Woman with 'visions' found Menifee boy's body, officials say

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Community members hold candles after a vigil for 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith, whose body was believed to have been found after an extensive search. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Community members gather after a candlelight vigil in front of the Menifee Market for 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Friends, volunteers and community residents attend a candlelight vigil for Terry Dewayne Smith, 11, in front of the Menifee Market on Wednesday. Remains found Wednesday were believed to be those of the missing boy. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Search volunteers Ember Bridwell, left, with daughter Jaden Morrell, 9; Crystal Monk with daughter Sarah, 10; and Donny Moffitt with girlfriend Victoria Hammond attend a candlelight vigil for 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith in front of the Menifee Market on Wednesday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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A Riverside County sheriff’s investigator bags evidence at the Menifee home of 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Search volunteers Kathy Jablecki, right, her daughter, Stacy Jablecki, left, and Tyler True (not seen) hug one another outside the Menifee home of Terry Dewayne Smith, the 11-year-old autistic boy missing since last weekend. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Riverside County sheriff’s investigators walk up the driveway of the Menifee home of 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith searching for evidence into his disappearance. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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The Menifee home of Terry Dewayne Smith, an 11-year-old autistic boy missing since last weekend. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Riverside County sheriff’s investigators look for signs of 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith at his Menifee home. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Becca Smith, the mother of Terry Dewayne Smith, is surrounded by friends and neighbors during a prayer session at the volunteer center in Menifee. Terry Dewayne Smith, an 11-year-old autistic boy remains missing, despite the efforts of more than 100 volunteers and emergency workers who combed the hills of Menifee looking for the child. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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Volunteers gather before the start of a prayer session for Terry Dewayne Smith. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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Ashley Cathers hands out fliers on Scott Road in Menifee as the search continues for Terry Dewayne Smith. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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Fliers are passed out in the search for Terry Dewayne Smith. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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Volunteers pray for the safety of the lost boy as the search continues for Terry Dewayne Smith. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

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Bill Gillette signs in as scores of volunteers lined up Tuesday morning to join the search for 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith, who was last seen Saturday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Volunteers wait in line to sign up for the search Tuesday morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Tony Richuisa, left, Ciera West, Christina West and Brooke West search for Terry Dewayne Smith in Menifee. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Debi Velivis holds a sign at the intersection of Bundy Canyon Road and Murrieta Road with information about missing 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Debi Velivis holds a sign by the side of the road asking passersby to help find Terry Dewayne Smith. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Molly Jenks searches on horseback for missing 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Volunteers ventured out under blazing sun to look for missing 11-year-old Terry Dewayne Smith. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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A group of volunteers searches an area near Terry Dewayne Smith’s Menifee home. The effort to find the missing boy has included search dogs, helicopters and dozens of volunteers. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Volunteers search rural areas of Menifee on Tuesday for Terry Dewayne Smith. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

By Emily Foxhall

July 12, 2013 9:06 AM PT

Authorities confirmed Friday that the volunteer citizen who located the body of a missing Menifee boy was Pam Ragland, a woman who says she found the child using her “intuition.”

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department received a call just before 1 a.m. Wednesday from Ragland, 50, who said she had found human remains near the boy’s home.

The family allowed volunteers and officials to search their property throughout the process, said Sgt. Lisa McConnell, a sheriff’s spokeswoman. McConnell believed the area where the body was found had been searched before, but could not say how many times or by whom.

PHOTOS: Search for missing Menifee boy

Ragland said she experienced a vision of the location earlier that day: She saw a boy lying on his side with his eyes closed. He was in the dirt near a tree, with an unpaved road nearby. A building was to the right and a city was in the distance.

Ragland said that this and other visions Tuesday ultimately led to the discovery of a child’s body that authorities say matched the description of Terry Dewayne Smith Jr., an 11-year-old who had been missing for several days.

Ragland said she and her children, who have trained themselves to rely on “sixth sense” or “intuition” abilities, drove to Menifee from their home in Rancho Santa Margarita on Tuesday night.

Volunteers told her they planned to look for the boy around Menifee, but she felt he might be closer to home, she said.

An off-duty firefighter drove her around the property Tuesday night, she said. She didn’t know exactly where she was going but kept looking for landmarks that matched her vision.

She recognized a building, but kept searching. Then she arrived at a tree.

“I smelled something, and it smelled like something dead,” she said.

Her children found a lump, and they called out to her: “Mommy, here’s a dead animal.”

But when she looked at the lump, she realized: “That is not an animal. That’s a head.”

As Ragland described it, a blackened, bloated head was sticking up about 6 or 8 inches. Half of the nose and an eye were missing.

She immediately alerted authorities.

Ragland does not call herself a psychic. She said she is a “healer,” who believes that people can hone their intuition. On her website, Ragland said she has pioneered “Quantum Thought Shifting,” an “entirely new form of energy technology on this planet.”

Ragland said she has not always embraced her abilities. She said she once dreamed that President Reagan was going to be shot. The next day, he was. Worried she might have accidentally caused the attack, she said she tried to turn her abilities off.

Over the years, she said, she has learned to accept it.

“I believe that we all have abilities and we learn not to use them. I think that’s what happened -- I learned to use mine again,” she said.

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Twitter: @emfoxhall

emily.foxhall@latimes.com