newspaper

In an effort to find Stephanie Bennett's killer, police used the traditional tools of shoe leather and forensic science,
but they also engaged the services of a psychic.
Raleigh detectives called Sherrie Dillard, a professional clairvoyant in Durham County, in August and asked her for
help with a case, but they did not specify which. Detective Ken Copeland told Dillard that he thought her abilities
might help and asked what information she needed, Dillard said Monday.

Copeland gave Dillard only one piece of information: Bennett's name and birth date. Dillard knew of Bennett's death
in 2002 but had not closely followed the case.

During the next three weeks, Dillard centered her thoughts on Bennett, using her psychic powers to learn more about
the killer's personality, she said.

She met detectives outside Bennett's Lake Lynn Drive apartment Aug. 29 for a two-hour session that included a tour
of the neighborhood in a detective's cruiser. Dillard said she sensed the suspect was a loner, tall, skinny and
disheveled. He played with children outside the apartment where Bennett lived, she thought.

"I did not think he lived there any longer. I felt that he still lived close by," Dillard said. "I felt strongly that he [had] lived
in the area."

Last week, police arrested Drew Edward Planten, 35, of Raleigh and charged him with murder in Bennett's death.
Police said Planten's DNA matched DNA left at Bennett's apartment when she was sexually assaulted and strangled
May 21, 2002.

Raleigh police said Monday that they were grateful for Dillard's time but that detectives had learned nothing new from
conversations with her.

"Their contact was in August," said Jim Sughrue, police spokesman. "That was after a potential suspect had been
identified."

Dillard said Copeland encouraged her to continue working even when she tried to back out of the case.

"They would have never gotten ahold of me if they didn't need me," Dillard said.

Dillard told police the suspect had used sudden force to kill Bennett, according to e-mail messages Dillard sent
Copeland. The killer was scared, nervous and filled with adrenaline. Dillard thought the man did not care whether he
killed Bennett; he just wanted to feel as though he was in control.

Copeland would check with Dillard via e-mail or phone, listening to her visions and encouraging her to keep going,
she said.

"He never grilled me," Dillard said.

"He never said, 'How about this; how about that.' He never said to me, 'We've got this person we're thinking of.' "

Two rewards have been offered in the case, but Dillard said she did not know about the money until late August when
police told her about the rewards.

In 2003, Raleigh police offered a $10,000 reward for information that led to the arrest and conviction of Bennett's
killer. That same year, Bennett's father offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. So far, neither
reward has been paid.

The August phone call was the first time Triangle police have contacted Dillard and asked for help. Dillard has
worked on homicide and missing-person cases, but her help is usually sought by victims' families. While Dillard
usually charges people on a sliding scale, Raleigh police did not pay for her services.

Raleigh police have worked with clairvoyants and hypnotists in the past.

Chief Frederick K. Heineman, who oversaw the department during the 1980s, often flew a psychic to Raleigh to
consult with police on unsolved murder and missing-person cases. In the 1990s, investigators used a hypnotist to
help a witness recall the slaying of a Blockbuster Video clerk.

The day after their Aug. 29 meeting, Copeland wrote to Dillard, thanking her. By September, communication between
the two had ceased. A few weeks later, police arrested Planten.

Dillard sent e-mail to Copeland last week, telling him she was thrilled to learn of the arrest. Copeland, Dillard said,
has yet to respond.

###

###

'A PERSON THAT FITS'

Detective Ken Copeland's Aug. 30 e-mail to Dillard after she described her visions of the suspect:

"Like I said, you may be closer than you think.

"I'll be frank with you. I have a person that fits the description [you're] describing.

"Hangs out with children close by. Stays to himself. Does not have a career. Lives close to the area we pointed out
yesterday, however, he is a white male, 35 years old, tall, skinny and a recluse socially, and a loner."

Dillard's Aug. 12 e-mail description of the suspect:

"He was not sure he was strong enough to pin her down," Dillard said. "He used quick force. ... He was challenging
himself, his strength, his ability."

Psychic: 'Divine Intervention' Aided In Bennett Murder Suspect's Arrest

Posted: Oct 25, 2005

DURHAM, N.C. — A Durham woman said she believes psychic intervention played a role in arresting a suspect in the
3-year-old murder investigation of 23-year-old Stephanie Bennett.

In August 2005, psychic Sherrie Dillard said she worked for about a month with Raleigh police investigator Ken
Copeland to try to identify a suspect in Bennett's death. The two talked on the phone, via e-mail and even visited the
North Raleigh apartment where Bennett's body was found on May 21, 2002.

During that trip, Dillard said she even led police to an apartment close to Bennett's, where investigators believe the
suspect, 35-year-old Drew Planten, may have lived.

Dillard, who has a Master's degree in divinity, called it "divine intervention."

"Sometimes, you just know, and I just knew," Dillard said. "That's where (the suspect) lived, and I could see right
where he walked up, too. I don't know, I think I was helped a lot, maybe from Stephanie."

E-mail messages between Dillard and Copeland show Dillard was providing information that described the suspect.
In her e-mails, Dillard described the suspect as a "loner, someone young and wiry."

"They had over 100 suspects," Dillard said. "This narrowed it down to a profile of one and that's when they were able
to pinpoint him."

Dillard said she had visions where she kept seeing black. She now believes that was because Planten was often
described as wearing black. Initially, Dillard said she thought the suspect might have been younger, but after seeing
Planten, she said she thinks it was just that he looked young.

"He had no feeling for her, no guilt, just complete cold," Dillard said of the suspect she described to investigators.

In response to some of the information she provided to investigators, Copeland said Dillard was "doing great." In one
e-mail response that she showed to WRAL, Copeland apparently wrote to Dillard: "You may be closer than you think.
I have a person that fits the description you are describing."

And while she never got paid for her work, Dillard said she felt like her work was priceless in helping to narrow the
field of suspects.

"I felt like I was instrumental in bringing them specific information that they matched to someone they had kind of
suspected," Dillard said.

While Raleigh police said they were grateful for their contact with Dillard, they told WRAL Monday that her
consultation did not provide detectives with any information beyond what they already knew, A spokesman told
WRAL that with the Bennett investigation, police interviewed more than 1,000 people and that they had been willing
to talk to anyone who they thought could help them with the case.