WAKEFIELD: This is interview eight for case number 2000-08-002, the homicide investigation of Raychel Vanderhoff. The interview of Anna Fantiani is being conducted by me, Detective Kevin Wakefield. For the record, what is your profession?
FANTIANI: I am a psychic advisor.
WAKEFIELD: Did you ever meet Raychel Vanderhoff on a professional basis?
FANTIANI: That is why I am here, yes.
WAKEFIELD: When did you begin seeing Raychel?
FANTIANI: We met informally on June 8th of this year. Following that meeting, we met on a weekly basis until she died.
WAKEFIELD: June 8th? So you saw her very quickly after she had been beaten by Kyle McAllister?
FANTIANI: That was coincidental to our meeting. There was another reason that we met.
WAKEFIELD: And that was?
FANTIANI: I came to her to tell her that her father had died.
WAKEFIELD: Were you a friend of the Vanderhoff family prior to meeting Raychel?
FANTIANI: No.
WAKEFIELD: Then how did you know that Raychel's father had died?
FANTIANI: We communed.
WAKEFIELD: Excuse me?
FANTIANI: It is normally called channeling. Mr. Vanderhoff took control of my body on the night he died and tried to contact his daughter. While I normally have control of my actions during these experiences, Mr. Vanderhoff was a very strong entity, and I lost consciousness. I wasn't aware of it as it happened. It wasn't until I was on her doorstep that I understood who my message was for.
WAKEFIELD: You mean Laura's doorstep.
FANTIANI: Yes. I first saw Ms. Vanderhoff when she was at Laura Douglass' home.
WAKEFIELD: How did you know -- really how did Mr. Vanderhoff know -- that Raychel was living with Laura Douglass? She had only come there two days earlier. Can you explain that?
FANTIANI: As I said before, Detective Wakefield, I am a psychic.
WAKEFIELD: I know what you said, Ms. Fantiani. I just find it hard to believe in psychic powers.
FANTIANI: Are you a man of faith, Detective?
WAKEFIELD: I am a Christian, if that's what you're asking.
FANTIANI: Do you ask for demonstrations of God's powers to prove your faith or do you merely accept your faith?
WAKEFIELD: Are you assuming that I was going to ask for a demonstration of your powers or were you making a prediction?
FANTIANI: I assumed it, Detective.
WAKEFIELD: Well, I really wasn't going to ask, just for the record. It doesn't matter whether or not I believe you have psychic abilities. What matters is that Raychel came to you and talked to you. When Laura Douglass gave her statement, she indicated that you were very influential in Raychel's life. I wanted to limit our discussion to those subjects, if you don't mind. And one other thing that I would like to get out of the way immediately. Where were you on the night of August 17th?
FANTIANI: I was consulting with clients.
WAKEFIELD: Near midnight?
FANTIANI: It's a very lucrative time for my profession. In fact, while we are on the subject, this is for you. It is a copy of my appointment book for that night. I have added the phone numbers for your convenience. I have notified them of the possibility that they may be contacted by you, so they will be expecting your call. I also have receipts for payments in case you wanted them.
WAKEFIELD: That's very thorough of you. Thanks. You also met Sharon Wolfe, didn't you?
FANTIANI: Of course. After what just happened, they were nearly inseparable.
WAKEFIELD: Well, there is some debate as to who actually paid her for her services. In fact, we've come to an impasse on that, and I was wondering-
FANTIANI: You want me use my powers to find out who paid for Ms. Wolfe? It's not that simple, Detective-
WAKEFIELD: No, I wasn't asking for your assistance.
FANTIANI: Then what did you want to know?
WAKEFIELD: I wanted to know who paid you for your services.
FANTIANI: Oh, sorry. I was paid by Ms. Vanderhoff. Obviously not the first time we met. I would have paid her for her time, just to get her father out of my life. But when we scheduled regular meetings, then she paid me.
WAKEFIELD: Did you meet with her on an hourly basis?
FANTIANI: Yes. I usually met people for a half hour, but I could tell that she needed more assistance than most people I encounter. Most people just want to know if they are ever going to find true love or money. Ms. Vanderhoff came to me with real problems. I felt there was a bigger reason that I was chosen to deliver her father's message to her. I was meant to help her. So I did.
WAKEFIELD: So how did you help her? What type of services did you provide? You said you channeled her father. Did you channel other people for her?
FANTIANI: No, I didn't commune with others for her. She had far more pressing problems among the living.
WAKEFIELD: So what did you do to help her?
FANTIANI: We went through a number of different methods. I feel it is important to search all avenues of assistance before settling on just one. You have to find what discipline works best in your relationship with the client. We effectively used tarot, astrology, and clairvoyance -- when it came. Clairvoyance is the toughest discipline to master. First you have the gift, then you have to know the difference between clairvoyance and intuition. Then you have to know-
WAKEFIELD: So just those three things then: Tarot cards, astrology, and clairvoyance?
