Mortgage banker Michael Thornbrue called his sister Melissa early one evening to find out how her day had been. Fine, she said, until they learned that a friend’s son was missing and she and husband Josh had been helping with the search.
After a family disagreement, the 10-year-old boy had walked off and had failed to return. The police had set up a base camp close to the foot of a mountain range and the boy’s family and friends had been out searching the mountainside on foot and in four-wheel vehicles ever since.
With darkness descending there was growing concern for his safety. Maybe he had been abducted. Even if he was hiding somewhere in the forest, it was going to be a cold night and he wearing only a tee shirt.
Mike and Melissa both live in Portland, Oregon, in the north-west of the United States, close to its border with Canada. The woods can be a scary place at night, even for an adult, says Mike, speaking from experience. The trees are so dense, he explains, that even moonlight fails to penetrate to the forest floor and you cannot see more than 10 feet in front of you.
“Melissa and her husband Josh have 23 acres that border the coast range mountains. They have coyotes running through their yard and you can hunt elk, deer or bear close by. Mountain lions also live in the forest. ”
Everyone was praying that the boy would be found. Mike Thornbrue, however, decided there was another avenue worth exploring. Sonja Grace (right), the wife of a friend and colleague, had a reputation as a “spiritual intuitive”. Having been brought up as a Mormon, it was not a subject Mike had explored or discussed. “But I thought, ‘I have a resource, why not use it?'”
Portland-based Sonja recently made headlines when she used her powers to lead searchers to the remains of a teenager, Austin King, a month after he disappeared. I’ll be carrying an interview with Sonja on this Blog in a day or two.
First, however, I wanted to hear from those willing to testify to her psychic abilities. Mike was very happy to do so. He had called Sonja, he told me, and explained the situation. “The amazing thing was that she told me immediately, before I said anything, that the boy was angry. ‘Now he’s frightened. But he’s enclosed in something to keep warm. He knows what he’s doing, don’t worry’.”
Mike’s relief at hearing this quickly changed when she added: “I see him being picked up on a road.”
“I panicked,” he recalls. “I thought, oh man, some crazy person, you know, in the van you see in every movie, picked him up …” but Sonja said, “No, it’s not like that, I don’t even know if he’s been picked up yet, but I see him getting picked up on a road.” She then asked if I could get more information for her.”
He called Melissa and she was able to tell him the boy’s address and provide a bit more information about him and the time he went missing. He learned that the youngster’s father was a scout leader and his son did know exactly what survival techniques to use if he were alone in the woods. Sonja Grace had been absolutely right. But could she locate him?
Once she had the starting point for the boy’s journey away from his home, Sonja and Mike pulled up a Google map of Portland on their respective computers and began focusing on the satellite view to see if she could determine where he might be.
“Sonja said: ‘He’s definitely south of Highway 26′. So we started focusing there, and the main road that goes up to the house. She told me, ‘He’s on the east side of that road’ adding, ‘I see a ravine…’
‘I could see a ravine but it was on the west side of the road. But right where that ravine came through the road, it was shaped like a horseshoe and went through to the east of the road. As we’re looking at it Sonja said, ‘You see that horseshoe? He’s right there. He’s either under a tree or he’s done something, covered himself from above to stay warm and get out of the elements. He’s doing what he should but he’s scared.” [I’ve shown the exact spot indicated with a pink circle on the map above – Roy].
Mike (pictured left with wife Krista) placed the computer’s cursor in the shape of a hand right over that spot and took a photograph of the screen with his cell phone. He then sent it instantly to his sister’s mobile phone, so that she and her husband could identify the spot. They set off immediately on foot, because the ravine was on the other side of a logging area and a gate prevented them from driving through. They took with them a GPS unit so that they could get the right geographical coordinates.
“Just as they got to that horseshoe bend by the ravine, a four-wheel automobile came from the opposite direction. It was also searching for him. The vehicle stopped for a moment then set off again, and at that moment, Melissa and Josh saw the boy emerge from the forest,” Mike told me. “He had been in a ditch by the roadside and had covered himself with branches for protection and warmth.
“When he heard the vehicle he came out to attract attention. The car picked him up, then swung around the horseshoe bend and headed back to the police base camp.
“I was already on my way over to assist with the search when I received a called from Melissa saying, ‘We’ve found him!’
“When I asked where they had found him she replied, ‘Right at the horseshoe!’
“A group of Mormons heard us discussing the GPS coordinates, which were spot on, and they asked how it had happened,” Mike laughs. “So I said, as nonchalantly as possible, ‘Oh, my psychic told me.’
“‘You’ve got a psychic?’ they responded.
“‘Are you telling me you guys don’t?’ I answered. It was brilliant!”
For details of Sonja Grace’s book “Angels in the 21st century” click here. For books on PSYCHIC DETECTIVES click here
My next post will tell the story of the group who help protect abused children and organise searches for missing kids, and the psychic assistance they have received from Sonja Grace in six successful cases.