FBI Agent Robert Hilland and Psychic Medium John Edward Reveal 25 Years of Crime-Solving Teamwork (Exclusive) By KC Baker

Annie Le was nowhere to be found.

On the morning of Sept. 8, 2009, the 24-year-old Yale University graduate student vanished. Le, who was working toward a PhD in pharmacology, was last seen on surveillance video entering a research building on the university’s sprawling New Haven, Conn., campus, but was never seen leaving.

Authorities launched a massive search for the 4’11” bride-to-be who disappeared just five days before her wedding to her longtime fiancé, leaving behind only blood droplets and strands of hair in the lab where she had been attacked.

The sensational case quickly became headline news, with media outlets racing to report every detail they could dig up about the shocking murder that rocked the prestigious Ivy League school.

But one part of the story has been kept under wraps from the public and even the FBI, until now: authorities found Le’s remains on Sept. 12, 2009 inside a wall in the basement of the five-story research building with the help of longtime FBI Special Agent Robert Hilland and renowned psychic medium John Edward, they tell PEOPLE exclusively.

On the second day Le went missing, Edward called Hilland from Ireland, where he was traveling at the time, frenetically directing him to a specific spot in the building.

“True to form, John lit up,” Hilland tells PEOPLE. “It was like a computer coming alive. John’s on the phone saying, ‘She’s right there! She’s right there, to the right!”

Directed by his spirit guides from the Other Side, Edward told Hilland to look in a nearby bathroom. 

John’s ringing in my ear saying, ‘She’s right there,” says Hilland. “But she wasn’t.”

The only thing he, the other agents and police officers saw was a wall.

“This is a case where John is insisting, ‘She’s right there,’” says Hilland. “And I’m like, ‘Hey, pal, I like you and everything, but she’s not here. You must be tuning into something else. She’s not here.’ 

Two days later, “I’m heading back to D.C. and I get this call from one of my colleagues who says, ‘You’re not going to believe this. One of the cadaver dogs got a hit on the bathroom. We opened up the pipe chase and found her body stuffed in the wall,’” says Hilland.

“She was exactly where John said she was.”

For the first time ever, Hilland, a law enforcement veteran of 30 years, and Edward, a New York Times bestselling author, former host of the hit TV show Crossing Over with John Edward, and creator of the social media platform EVOLVE, reveal that they have quietly worked together on many cases for the past 25 years.

They chronicle their unorthodox crime-fighting journey in their new book, Chasing Evil: Shocking Crimes, Supernatural Forces, and an FBI Agent’s Search for Hope and Justice, (St. Martin’s Essentials), which hits shelves on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

Co-written by New York Times bestselling author and former PEOPLE staffer Natasha Stoynoff, the action-packed book goes in-depth on the many cases they worked on together, including the frantic search for five-year-old Noah Thomas, who was found dead in a septic tank in Virginia; the dog-fighting scandal that sent NFL star Michael Vick to prison and the search for 9/11 victims at the World Trade Center.

Their work may even have influenced the highest reaches of government.

In one 2001 instance, Edward told Hilland that his spirit guides were warning him that an unknown assailant was targeting President George W. Bush, leading Hilland to give the Secret Service an otherworldly tip.

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Much of the book centers on Hilland’s decades-long quest to catch elusive serial killer John Smith, 74, who was convicted in 2021 of killing his first wife, Janice Hartman in 1974, charged in the 1991 death of his second wife, Fran Gladden Smith, and is suspected of murdering a number of sex workers. To Hilland’s dismay, prosecutors dropped that murder charge in 2023. 

But Edward’s insights led to a huge break in the case for Hilland, who spent years searching for Hartman’s body.

That case is Edward’s favorite, he says. “Janice is the one that really solidified our connection,” says Edward. “Finding Janice gave comfort and some closure to her family.”

Facing the Cynicism

Hilland knows there are plenty of skeptics out there who will doubt their story.

“This book was not written to convince people of anything,” says Hilland. “This is what happened. This is not embellished. It is not exaggerated. These are events that took place, and it is what it is.”

Hilland himself was extremely skeptical of Edward (who was also hesitant to work with law enforcement for reasons he shares in the book) and of psychics in general, before he met Edward in 1998, when he reluctantly called him for help on the Smith case. 

“When I went to meet John for the first time, I was not somebody who believed in psychics,” says Hilland. “If you would’ve told me almost 30 years ago now that we’d be here discussing this book, I probably would’ve laughed and been dismissive, because it was beyond anything I could have imagined. But it has been quite a journey we’ve gone on together.”

Hilland realized that Edward had otherworldly gifts when he started divulging details about his life that no one else would ever know.

“All of a sudden, some family things start coming up,” says Hilland. “It was an out-of-body experience for me. That further galvanized for me that hey, there’s something here. I don’t understand it, but it could not be denied. How could this man I’ve never met know these things?”

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For his part, Edward stresses that he doesn’t have the ability to solve crimes.

“I’ve been very clear when we talk about this, but I didn’t solve anything,” he tells PEOPLE. “The work comes with the person who’s receiving the information. I’m really just the medium to pass that on. So in Bob’s case, the insights that I was able to pass on to him, if he didn’t utilize that, that would’ve gone nowhere.”

Says Hilland, “John never gave me evidence. He led me to places where I might find evidence. Think of it before the days we all had GPS. Somebody would say, ‘Go down this rural road, you’ll see a big red barn. Turn left.’ Well, John’s the guy that’s saying, ‘Hey, look for the red barn.’ That’s the best way I can describe it.”

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For years, Edward and Hilland worked hard to keep their partnership a secret.

Why? “Because FBI agents don’t consult with psychics,” says Hilland. “We deal in the world of evidence and facts, and only that. I certainly was concerned that, should others learn of my relationship with John, it would potentially jeopardize my career and my job. People would laugh at me, mock me, or it would somehow hurt my credibility. People wouldn’t understand.”

“And to be honest with you,” he continued, “if I didn’t have the experiences I had with John, and some other colleague of mine came and said, ‘Hey, Bob, I’m talking with some psychic,’ I would say, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ That’s the honest answer.”

Under the Radar, an Unbreakable Bond

Besides chronicling Edward and Hilland’s quest for justice, Chasing Evil shows the evolution of the deep friendship they now share. While the two were hesitant to work together at first, they are now so close they consider each other brothers. “He’s a brother from a different mother,” Edward says.

The two joke with each other non-stop. “Bob is such a ham,” Edward said during the interview.

Hilland ribbed Edward about his use of the word “cool,” even when discussing serious topics. 

They note that, while they have fun together, they are also working hard to do the right thing.

“Both of us are coming from a place of honor,” says Edward. “In my world, I’m honoring the people that have crossed over by helping their people that are here by giving them information. Bob is honoring the justice system by making sure that, as he would say, the bad guys are put away.”

“When you bring that together, that becomes the foundation of what Chasing Evil for us has been,” adds Edward, who will go on tour for the book starting in September. “It’s just honoring our processes together, which is honoring the victims of people who passed.”

Chasing Evil by John Edward and Robert Hilland is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.