Psychic Vincent Sisters to murder victim's family

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Carol Polo smiled and just as quickly burst into tears on Wednesday when two Butler County psychics asked whether her late daughter, Samantha Lang, enjoyed keeping animals, both stuffed and live, in her purse.

Lang's sister, Rachel Miller, was equally astonished at the question posed by psychic sisters Jean and Suzanne Vincent outside the Derry Township home where Lang was brutally murdered seven years ago.

“Oh my. ... Samantha loved stuffed animals, and also had a live, pet chinchilla that she always stuffed inside her purse and carried everywhere,” Miller said.

After seven years of tips to police and a $50,000 reward failed to bring about an arrest in Lang's killing, family members returned to the crime scene on Wednesday and had the Vincent sisters do a “psychic reading” at the home.

“My emotions are all over the place today,” Polo said. “I'm excited one minute that this may bring us a step closer to solving it, but the next minute I'm sick to my stomach knowing what happened here.

“My hope is that bringing Suzanne and Jean here and getting information to pass along to state police will bring an end to our family's nightmare after seven years, 

“Oh my. ... Samantha loved stuffed animals, and also had a live, pet chinchilla that she always stuffed inside her purse and carried everywhere,” Miller said.

After seven years of tips to police and a $50,000 reward failed to bring about an arrest in Lang's killing, family members returned to the crime scene on Wednesday and had the Vincent sisters do a “psychic reading” at the home.

“My emotions are all over the place today,” Polo said. “I'm excited one minute that this may bring us a step closer to solving it, but the next minute I'm sick to my stomach knowing what happened here.

“My hope is that bringing Suzanne and Jean here and getting information to pass along to state police will bring an end to our family's nightmare after seven years,” Polo said.

Last month, Polo and state police at Greensburg announced that a donor has more than doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Lang's killer, raising it to $50,000. That reward stands through Tuesday, Polo said.

The Vincent sisters stood outside the one-story frame home and asked Polo and Miller for personal information about Lang, including her birth date and her job at a landscaping business. They looked at her portrait and personal belongings that family members held.

Clutching a rosary, Suzanne Vincent immediately began describing “markers” she envisioned about Lang.

She quizzed Polo about a garden Lang planned to put in at her mother's home just before she was murdered. As the sisters walked to the back door, they told Polo and Miller they felt that is where Lang's murderer, a male, and a female conspirator entered the house.

“I see a male-female connection. It may have been jealousy,” Jean Vincent said.

Suzanne Vincent told Polo, “Samantha says, ‘Mom, you know who did it.' ”

The Vincents believe the dispute involved money.

“They were ransacking the house, looking for something. The man was (angry) at the whole family. ... not just Samantha,” Suzanne said.

“She had an attitude, too,” Jean said.

State police said someone slashed Lang's throat on March 27, 2007, leaving her to bleed to death in her home.

Lang's body was found about 9 p.m. in the home along Route 982, where she lived with her father and brother. A family friend found her on the floor between the kitchen and living room in a pool of blood with her cellphone nearby, according to police.

Police noted “a strong smell of marijuana” in the home, according to a search warrant affidavit. The house appeared to have been ransacked. A rear door had been forced open, and a gray metal safe was left on a bed. A metal lockbox was found on a back porch, according to police.

Police said the house was a known hub of “drug activity.”

The victim's father, James C. Lang Jr., and her brother, James III, were incarcerated in the Westmoreland County jail at the time of the slaying. Polo and James Lang divorced in 1999.

Lang, a 2004 graduate of Greater Latrobe High School, had started a job at Laurel Nursery in Unity the week she died. She was taking courses at the Western School of Business in Monroeville to become a paralegal.

Jean Vincent had encouraging words for Samantha Lang's relatives Wednesday.

“

“I envision they will get caught. ... Someone knows something and will come forward. You will get closure,” she said.

Polo plans to forward information from the psychic reading to state police detectives. 

“They have had a lot of tips, but just not enough concrete evidence to make an arrest,” she said.

The Vincent sister did psychic readings in 2005 when Donald Liscak, 27, of Blairsville went missing. Relatives contacted the sisters who said Liscak would be found dead, just off a busy street, near a tree with a split trunk.

Eleven days later, state police found Liscak dead in his sport utility vehicle, which had crashed into a tree in the median of Route 119 in Indiana County. Passing motorists didn't notice the SUV because the impact had splintered the tree's base and knocked it onto the vehicle.

