"In this case, I think she was just lucky," he said.</p><p>Maker said she's been sensitive to things beyond the normal range of perception since childhood. Contrary to what some may believe, psychics are not "all-knowing, all-seeing," she said.</p><p>"I'm a human," she said. "I don't chose what I see. It just comes to me and I relay it. God wanted him to be found. God led me there."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2864448)</p>

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