Police have interviewed two television psychics in the hope of gaining a lead in their inquiry into the disappearance of Wellington woman Kaye Stewart in 2005, saying they will look at "any little piece of information" anyone can come up with.
Stewart, 62, a physiotherapist from the Wellington suburb of Northland, vanished when walking in Rimutaka Forest Park.
Police say they are now "80%" certain Stewart was murdered, and her family agree.
The interview with Sensing Murder psychics Deb Webber and Kelvin Cruickshank will screen as part of Tuesday's show.
Producers say Webber named a person involved in the inquiry but police say they had already discounted that person, and other publicly unknown information revealed by the pair has failed to produce any fresh leads.
"I'm sitting on the fence (regarding psychics)," Lower Hutt Detective Senior Sergeant Ross Levy says.
"When you're dealing with a mystery and foul play is seriously suspected, we will look at any little piece of information anyone comes up with."
Levy says the information on Kaye's disappearance has been sought and investigated in all the conventional ways.
"The use of psychics is just another tool that's in the toolbox," says Levy.
But for Kaye's grieving family, they say they just want closure.
"We want Kaye's body, we want her remains, we want what everybody else in the world's got, we want a grave site, we want to know where she is, we want to be able to grieve properly," says Stewart's husband, Bob.
Kaye's family was interviewed on the show and they are hopeful that while the psychics didn't find Kaye, more than half a million viewers might.
Bob says it is more important to raise public awareness than to debate the reality of psychic powers.
"I believe firmly that publicity is going to solve this case and I think the police look at it that way too somebody's holding something out there," says Bob.
Prominent defence lawyer John Billington, QC, says he doubts that a psychic's evidence would be admissible in court.
"Well, it's not a fact, is it? I would be very surprised if the law even allowed it."
Though police received many tips from self-proclaimed psychics only a few have ever led anywhere, he says.
More than 100 people in the area of the park where Stewart disappeared have been questioned as part of the inquiry, but there are no likely suspects.
Police exhaustively searched the area where Stewart went walking, but found nothing that belonged to her.
Levy says the benefits that police see in using the psychics' was that they were going to be part of a widely viewed TV show.
"We wanted to give that investigation as much exposure as possible in the hope of getting information in return," says Levy.
It's the first time police have been part of the show's psychic investigation.
"The reading's actually take place at the Lower Hutt police station and the head of the CIB conducts the readings," says David Baldock, Sensing Murder Producer
While no new leads were uncovered the psychics did come up with information only known by police. A $50,000 reward for information has had little response.