The Vincents also did a reading for the friends of a Blairsville dentist, Dr. John Yelenic, who was murdered at his home in 2006. Former state Trooper Kevin Foley was later convicted of murder in that case.

Clutching a rosary, Suzanne Vincent immediately began describing “markers” she envisioned about Lang.

She quizzed Polo about a garden Lang planned to put in at her mother's home just before she was murdered. As the sisters walked to the back door, they told Polo and Miller they felt that is where Lang's murderer, a male, and a female conspirator entered the house.

“I see a male-female connection. It may have been jealousy,” Jean Vincent said.

Suzanne Vincent told Polo, “Samantha says, ‘Mom, you know who did it.' ”

The Vincent's believe the dispute involved money.

“They were ransacking the house, looking for something. The man was (angry) at the whole family. ... not just Samantha,” Suzanne said.

“She had an attitude, too,” Jean said.

State police said someone slashed Lang's throat on March 27, 2007, leaving her to bleed to death in her home.

Lang's body was found about 9 p.m. in the home along Route 982, where she lived with her father and brother. A family friend found her on the floor between the kitchen and living room in a pool of blood with her cellphone nearby, according to police.

Police noted “a strong smell of marijuana” in the home, according to a search warrant affidavit. The house appeared to have been ransacked. A rear door had been forced open, and a gray metal safe was left on a bed. A metal lockbox was found on a back porch, according to police.

Police said the house was a known hub of “drug activity.”

The victim's father, James C. Lang Jr., and her brother, James III, were incarcerated in the Westmoreland County jail at the time of the slaying. Polo and James Lang divorced in 1999.

Lang, a 2004 graduate of Greater Latrobe High School, had started a job at Laurel Nursery in Unity the week she died. She was taking courses at the Western School of Business in Monroeville to become a paralegal.

Jean Vincent had encouraging words for Samantha Lang's relatives Wednesday.

“I envision they will get caught. ... Someone knows something and will come forward. You will get closure,” she said.

Polo plans to forward information from the psychic reading to state police detectives.

“They have had a lot of tips, but just not enough concrete evidence to make an arrest,” she said.

The Vincent sister did psychic readings in 2005 when Donald Liscak, 27, of Blairsville went missing. Relatives contacted the sisters who said Liscak would be found dead, just off a busy street, near a tree with a split trunk.

Eleven days later, state police found Liscak dead in his sport utility vehicle, which had crashed into a tree in the median of Route 119 in Indiana County. Passing motorists didn't notice the SUV because the impact had splintered the tree's base and knocked it onto the vehicle.

The Vincents also did a reading for the friends of a Blairsville dentist, Dr. John Yelenic, who was murdered at his home in 2006. Former state Trooper Kevin Foley was later convicted of murder in that case.

At 22 years old, Samantha Lang‘s future was bright.

“She was smart, beautiful and the smile she had would light up a room,” said Carol Polo, Lang’s mother. The paralegal student’s life was cut tragically short 

On March 27, 2007, Lang was found dead in her home on Route 982.

“Some days it feels longer and some days, you know, it feels like yesterday,” said Polo.

Lang was found lying in a pool of blood with her throat slashed from ear to ear. It’s still so upsetting for Polo to talk about. 

Every day, someone gives Carol Polo information about the murder of her 22-year-old daughter, Samantha Joann Lang, in Derry Township five years ago.

The tips -- details about Samantha's murder and the identity of her killer -- stream in from acquaintances of the dozen or so residents of the greater Derry-Latrobe area who know what happened, Mrs. Polo said. But so far, none of those people has been willing to volunteer new information directly to the state police investigating the case.

Investigators believe they can catch her daughter's murderer, Mrs. Polo said, but they need more information to make the convictions stick.

"People haven't forgotten what happened," said Mrs. Polo, of Latrobe. "We just need the right person to come forward and be brave and not be intimidated."

In the years since Samantha Lang was found, her throat slashed, in the kitchen of her father's home in March 2007, her family members and friends have raised $3,000 to add to a $2,000 reward offered by Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers in an effort to solve the crime. A total cash reward of $5,000 will be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who killed her, according to state police investigators. Information can be given anonymously and tipsters' identities will be kept confidential.

Anyone with information on the case should call the Greensburg barracks at 1-724-832-3288 or Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers at 1-800-472-8477, or submit information online at

Every day, someone gives Carol Polo information about the murder of her 22-year-old daughter, Samantha Joann Lang, in Derry Township five years ago.

