Deborah M. Heinecker
Businesswoman
Psychic

Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Deborah graduated from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County earning a BA degree in English with an emphasis on medieval literature and a minor in accounting. Deborah worked as a consultant combining her computer knowledge with her writing abilities designing computer systems, and developing standards, procedures and user manuals for clients.

Deborah's career made the improbable leap from businesswoman to psychic consultant in the summer months of 1991 when her love for animals lead her to help a Maryland police department find their missing canine.

Early one morning in July 1991, she read an article in the local newspaper about a Montgomery County Police canine that had gone missing following a training exercise. Deborah’s unique psychic abilities allowed her to clearly “see” that the dog’s lead had broken and had gotten caught on a downed tree near a stream in the woods. Deborah’s love for animals overcame her reluctance to make her abilities known. She contacted the police and within hours led them to the canine, found exactly as she had predicted, with its lead caught on a downed tree near a stream in the woods.

Although Deborah had requested anonymity, the media announced that a "psychic" had found the missing canine. An article in the Washington Post brought hundreds of telephones call and letters requesting her assistance in everything from missing persons cases to lost property.

In the years that followed, Deborah became a well-respected psychic investigator who shunned the spotlight while providing significant information in over 50 cases nationally including arsons, robberies, homicides and missing persons. Utilizing details provided by Deborah, local, state and federal law enforcement personnel were able to obtain appropriate warrants and facilitate arrests after following leads suggested by the information.

Additionally, Deborah assisted many families directly in resolving adult disappearances where foul play was not suspected and law enforcement was not involved.

In May 1993, Deborah was profiled on a WUSA Channel 9 News (Washington, D.C.) series entitled "Visions of Crime." Her cases were profiled for an entire week during the evening news hour and featured testimony by police and FBI regarding the veracity of her work. Since then she has appeared on numerous television, radio and internet broadcasts and has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles. She has been the keynote speaker at various conferences including VISIONS: The Women's Expo, held annually at the Washington, D.C. Convention Center.

A published author, Deborah wrote "The Reluctant Psychic" in 2001, a semi-autobiographical mystery based on her first homicide investigation. Although names were changed to protect the identities of the people involved, the actual case was featured on the Biography Channel’s Psychic Investigators in August 2009. Originally aired on August 15, “Family Ties” dealt with the murder of a woman on the eastern shore of Maryland whom police believed had simply left the area in spite of her family’s insistence that she had been the victim of foul play. Brought into the investigation by the family, Deborah was able to provide detailed information which eventually led to the killers’ arrests. The police appearing in the episode actually credit Deborah with solving the case.

Another of Deborah’s cases was detailed on Psychic Investigators on August 29, 2009. “Femme Fatality” dealt with the bizarre case of Hadden Clark, a serial killer whose victims included a 6 year old girl and a 24 year old Harvard graduate from the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. In addition to other significant information she was able to provide to the police, Deborah’s impressions accurately described Clark as a cross-dresser who donned his victim’s clothing to leave the scene of his last murder.

In a change of pace from the serious nature of her usual work, Deborah's first paranormal investigations began in the fall of 2007 when she joined retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Athena Varounis to investigate haunted locations throughout Franklin County, Pennsylvania. The results of their collaboration can be found in the recently published, "Franklin County Ghosts." The two women joined to form Vesuvius Investigative Consultants in 2008.

Deborah continues to assist law enforcement and families utilizing her psychic skills and experience. In between cases, Deborah provides informative yet entertaining lectures to diverse audiences. Deborah is an adjunct professor and has spoken on college campuses nationally on topics relevant to both her academic training and psychic investigations.