FANTIANI: Well, I spoke with her, too.
WAKEFIELD: Did it help?
FANTIANI: There is no need for sarcasm, Detective Wakefield. Of course it helped. I used these interviews as the basis for guided meditations. Ms. Vanderhoff was not a pensive person. She was often too busy building and destroying her relationships to understand the ramifications of her actions. When she came to me-
WAKEFIELD: You went to her.
FANTIANI: When we met . . . she had shattered her life.
WAKEFIELD: No, Kyle McAllister did that.
FANTIANI: I disagree. Ms. Vanderhoff may have been kidnapped by Mr. McAllister, but she was the person who kept him in her life. With her current group of acquaintances, that was honestly the best person for her; however, she did not allow her relationship with him to mature. She helped keep their relationship in the abusive cycle.
WAKEFIELD: By acting as Kyle McAllister's punching bag?
FANTIANI: No, by constantly placing another man in her life. Ms. Vanderhoff had a history of having too many men battling for her affections. Had she concentrated on just one of them, her life would have been very different.
WAKEFIELD: So you believe that she was murdered by one of the men in her life?
FANTIANI: It is the most likely possibility, is it not? Her murder was a crime of intense passion. I do not see a woman having that kind of passion bottled up within herself to release on Ms. Vanderhoff. No, I believe it was a man. But then I suppose you already knew that.
WAKEFIELD: I did, but thank you for your analysis. That is why I asked you here. So, was Raychel afraid of any one man?
FANTIANI: Ms. Vanderhoff was afraid of no one. I expect that was her problem.
WAKEFIELD: So let me go down the list then. You've already mentioned Kyle McAllister, so let's continue with him. He was abusive but you pushed Raychel to him. Why?
FANTIANI: He was not dangerous to her if she would stop having affairs. The last time Mr. McAllister beat her was when he found out that she had been having an affair with Geoffrey MacIntyre. My recommendation for her to remain with Mr. McAllister was dependent upon her commitment to a monogamous relationship with him. That would stabilize their relationship so that it could progress further.
WAKEFIELD: But he abused her before then. Why?
FANTIANI: Geoffrey MacIntyre wasn't the only person Raychel slept with.
WAKEFIELD: Lance Wagner, I know. But that was before Kyle McAllister kidnapped her.
FANTIANI: I am not referring to Mr. Wagner.
WAKEFIELD: Ken Kincaid? Oh! He even told me that he loved her. I didn't even think to ask him. He slept with her. How long?
FANTIANI: Almost six months after they first met. Just after she came back with Mr. McAllister from North Dakota.
WAKEFIELD: The "kidnapping?" She was using him to get a recording contract, wasn't she?
FANTIANI: She used every man she knew, Detective Wakefield.
WAKEFIELD: Did Kyle know?
FANTIANI: She didn't know for certain. But she believed he . . . suspected. So he acted out.
WAKEFIELD: He abused her because he couldn't prove it?
FANTIANI: You make it sound as if she was only the recipient.
WAKEFIELD: Are you telling me that she abused him?
FANTIANI: It wasn't always abuse as you refer to it. Sometimes, it is just a fight. No one notes when a man is injured.
WAKEFIELD: You're not saying she abused Kyle?
FANTIANI: As a means to an end, yes. If she needed to make time, a fight was as good an excuse as any to get time away from a possessive lover. If she was injured, that was a consequence, even a license.
WAKEFIELD: That is so (EXPLETIVE DELETED) up.
FANTIANI: You or I would not act as such because we are rational people. Ms. Vanderhoff did not have a rational soul. She was impulsive, and never had the opportunity to learn what could come from a healthy and prolonged relationship. She never had one. I tried to help her make one with the person she felt she needed most in her life. The others had to be obstructed.
WAKEFIELD: Obstructed?
FANTIANI: From Ms. Vanderhoff.
WAKEFIELD: So Raychel asked Sharon to start dating Geoffrey MacIntyre to cut him out of the equation while Lance Wagner was already believed to be gone, and Ken Kincaid slept with the rest of the female population?
FANTIANI: The most important thing was that Ms. Vanderhoff was with the one person she saw herself maintaining a relationship with. I let her make the decision. When she realized that he was the one person she wanted to be with, I provided the conduit for them to re-establish and maintain their relationship.
WAKEFIELD: I've been told that you pushed her to Kyle.
FANTIANI: I only guided her toward the conclusion that she herself had already decided upon. Ms. Vanderhoff did not have the ability to maintain a relationship without assistance. She needed help and she wanted help that I what I provided. I utilized my powers to assist her in that process, but she was the one who was in control.
WAKEFIELD: That seems very convenient, Ms. Fantiani. If you were in control of Ms. Vanderhoff when something happened to her, then -- in a way -- you could be considered responsible for her murder, couldn't you?
(PAUSE)
FANTIANI: I believe I have given you what you have asked for?
WAKEFIELD: You have. Thank you.
(END)
