Robbie Thomas can hear dead people.

As a psychic criminal profiler for nearly 20 years, Thomas has been tapping into his ability to communicate with the other side in order to help law enforcement and victims' families figure out crimes.

"I can't force it, it happens when there's a message," Thomas explained over the phone from his home in Sarnia.

He became involved in psychic criminal profiling after returning from his final testing to become a police officer, which happened in the Niagara region. Once back in Sarnia, he noticed a woman in a white nightgown in a parking lot close to his home, screaming that there had been an accident.

Thomas followed her into a townhouse, where her husband appeared dead in the bathroom. Thomas proceeded to administer CPR, until he heard, "Let me go." He ignored it and continued trying to save the man's life when he heard a louder, "Let me go!" He knew what this meant as he had received messages from the other side for his whole life, he said. It turned out the man had suffered a massive coronary and wouldn't have lived even with Thomas' lifesaving attempts. It was at that moment Thomas realized that while he wanted to be a police officer and involved in crime solving, he was pursuing this goal on the wrong side.

Since that encounter, Thomas has been involved in numerous cases, such as the Tori Stafford case. While the case was still under investigation, he worked behind the scenes with the family. He met with them and had a vision of a man and woman involved in the case, a pile of rocks and wagon wheels, which was similar to the location where she was eventually found, he said. All drawings were submitted to the family, which were submitted to Woodstock police, he said.

Prior to when her body was discovered, he connected with Tori's spirit at his home. It was during a time when the situation was dire and the family and officials kept hitting dead ends, so Thomas reached out to Tori. She knocked on the wall as a method of communication, he said. Thomas also received a vision from Tori of a woman with a stuffed fox head on a hat, which related to Tori's father's girlfriend who had bought him a Fox racing hat. "That was really awesome of her," said Thomas of Tori's reaching out.

However, while he helps families with investigations or closure, not all of his visions have been for positive purposes.

When he was 28 years old, he had a premonition the night before his mother died that predicted her death.

"Every day, I have toast and coffee with my mother," he said. "I told her about what I saw and she told me to go home."

"It's your mother." Thomas' dad called him later that day; she passed away that same day.

"I shook my fist at God," said Thomas.

At three years old, Thomas also predicted that he wasn't an only child. After his mother passed, a family member informed him that he did, in fact, have a sister. His mother had a child out of wedlock before meeting his father. He has since met his sister and Fox did a radio documentary on it.

When he was younger, he found his skills more of a burden than a gift, but he has since come to accept it as part of his calling. His family is his "great backbone," and he also writes screenplays and books as a way to break up his work on cases.

"It is draining on the heart and soul of the body," he said.

But Thomas' primary focus is acting as another avenue for officials and families to try.

"Families love the police but it's the fact there's a dead end (in the case)," he said. "So they reach out and ask someone outside the box."

While his line of work faces a lot of skepticism, Thomas is quick to defend what he does and the families with whom he's involved.

"I've never taken a dime or accepted a reward," he said.

"It's a different way of looking at things, tying up loose ends," he said.

Throughout his many years of work, it's been hard to quantify success. "You can never put a ratio on what's (been) correct and what's (been) wrong (with visions). Every case has had a positive but the case may not have been solved yet," he explained.

"Everything I've been involved in has been positive, (but) it doesn't come from me — it comes from them (on the other side)."

Robbie Thomas is author of the best-selling book Paranormal Encounters and is hosting the third annual Horror Paranormal Convention in Sarnia on October 28, 29 and 30 in 2011. Television show, Paranormal State, has expressed interest in attending. For more information on Thomas and his services, visit www.robbiethomas.net.