In this May '04 Swift, you'll find a rather comprehensive item about Carla Baron, who owes the cupidity - if not the stupidity - of the media, for her continued success. Renata Galvan, who was a victim of this reckless endorsement of psychic powers, has some interesting news on the actual facts about Baron's involvement in the investigation of the murder of her son Tim:

I am writing you concerning so called psychic Carla Baron. I think you guys were absolutely correct that she is all out for the publicity. My son's case was featured on "Haunting Evidence" as its second episode.

Carla claims she was going in blind on the case, and that was so far from the truth. She talked to me EVERY DAY for several months, pretending to be my friend and to help me. All the while she would direct me to bulletin boards to praise her efforts and defend her when skeptics would write about her.

She asked me to post a statement that I did not pay her for her initial reading, which was a lie. In fact, she had charged me TWICE on my debit card and claimed it was just an error. I should have known that was a sign that she wasn't for real. Although she gave me a refund, what if I hadn't checked? I'm sure she would have kept the extra money.

There were already articles about the case, and she wanted to wait two days for my "appointment" for the reading, and asked for a photo of the suspect.

I saw her blog on MySpace, and still giving her the benefit that she CARED about my son and was trying to help, I started to post. I couldn't because I was not listed as a "friend." I never mentioned my son's case. Then she wrote me back the following:

I am just super busy with my responsibilities, and need to tend to those. I do not really do these cases any longer and deserve a break. I have been doing these for many years, and now need to move on. It is that and only that. Nothing against you personally.

I don't want to keep rehashing this. Please. I have good thoughts towards you and your family. Let it be. I need to move on now. Understand this is about my need for space, privacy, and mental well-being.

Take care.  Carla.

She apparently had no use for us once she got all she could get by exploiting us. One thing I did was keep audio recordings of many conversations. She was so persistent that I should convince the police to work with her (which they never would) and should constantly post, contact media and praise her, that at times I would avoid her calls. My other son couldn't stand her constant calls and got rude with her several times. One writer named Steve Hankins changed his email and phone number because she kept trying to get him to write about Tim's case and her of course.

A lot of people saw right through her - even the private investigator I hired, she pretty much was a "bulldozer" when it came to getting her name out there. Once she even asked me to create an email from my webhost so she could post about herself on Court TV's site. I imagine that a lot of posts about her out there are actually written by Carla herself.

If you guys are doing an investigation about her I hope this helps. What she did to our family really hurts. She used the murder of my son for her own benefit. Thank God she isn't doing these cases anymore. I would not wish her on anyone trying to get through grief of the lost or missing loved one.

Thank you, Renata Galvan

For more data on Carla Baron, go to the Independent Investigations Group article. The ABC-TV program Primetime - no stickler for detail, as you may know, is taken to task for its usual casual treatment of facts, something you may recall from my experience with John of God.