It turns out the Speed Freak Killers had changed their M.O.
The M.O. in Shermantine’s and Herzog’s first three confirmed kills was virtually the same—they ambushed their victims in isolated areas with guns and left the bodies at the scene of the crimes. In terms of serial killers, the murders were fairly simple and did not involve sexual assault or abuse of the corpses.
Besides the tire tracks Shermantine left behind, the duo did not leave any blood or semen samples at the scenes of their first three murders. Although the tire tracks later proved to be evidence used against Shermantine, the police could only match up the evidence once they had a suspect.
The details of Kimberly Bill’s abduction and murder are still yet to emerge, but it has been confirmed that the young woman was one of the Speed Freak Killers’ early victims. Authorities believe that Kimberly was probably first approached by Herzog, who was able to get her guard down with his good looks and affable nature. She was later raped and killed by Shermantine, or both men, when she refused their sexual advances.
The pair disposed of her body in a decommissioned mine shaft, just as they did with many of their later victims.
After killing Kimberly Bill, it appears that the Speed Freak Killers went into another cooling off period. Even crazed serial killers on crystal meth have to maintain a façade of normalcy to the outside world. The pair focused on work and family for a few months.
By the end of the summer of 1985, the duo was ready to kill again.
On August 29, 1985, sixteen-year-old Joann Hobson disappeared from her home in San Joaquin County. Similar to the Kimberly Bill case, the local authorities were notified of the disappearance, but the girl’s family was told that she probably ran away and would return home within a few days.
Joann Hobson never returned home.
The Speed Freak Killers were never suspects in Hobson’s disappearance until Shermantine wrote a letter to the girl’s parents from death row. The sadistic killer pinned most of the blame on Herzog and another, as yet unidentified person, named “Jason.” He wrote that he wanted to help them retrieve her remains from a well in Calaveras County, California. Law enforcement officers, as well as Joann’s parents, believe that Shermantine was just playing a cruel game with the family’s emotions, but they have remained willing to work with him in order to locate her remains.
Part of a letter Shermantine wrote to a reporter dated February 12, 2012, stated that Joann’s body was in a well with a yet, unidentified black woman.
“In that well they will find Joann Hobson. They will find a pregnant black woman that was dumped for or by gang members [sic] out of Stockton. I visited Joanns [sic] mother for 2 ½ hours last week she thanked me. She know’s [sic] I did not kill her daughter. That’s all that matters to me. She was a very nice lady. Herzog used to hang out at Easy Street in Modesto, I believe it was a bar. They knew every back road, pig trial their [sic] was out their [sic] in the country.”
In many ways the letter seems to confirm Shermantine’s guilt. If he was not involved in Joann’s murder, how did he know where Herzog dumped her body? Also the details of the visit between Shermantine and Joann Hobson’s mother have been denied by the Hobson family.
At present, it seems as though Shermantine is using his knowledge of Joann Hobson’s remains to play a twisted game.
But the letter did reveal a few clues that pointed toward involvement in other crimes. The Speed Freak Killers are believed to have killed a number of people throughout the Central Valley and the Modesto area. Shermantine also mentioned that Herzog had an accomplice he named “Jason.” At this point, it seems unlikely that there was a third member of the Speed Freak Killers, although anything is possible. Authorities believe “Jason” was simply a device Shermantine invented to substitute his own name, thereby mitigating his guilt.
Wesley Shermantine wants the world to believe he is innocent.
In terms of the ever evolving nature of the Speed Freak Killers’ M.O., it seems that the murders of Kimberly Bill and Joann Hobson, entered the two men into a more sexually- motivated phase of their serial killing. The two men were no longer content with murdering a random person for fun—they felt the need to exert total control over their victims by kidnapping, torturing, raping, and ultimately murdering them in what were often excruciatingly long ordeals.
Killing Closer to Home
Although their M.O. varied over the course of the Speed Freak Killers’ first five known murders, they were all committed outside the confines of their hometown of Linden. Most serial killers commit the majority of their murders near their homes due to the familiarity of the environment. They know the best times, places, and people to hit with the minimum chance of getting caught. With that said, the familiar confines are also what often lead to the arrests of serial killers. Witnesses may recognize the killer, or the killer’s patterns may reveal something to someone who knows him or her when the murder is made public.
Law enforcement officials and criminologists have also recently developed the investigative method known as “geographic profiling.”
Geographic profiling originated in Canada during the late 1980s and it focused on the idea that the further a criminal is from his or her home, the less likely he or she is to commit a crime in that area. Other factors that are considered when investigators use geographic profiling include the availability of escape routes, physical boundaries, and neighborhood demographics.
A minority of serial killers are itinerant in their activities. Joseph Paul Franklin, for example, hunted his victims throughout the eastern half of the United States during the late 1970s and early ‘80s. Henry Lucas left a trail of bodies across the country. In many ways, itinerant serial killers are more difficult to catch because witnesses, who do see their crimes, usually do not know them. With that said, itinerant serial killers are usually less organized and more prone to make mistakes than those who kill close to home.
Then there are those serial killers who are hybrids, killing both close to home and wherever the opportunity arises, no matter the location.
