This particular case is fascinating, in that it is still on-going, and the news surrounding the murders committed by Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog is constantly being updated on a day-to-day basis.
To really understand the events which have led the identification of two more bodies within the last 24 hours, we need to start at the beginning.
Shermantine and Herzog are known as the “Speed Freak Killers” and were charged with three joint murders (Shermantine was also convicted of a fourth murder which saw him sentenced to death).
Their nickname was due to their high intake of methamphetamine, a factor which many believe caused they two to commit such violent and unthinkable crimes.
The murders for which the two were sentenced took place in the eighties and nineties, and began when the blood of a missing woman, 25 year old Cyndi Vanderheiden was found in Shermantine’s car.
She had last been seen in the company of the two men before eventually being reported as missing.
The two were arrested and during subsequent questioning were also linked with three more murders committed in the area during the eighties.
They eventually confessed to both the Vanderheiden murder, and the deaths of two men shot in a car in 1984.
Shermantine also admitted the murder of 16 year old Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler, who disappeared from Franklin High School in 1985, after she told friends she was joining Shermantine on a visit to his parents’ cabin in San Andreas.
Herzog was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Shermantine was handed down the death sentence.
However, due to a technicality, Herzog was released after just 11 years after an appeals board found that his confessions appeared to have been coerced.
He was paroled to live in a trailer park just a stone’s throw away from the prison, but was soon to find himself anything but absolved of his murderous past.
Shermantine had long since hinted that there were more bodies, which still lay undiscovered.
In 2011, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla offered to pay Shermantine $33,000 to reveal the locations of the missing bodies. On hearing that his former partner in crime had agreed to this, Herzog committed suicide, by hanging himself outside the trailer which had become his last place of freedom.
Shortly after, Shermantine started to send letters and maps to the Stockton Record, a local California district newspaper. These were passed on to the authorities and at least three more bodies were quickly found in an abandoned well.
Two of these bodies were eventually identified as Kimberly Billy, and Joann Hobson.
Many believe that there will be at least another 12 sets of remains, as many girls and young women went missing during this time.
Shermantine, however, denies any active part in these murders, claiming that he simply helped Herzog to dispose of the bodies. This would seem unlikely, but as Herzog can no longer offer his side of the story, this is set to become a long legal conundrum.
Sadly, in the last twenty four hours, two more bodies have been recovered due to information given by Shermantine.
The skeletal bodies of a 16 to 18 year old girl and a 28 to 32 week old foetus have been found in an undisclosed area.
I will, of course, keep you informed of any developments in the case.
This case is remarkable in that it shows the true power of a letter sent to the right place. Without this correspondence, the remaining victims would have never been found, and Herzog would have been enjoying his freedom, and knowing that he got away with multiple murders.
Shermantine remains on death row at California’s San Quentin Prison, and is in regular contact with Leonard Padilla and the Stockton Record, who (in a ground-breaking piece of journalistic inspiration) chose to tweet live from an interview with Shermantine.
*****************************UPDATE*********************************
The latest victims are now believed to be a black 14-18 year old girl, and her unborn child, although no names have been released as yet. Next to the bodies was a ring bearing a set of initials (also, as yet unreleased).
According to Leonard Padilla, Shermantine is currently refusing to give any more information because his payment (in the form of a TV, sweets, and beads for his art class) has not yet materialised.
Padilla believes this to be a temporary setback, and is calling for Shermantine to be released from his cell to help in the search for victims (under close guard of course!)
Govenor, Jerry Brown had signed legislation making this possible on July 17th of this year, but authorities have yet to use this vital resource.
More information can be found at http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-shermantine-refuses-to-help-until-demands-are-met-20120803,0,3365918.story
The original letters sent to the Stockton Record can be viewed and downloaded as pdf’s at http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2012/03/13/wesley-shermantine-letters-to-cbs13/
One thing is for certain, this will not be the last time I will be writing about this case.
Below is a short video showing the excavation of a body after a letter sent by Shermantine gave the exact location.
Red Ink Letters 