The extent to which the area of parapsychology or the utilization of a psychic has contributed to serial murder investigations has not been well documented. Although the use of a psychic in a criminal investigation always receives a great deal of publicity in the press, psychic involvement in a serial murder investigation has generally received notice and attention only in the more publicized and infamous cases. Also, in many instances, regardless of the nature of the criminal investigation, police agencies have been reticent to admit to the use of psychics during or following the completion of an investigation given the risks of criticism from the public as well as other members of the law enforcement community.
Psychics often become involved in highly publicized serial murder investigations.
They either make predictions about the killer to the media or secretly provide advice to agencies or individual investigators. During the early stages of searching for a missing teenage boy in December 1978, Des Plaines, Illinois, police began to strongly suspect that John Wayne Gacy was responsible for the boy's disappearance. A local psychic was utilized to uncover information about the missing youth. Information given to the police by this psychic was subsequently interpreted as very accurate in describing John Wayne Gacy, his method of killing his victims, and his disposal of their bodies. Gacy was arrested and convicted of killing 33 young men and boys in Cook County, Illinois.