Turned over tip that led to murdered couple: psychic

A strange twist has emerged in the case of a St. John's-area double-homicide, withtherevelation thatwoman working as a psychic played a part in the investigation.

Joseph Oliver was charged Saturday with two counts of second-degree murder in the 1993 deaths of Kimberley Lockyer and Dale Worthman, a Portugal Cove-St. Philip's couple whose remains were not found until last summer.

Shannon Murrin, a resident of the community who says Oliver is trying to frame him for the crime, told CBC News that before police began looking for bodies near Windsor Lake last summer, Oliver drove a psychic to the site.

There, Murrin told CBC News, Oliver told the woman that Murrin was responsible for the murders.

"He said Shannon Murrin murdered Kim and Dale. He said, 'I was there.' He said he was there, and he said, 'I want to go to the police,'" said Murrin, who was acquitted in 2000 for the murder in British Columbia of eight-year-old schoolgirl Mindy Tran.

Murrin told CBC the psychic's name was Shelly Stokes.

Stokes told CBC News she had been working on the investigation— as a psychic— since one of the victims' family members came to her for help in 1994.

Stokes said she is not working with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, although she said she did tip off a Constabulary officer on the locations of the bodies last summer.

"All I can tell you is that I felt that I located the right place this year, and I turned the location over to Const. [Jim] Case, who instigated the full search, and the bodies were recovered," Stokes told CBC News.

Stokes acknowledges that she knew Oliver but she will not comment on whether he told her anything about the murders, or about the location of the bodies.

Stokes will also not confirm Murrin's allegations that Oliver took her to the site where the couple's remains were ultimately found.

"I am informed that I would probably be a witness. That's about the only thing I would be able to comment on at this time," she said.

The RNC says its investigation of the Worthman-Lockyer murders is ongoing, and that Oliver is not the only suspect.

Police arrested Oliver on Friday, a day before he was charged.

Investigators and Oliver's lawyer will not comment on Murrin's statements.