Kortne Stouffer Update: Will Psychics Succeed Where Police Fail?

August 23, 2012 03:45 PM EDT

Kortne Stouffer vanished approximately a month ago and it seems that the leads are drying up as far as the public is aware of. That is, of course, if you don't count the leads coming in from self-proclaimed psychics. Like any high-profile case, psychic mediums tend to flock to the police and family members of the missing to either genuinely lend a hand or seek their own fame and notoriety. It's not common, however, for police agencies to even acknowledge them.

While the police in this case are acknowledging that psychic calls are coming in, the only person seemingly entertaining them is Scott Stouffer, the missing woman's father. He claims that some of the readings he got "scared him."

"Some of it I can't comment to you because it doesn't express the best outcome," he said.

Investigators in the area acknowledge that they've used psychic help before, in particular, a case of a woman who has been missing for 20 years. They don't turn down any help when it comes to finding missing people. However, it's not often that psychic help turns out useful. There have been few cases in history of psychics lending a verifiable positive role in the search for missing persons or evidence in unsolved homicides.

It should also be pointed out that there are a lot of kooks out there who fancy themselves as psychics when they certainly are not. There are also people who are generally mean-spirited, who like to spread malcontent whenever the chance arises. They are trolls who feed off the suffering of families who are in pain. While Scott Stouffer is undoubtedly interested in any help he can get, he should be careful in who he talks to in times like these.

The odds of Kortne Stouffer being alive are slim to none as far as statistics go. She's been missing for nearly a month, and the first 48 to 72 hour are the most important in bringing a missing person home alive. Considering Kortne was in at least two altercations the night she vanished, it's probably safe to consider that she may have met some kind of violent end. She fought with a woman in the bar, she fought with her neighbors, and then she vanished without a trace. It's easy to draw conclusions based on the facts at hand, so what more could a self-proclaimed psychic offer in lines of this investigation? If one can't offer a location where she can be found, or the suspect, they probably won't be helpful.

Crime analyst and profiler Chelsea Hoffman can be found on The Huffington Post, Chelsea Hoffman: Case to Case and many other outlets. Follow @TheRealChelseaH on Twitter orclick here to contact Chelsea directly.