Psychic says she helped in slay probe
When someone's missing, police will use almost any method to try and find them.
Most of thetimes, police use conventional methods but other times, less-conventional methods are used.
Brick Township psychic Barbara Mackey is one of those unconventional methods police turn to under such circumstances, adding that she assisted the cops when they were searching for Jennifer Pammer, who disappeared on Dec. 4, 2000. Pammer's former boyfrend, Frederick Lee Dalton, subsequently was charged with Pammer's murder and currently is being tried in connection with Pammer's death.
Mackey, who also assisted the Nutley Police Department in a missing person case, was contacted by Detective John Thievon of the Dover Township Police Department in early 2001. Thievon, she said, came to her home and taped a two-hour conversation between the two.
During the conversation, Mackey said she told Thievon that Pammer was dead and described her killer.
"I told him what he (Dalton) looked like and what Jennifer Pammer looked like," she said, adding that she also described how Pammer died.
Mackey said Thievon was so impressed with her information, he asked her how she could have possibly known it. Thievon then gave her his phone number and told her to call him if she knew anything else, she said.
Mackey also said she tried to help the police find Pammer's body, which was found in the Bamber Lake section of Lacey Township in May 2001, but said she was kept away from the investigation. She said Thievon was in the woods in Bamber Lake and was talking with her as he tried to find the body, but said he wouldn't take her to the wooded area to look for herself.
"They were hiding me," she said, adding that Thievon requested she not look for the body on her own. "He told me not to come out."
Dover Township Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said he first learned that Mackey had spoken with a member of his department after receiving a call from the Oceam County PProsecutor's Office.
During that conversation, Mastronardy said, Mackey refused to believe Mastronardy was the police chief. Mastronardy told her if she knew where the body was, she would simple tell him, the chief added.
Mastronardy confirmed that psychics are used in police work from time to time when they offer their services, but such tips are handled the same way as any other tips.
"We take all information and process it," he said, adding that he was unaware of any tapes made of the conversation between Thievon and Mackey. "We follow up on it as best we can."
Mastronardy said psychics are not used very often because they can contradict evidence collected by conventional methods.
Mackey said she knew psychically that Mastronardy was the one who called her, but she wanted to be positive so she asked for a meeting with the chief.
"He said, 'Do you know where the body is?" she