Montel: Holly Krewson Reading
Sylvia Browne tells the mother of a missing young woman that her daughter is alive.
She was wrong.
Background
In April 1995, 23-year-old Holly Krewson was reported missing by her family.
After more than seven years of searching, Holly's mother Gwendolyn Krewson appeared on an episode of the Montel Williams show in which she asked for Sylvia Browne's help.
This article will examine just how helpful Browne was.
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The Reading
(NOTE: I do not as yet have a copy of the show, just a transcipt via Lexis-Nexis. As soon as I have a copy of the show, video of the reading will be made available on this web site.)
On November 27 2002, an episode of the Montel Williams show was broadcast in which one of the guests, Gwendolyn Krewson, asked Sylvia Browne for help in locating her daughter Holly.
As is often the case in these missing-person episodes, the segment started with a pretaped video segment:
Krewson: Holly was a very beautiful girl. She was very, very talented and she had a bunch of trophies--talent contests, beauty pageants from the age of three up until she was, like, 17. I just can't really say when exactly she disappeared, because it wasn't unusual for her to be gone a couple weeks without checking in. The day that my husband died is the first real shocker, of, 'Oh, my God, where is Holly? She's not here. Something's wrong.' It's been like seven and a half years, and there's no body. And I still think she's alive. I've printed up fliers. All the kids help pass 'em out, anyplace we could do it. I have fliers at my office, fliers on my car. I put 'em all over the telephone poles. We get a lot of leads, but they don't go anywhere. Last December, I received a phone call at my office, and it was a small voice, said, 'Hi, Mama.' I just knew it was her.
Krewson: Holly, where are you? I love you. Holly, please talk to Mom.
Female Voice: Mom.
Krewson: What do you want, honey? I want--I want to find you. I want to help you. Where are you?
Female Voice: I don't know.
Krewson: Pretty soon, she just said, 'I love you, I love you,' and then the phone disconnected. And I know it was her. It hurts because I can't help her because I can't find her.
At the end of the video segment, Williams introduces Gwendolyn Krewson.
Williams: Please welcome Gwen to the show. Where's Gwen at? Hey, Gwen, why don't you tell us what happened to your daughter, what you think happened to your daughter?
Krewson: Well, she's been missing for over seven and a half years. She vanished without a trace. That's what I put on the fliers lately. I--I have no idea what happened to her, and I'd like...
Williams: Ooh, six--six years after she vanished, Gwen received this phone call. Listen to this.
Krewson: Talk to me, Holly, please.
Female Voice: Mom.
Krewson: Huh?
Female Voice: I love you, Mom.
Krewson: Holly, where are you? I love you. Holly, please talk to Mom.
Female Voice: Mom.
Krewson: What do you want, honey? I want--I want to find you. I want to help you. Where are you?
Female Voice: I don't know.
Krewson: Huh? Are you in San Diego?
Female Voice: Ohio.
Krewson: Ohio? Where in Ohio? Holly?
Female Voice: I love you.
Krewson: Holly.
Female Voice: I love you.
Krewson: I love you, honey. Where are you?
Williams: Sylvia, this was six years after her disappearance. I'm just wondering whether somebody's playing some sort of a sick joke. Or does that sound like your daughter?
Krewson: It did.
Browne: Oh, yes, it--it's her daughter. She is--I don't want to call white slavery, but somebody really took her, you know, and this is the hardest thing to do, especially because I'm a mother. She is in--not Ohio. She is in Los Angeles, and when she was calling you, she was on drugs. But she's still alive.
Krewson: She is alive?
Browne: Yes.
Krewson: Oh, thank God. Do you have any idea where I could look for her up there, or...
Browne: You know--and this is so funny, because I--I know LA very well because I have an apartment down there. But she's right in one of those--I hate to say it--it's right on Hollywood and Vine. If--if you were to get any PI to take her picture around--except she doesn't look quite like that now.
Krewson: No.
Browne: I mean, she looks very thin, gaunt, you know.
Williams: Will she be able to find her, or is this one of those situations where Mom should probably...