The tips -- details about Samantha's murder and the identity of her killer -- stream in from acquaintances of the dozen or so residents of the greater Derry-Latrobe area who know what happened, Mrs. Polo said. But so far, none of those people has been willing to volunteer new information directly to the state police investigating the case.

Investigators believe they can catch her daughter's murderer, Mrs. Polo said, but they need more information to make the convictions stick.

"People haven't forgotten what happened," said Mrs. Polo, of Latrobe. "We just need the right person to come forward and be brave and not be intimidated."

In the years since Samantha Lang was found, her throat slashed, in the kitchen of her father's home in March 2007, her family members and friends have raised $3,000 to add to a $2,000 reward offered by Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers in an effort to solve the crime. A total cash reward of $5,000 will be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who killed her, according to state police investigators.  

The case is one of the top priorities of the state police in Greensburg, said investigator Trooper Robert Harr. Troopers throughout the barracks, he said, from patrol officers to undercover vice officers to criminal investigators, ask people they come in contact with for information about Samantha Lang's murder.

"We think it's a solvable case," Trooper Harr said. "We think people in our area know a lot more than we're being told and for whatever reason won't come forward with information."

Ms. Lang, her mother said, lived with her but checked on her father's house on Route 982 every other day while he and his second wife were incarcerated. After Ms. Lang's body was found, authorities said the home appeared to have been ransacked.

Mrs. Polo said she doesn't know why someone would murder her daughter, a funny, outgoing and loving young woman who often visited her mother during her overnight shift at Walmart and who so doted on her younger brother and niece that she joined her mother in signing up for Latrobe Elementary School's parent-teacher organization.

But she's positive she knows who killed her daughter, because all those secret tips over the years have pointed in just one direction. And she's not going to stop pushing for answers until her daughter's murder is solved, she said.

"She was my baby -- she was my baby girl," Mrs. Polo said. "Do they think this family is going to forget about her? We're coming for them, we are fighting and when all is said and done, the dominos are going to fall."

Anyone with information about Samantha's murder, she said, should know that her daughter would have done everything in her power to help them if their situations were reversed.

"I'm not a snitch, OK? But if it comes to somebody's murder, I would tell what I knew in a heartbeat and so would Samantha," Mrs. Polo said. "She would be the first to tell what she knew."

  Pittsburgh Post Gaszette KAREN KANE  

The reasons are many.

Carol Polo of Westmoreland County is desperate to know who murdered her 22-year-old daughter, Samantha Lang. Vicki Scheller of Butler County was determined to recover the body of her son, Mickey Schller, 21.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan sought to protect her husband, then-President Ronald Reagan. Former state Sen. Jane Orie and her sister, former state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, wanted to learn the outcome of the criminal investigations that eventually would prove to be their undoing.

Pat DiFiore, recently retired from Cranberry Public Library, said the speaking program at the library that consistently has the biggest draw is a pair of Butler County sister psychics, Suzanne Vincent and Jean McKenzie Vincent, who have been part of the library’s speaking series for about five years.

The library's meeting rooms hold about 50 people, and Ms. DiFiore has moved the program to a bigger area, "and, even though that had space for 80, we’ve had to turn people away,” she said.

Suzanne Vincent of Butler said she believes those who dabble in the paranormal are exploring their personal sense of connection to “the other side.”

“Everybody has an ability,” she said. “You might get a vibration or a dream or a hunch or an intuition. Maybe you don’t give it much notice. But, it could be an angel or a spirit guide coming to you.''

She said she became aware of her connection when she was about 4 years old and she received a “visit” from her deceased grandmother. Over the years, as she pursued a conventional life as a hairstylist and caregiver, practicing her Roman Catholic faith, she increasingly began tuning in to her abilities as a spiritual medium. She said she uses them — at no charge — to help others. She and her sister recently came to the aid of two mourning mothers, she said.

In October 2013, Ms. Scheller of Franklin asked the sisters for their help in locating her son. Ms. Scheller said she knew from Aug. 7, 2013, the first day that her son, Mickey, was missing, that he was dead. “But, I wanted to know where he was. I wanted that closure,” she said.

Ms. Scheller credits the sisters for giving her that. With his shirt in hand, they drove to some of the areas her son was known to have frequented until they reached a point where the sisters said they felt his “energy.” Because of rainy weather and the terrain, Ms. Scheller had to wait until the next day, Oct. 20, to return to the site. Her son’s body was found nearby in his Jeep.

