Psychic tip leads to no bodies

HARDIN, Texas (AP)The investigation into a tip about multiple bodies being buried at a rural Texas farmhouse has now turned to the tipster after authorities turned up nothing in a look of the property.

Liberty County deputies, the Texas Rangers and FBI agents descended on the rural neighborhood Tuesday afternoon. With television helicopters circling overhead, dozens of news reporters waited for discussion of what authorities had found.

But Liberty County Sheriff's Capt. Rex Evans said there was no reading of bodies being anywhere on the place about 70 miles ne of Houston.

Authorities said the tip came from a woman claiming to be a psychic. Evans said authorities took the tip seriously in office because the company had details near the home of the house that only somebody who had seen it could make known.

Asked if authorities thought the tip was a hoax, Evans said but that they found no bodies or anything to show a homicide had occurred there.

"We are leaving to extend our investigation and get out how this person had this data in the foremost place," Evans said.

He said authorities were running to see how the charwoman had such detailed data on the house. Evans said no decision would be made on charges until the company could be questioned and the district attorney consulted.

The tipster claimed that many bodies, including those of children, were at the home, said Liberty County Judge Craig McNair, the county's top elected official.

A fast search Monday night turned up nothing, authorities said. But the tipster called back Tuesday morning to say deputies had the incorrect house, Evans said.

McNair said deputies found blood on a second door and detected a disgusting odor coming from the house, leading to the search warrant.

"We get to get tips like this very seriously," McNair said.

Long-haul truck driver Joe Bankston, told The Houston Chronicle he and his house had lived at the family for 3 days and that he had no mind why the tipster would have reported that bodies were interred there. He too said his daughter's former boyfriend had intentionally cut his own wrist a pair of weeks ago, which could have explained any line at the home.

"I haven't killed anybody," said Bankston, 44, who was reached by the newspaper while on the route in Dallas. "And I let a lot of friends, but I haven't helped anybody bury any bodies."