Browne: I think the mother should leave it alone.
Williams: And let her come from that.
Browne: I mean, I--if--if--if sh--if they go down there to find her, she'll run. You see how--you see how she was? She's ashamed. She doesn't want you. She lo--she just wanted you to know that she loved you. Now she also is--there's something about sending a card with no--like Christmas card or whatever, but there's no signature on it.
Krewson: I don't recall getting one.
Browne: Well, wait for this Christmas...
Krewson: Oh.
Browne: ...because you might get a Christmas card postmarked Los Angeles, but no, you know...
Krewson: I get a lot of hang-up calls, and I've had phone traces put on.
Browne: Oh, that's--that's her. Yeah, that's her. But that's not--she...
Krewson: But they haven't come up with anything.
Williams: When you had phone traces, where did they wind up at?
Krewson: The--they won't tell you. If they don't get two matches--I mean, if they get two matches, matching phone calls while the trap's on there, they call the police and have them investigate.
Williams: But they don't tell you where they came from?
Krewson: No.
Williams: Oh, OK. All right. Let me take a little break. We'll be back right after this.
The same day that the Montel Williams episode aired, there was mention of it in Preston Turregano's column
in the San Diego Union-Tribune's SignOnSanDiego.com web site. It contained the following paragraph about Mrs. Krewson's appearance with Browne (emphasis mine):
Psychic wrong?
Gwendolyn Krewson of La Mesa is among guests on today's installment of "Montel Williams"
airing at 2 p.m. on KUSI/Channel 51. On the show, Krewson consults with psychic Sylvia Browne
in connection with Williams' theme for the day – missing persons. Krewson's daughter, Holly, has been missing since April 1995. She said Browne told her Holly is in Hollywood working as a dancer in an adult entertainment nightclub. After returning to La Mesa from New York (where Williams' show is taped), Krewson and some of her relatives went to Hollywood the weekend of Nov. 16 and canvassed a number of nightclubs but failed to find her daughter.
Since there was no mention of the "working as a dancer in an adult entertainment nightclub" in the transcript, perhaps it was something edited out of the show for time, or perhaps it was something Browne said to Gwendolyn Krewson during the commercial break. I think it likely that Krewson would have asked Browne to clarify this cryptic statement:
But she's right in one of those--I hate to say it--it's right on Hollywood and Vine.
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Body Identified
On March 24, 2006, an article titled Remains found in 1996 finally identified
ran on the SignOnSandiego.com web site (emphasis mine).
Here is the beginning of that article (emphasis mine.)
Family has questions on longtime Jane Doe
By Joe Hughes
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
March 24, 2006
LA MESA – A body found near Descanso in 1996
was listed as a Jane Doe by the county Medical Examiner's Office for 10 years until it was identified last month as that of Holly Krewson, who was reported missing by her family in 1995.
Krewson, the daughter of a La Mesa print-shop owner, was 23 when she vanished. Unaware that her remains had been found, Krewson's family for years distributed tens of thousands of fliers on her birthday, listened to advice from psychics, made personal appeals on national television shows and followed leads on their own.
But a break in the case came didn't come until last month, when La Mesa police came up with information that would link Krewson to the Jane Doe. Dental records were used to confirm the identity.
Although the cause of Krewson's death remains unknown, the case now is considered an active homicide investigation. The unidentified remains were buried at county expense in 1996.
Another section of the article reads:
In 2002, she was the subject of a segment on the Montel Williams television show with a missing-people theme. On the program, a psychic said Holly could be found in Hollywood working as a dancer at an adult club.
The family went to Hollywood for a weekend and canvassed a number of nightclubs. Every time the family passed out a new batch of missing-person fliers, the calls of Holly sightings would come in.
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Analysis
When Sylvia Browne told Holly Krewson's mother that Holly was alive, Holly had been dead and buried for six years.