“I know it sounds strange, but we were driving around and, all of a sudden, they both just had this feeling. And they were right,” Ms. Scheller recalled. “It was 74 days of Mickey being gone, and it was a very bad time of our lives. Without them, we couldn’t have put all the things together that we put together to find him. They did it out of the kindness and they answered our prayer in helping us find him,” she said. She would not discuss the details of her son’s cause of death.

More recently, the sisters were asked to help Ms. Polo of Latrobe. On April 23, they met at a house in Derry Township — the place where Ms. Polo’s daughter was killed on March 27, 2007 — in an attempt to help Ms. Polo learn something about the circumstances of the homicide.

“It’s been all this time and her murder is still unsolved. As a mother, you’re willing to try anything,” Ms. Polo said.

As for her impression of the encounter: “It was amazing. They said they could hear her laugh. She had such a distinctive laugh and they described it. And they gave us the initials of her killer … I’m a believer,’’ Ms. Polo said.

Police investigation into the murder is ongoing.

Psychic sisters Suzanne and Jean Vincent did a psychic readings in 2005 when Donald Liscak, 27, of Blairsville went missing. Relatives contacted the sisters who said Liscak would be found dead, just off a busy street, near a tree with a split trunk.

Eleven days later, state police found Liscak dead in his sport utility vehicle, which had crashed into a tree in the median of Route 119 in Indiana County. Passing motorists didn't notice the SUV because the impact had splintered the tree's base and knocked it onto the vehicle.

The Vincents also did a reading for the friends of a Blairsville dentist, Dr. John Yelenic, who was murdered at his home in 2006. Former state Trooper Kevin Foley was later convicted of murder in that case.

 Pittsburgh Post Gaszette

 KAREN KANE  

 May 14,2014

The reasons are many.

Carol Polo of Westmoreland County is desperate to know who murdered her 22-year-old daughter, Samantha Lang. Vicki Scheller of Butler County was determined to recover the body of her son, Mickey Schller, 21.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan sought to protect her husband, then-President Ronald Reagan. Former state Sen. Jane Orie and her sister, former state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, wanted to learn the outcome of the criminal investigations that eventually would prove to be their undoing.

Suzanne Vincent of Butler said she believes those who dabble in the paranormal are exploring their personal sense of connection to “the other side.”

“Everybody has an ability,” she said. “You might get a vibration or a dream or a hunch or an intuition. Maybe you don’t give it much notice. But, it could be an angel or a spirit guide coming to you.''

She said she became aware of her connection when she was about 4 years old and she received a “visit” from her deceased grandmother. Over the years, as she pursued a conventional life as a hairstylist and caregiver, practicing her Roman Catholic faith, she increasingly began tuning in to her abilities as a spiritual medium. She said she uses them — at no charge — to help others. She and her sister recently came to the aid of two mourning mothers, she said.

In October 2013, Ms. Scheller of Franklin asked the sisters for their help in locating her son. Ms. Scheller said she knew from Aug. 7, 2013, the first day that her son, Mickey, was missing, that he was dead. “But, I wanted to know where he was. I wanted that closure,” she said.

Ms. Scheller credits the sisters for giving her that. With his shirt in hand, they drove to some of the areas her son was known to have frequented until they reached a point where the sisters said they felt his “energy.” Because of rainy weather and the terrain, Ms. Scheller had to wait until the next day, Oct. 20, to return to the site. Her son’s body was found nearby in his Jeep.

“I know it sounds strange, but we were driving around and, all of a sudden, they both just had this feeling. And they were right,” Ms. Scheller recalled. “It was 74 days of Mickey being gone, and it was a very bad time of our lives. Without them, we couldn’t have put all the things together that we put together to find him. They did it out of the kindness and they answered our prayer in helping us find him,” she said. She would not discuss the details of her son’s cause of death.

More recently, the sisters were asked to help Ms. Polo of Latrobe. On April 23, they met at a house in Derry Township — the place where Ms. Polo’s daughter was killed on March 27, 2007 — in an attempt to help Ms. Polo learn something about the circumstances of the homicide.

“It’s been all this time and her murder is still unsolved. As a mother, you’re willing to try anything,” Ms. Polo said.

As for her impression of the encounter: “It was amazing. They said they could hear her laugh. She had such a distinctive laugh and they described it. And they gave us the initials of her killer … I’m a believer,’’ Ms. Polo said.

Police investigation into the murder is ongoing.