To clarify, here is a timeline of the events:
| Year |
Event |
| 1995 |
Holly Krewson disappears in San Diego County. |
| 1996 |
"Jane Doe" body found in San Diego County. |
| 2002 |
Sylvia Browne tells Holly's mother that Holly is alive and working as a stripper in Hollywood.. |
| 2006 |
The "Jane Doe" body found in 1996 is identified as Holly Krewson using dental records. |
Here then is Browne's "scorecard" for what is known about this reading:
| Sylvia Browne's Statements |
Reality |
| 1. That Holly was alive. |
WRONG. Holly had been dead for six years. |
| 2. That Holly was in Los Angeles. |
WRONG. Holly's grave was in San Diego County (around 150 miles south of Los Angeles). |
| 3. That Holly was working as a stripper. |
WRONG. Holly was dead. |
| 4. That Holly was the one who made the taped phone call. |
WRONG. Authorities eventually traced the calls to a prank caller in Canada (see Update May 20 2007 below) |
| 5. That Holly would be sending her mother an unsigned Christmas card. |
WRONG. |
| 6. That Holly was the person making the hang-up calls. |
WRONG. |
Browne's accuracy rating for this reading: 0%.
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Conclusion
Yet again, Browne is totally wrong about the key element in a missing person case: whether the missing person is alive or dead (other missing-person cases profiled on this site - where Browne was proven very wrong - include those of Opal Jo Jennings, Ryan Katcher, Shawn Hornbeck
and Lynda McClelland).
And, yet again, Browne's nonsense leads to a worried, vulnerable family devoting wasted hours following up on her nonsense "leads" which were 100% incorrect.
And I think it is safe to say that the image of her daughter working as a stripper could well have added to the suffering and distress felt by Holly's mother.
If so, it was an image she had with her until the end: Gwendolyn Krewson died of an aneurysm in 2003, three years before Holly's body was identified.
And, as with every time I document one of Browne's dismal failures in these missing-person cases, I invite anyone who knows of an episode of the Montel Williams show where Browne gave a reading on a missing person or murder case, and was later proven to be correct, to PLEASE BRING IT TO MY ATTENTION. I will research it, document it, and place an article about it here on this web site. Even if the reading itself did not result in the person being found or the murder being solved, so long as Browne's reading was filmed prior to the case's resolution.
I extend this invitation to Sylvia Browne, her staff, her fans, Montel Williams, his staff, his fans... ANYONE.
I have extended this invitation many times: in articles on this web site, on Browne-friendly web sites, and in response to emails I have received from Browne's fans. So far, the number of such cases which have been brought to my attention has been equal to Sylvia Browne's accuracy percentage in this reading:
Zero.
My thanks to QG for bringing this reading to my attention.
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Related Links
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Update: May 20th, 2007
I was contacted recently by Tim Krewson, one of Holly Krewson's brothers.
Here, with his permission, are two emails I received from him (emphasis mine):
Subject: my sister (Holly Krewson)
From: "tim krewson" [email address]
Date: Wed, May 09, 2007 7:39 pm
To: [email address]
Thank you for creating this web site, I can’t type as fast as I am thinking frustrating thoughts of Sylvia.
A little more for your story and time line after my mother returned from the Montel show I can’t say how many weekends we spent in Hollywood searching for Holly. I really didn’t believe the story from Sylvia, but after so many years we were grasping at straws. Unfortunately my mother passed away before the local authorities could get there heads out of there asses long enough to make the connections.
Thanks again
Tim S. Krewson
This just empasizes the fact that Browne's cruel nonsense caused this family untold wasted hours looking in the wrong place for Holly.
Subject: holly krewson
From: "tim krewson" [email address]
Date: Wed, May 09, 2007 7:39 pm
To: [email address]
Sorry,
a little more about Sylvia being wrong, the phone call ended up being some punk Kid in Canada thinking he was funny. The Canadian Authorities traced the call to there house and gave my mother there Word that they got one hell of a scare. But would not allow my brother and I to deliver our personal message to the Kid.
Thank you
Tim
This should end any speculation by Browne supporters that the phone call was somehow Holly calling from "The Other Side." It was a prank - somebody's cruel and twisted idea of a joke.
My thanks to Mr. Krewson for contacting me, and for sharing a little more of the story with readers of this site.
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