This category of serial killer is perhaps the most difficult for law enforcement to track and capture, and also the most dangerous. Hybrid killers often confuse law enforcement, because murders committed over a large geographic area are often considered the work of multiple people. For instance, the police may suspect that more than one murder in their jurisdiction is connected, but they will be unaware of murders committed in other places.
Perhaps the most famous serial killer in this respect was Ted Bundy. Bundy claimed most of his victims near his home, sometimes abducting women blocks from his residence. Perhaps Bundy’s boldest move was abducting two women from the same park not far from his home on the same day.
On the other hand, Bundy moved a lot, which meant that his victims were spread out across several states. He also traveled hundreds of miles from home to commit murders. If he happened to come across a place that he thought was a good hunting spot, he would return at a later date to claim a victim.
During the first year of their killing careers, the Speed Freak Killers claimed all of their victims near their homes, but far enough away, that they were never suspects. They were also not known to their victims.
Their next two victims proved to be a departure from their M.O.
In September 1985, to celebrate the one year anniversary of their first kill, Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog decided to take another life. The victim was a troubled twenty-four-year-old woman named Robin Armtrout.
In some ways Armtrout was like her killers. She never really fit in with her peers, and by the time she was in her late teens, Armtrout was a runaway with a crystal meth addiction. In order to support her addiction, she turned to prostitution on the mean streets of Stockton where she met Shermantine and Herzog.
According to Herzog, the day he and Shernantine met and murdered Armtrout was like any other. The duo began their day early in Linden, drinking booze and consuming meth, when th
ey decided to make the drive to Stockton in order to find some “action.”
After checking out local bars, the Speed Freak Killers stopped in a park where they met Robin Armtrout. The two men quickly learned that the young woman was a prostitute who was ready to “party.” Armtrout agreed to leave Stockton with the duo to go to Linden in order to drink booze and do meth.
The three of them ended up in a pasture outside of Linden, drinking and doing drugs. Being a prostitute, Armtrout had no problem having sex with the men for money, or drugs, which was a departure from the Speed Freak Killers’ previous female victims.
Everything appeared to be going well at first. It was just another trick for Armtrout and another party for Shermantine and Herzog. The situation quickly took a violent turn when Herzog claimed Shermantine got “carried away” and began stabbing Armtrout as he had sex with her. Many law enforcement officers who worked the case believe that Herzog was actually the initiator of Armtrout’s murder. People, who later served time in prison with Herzog, also claimed that he admitted to being her killer. He admitted he killed her merely for the thrill of it. No matter which of the two men killed the young woman, the Speed Freak Killers had claimed another victim.
And even in the twisted minds of serial killers such as Herzog and Shermantine, there was really no reason to kill Armtrout. She did not resist their advances in any way and she was not a witness to any other crime.
They apparently killed her for the thrill.
Instead of disposing of Armtrout’s body in an abandoned mineshaft or a cave, as they did with many of their other victims, the pair left her lying face down in a creek outside of Linden. Armtrout’s nude and mutilated body was found several days later and was reported to the Linden Police Department.
At this point, it is unknown why the duo left Robin Armtrout’s body at the scene of the crime since it was so close to their homes. They had both left biological evidence in and around the body. Some law enforcement officers suggested the duo heard a sound that made them flee the scene. Others believe the careless discarding of her body had more to do with their lack of planning than anything.
There is no indication that either of the two men planned to take a life that day. Being disorganized killers, they were simply going where the day took them. Neither of the two men planned to kill Robin Armtrout until the moment one of them started stabbing her. Once the deed was done, they probably did not have the necessary tools with them, such as a tarp, which they needed for hauling a corpse.
They may also have had family obligations to return to.
Since Linden is a small town with a small police department, detectives from the San Joaquin Sherriff’s Department were called in for assistance. Because Armtrout was a known prostitute and drug addict, there was a long list of potential suspects. Nearly every john she serviced, and every drug dealer she knew, was a person of interest. The names of two local boys were also added to the list.
Shermantine and Herzog were never very serious suspects in Armtrout’s murder, but their penchant for violence and drug use was enough to raise suspicions among a few of the local residents. The police did not call Shermantine or Herzog in for an interview. After interviewing other residents of Linden, law officers came to the conclusion that the two men were big talkers and not serious suspects.
Since Robin Armtrout was a prostitute, her case received less priority than if she had been a suburban mother or a young girl. Her murder quickly fell into a cold case file.
The murder of Robin Armtrout seemed to embolden Shermantine and Herzog. After all, they had killed a woman and left her body at the scene of the crime right in their own backyard and they had got away with it. The Speed Freak Killers, especially Shermantine, took this as a sign that they were smarter than the police and there was no way they would ever get caught.
The people of San Joaquin County were about to be subjected to more misery at the hands of the Speed Freak Killers.
Less than a month after the duo killed Robin Armtrout, Shermantine struck again, possibly on his own. Encouraged by the fact that he was never a serious suspect in Robin Armtrout’s murder, Wesley Shermantine broke a cardinal rule of serial killing by focusing his wrath on someone close to him.
One of the major reasons why notorious serial killers are able to amass high kill counts and to elude authorities for so long, is because they are never suspects in any of their murders. The biggest reason they are never suspected is because they are never linked directly to their victims. Statistically, most murders are committed by people who know their victims. For this reason, during homicide investigations, the police always start with those closest to the victim. Once the closest people to the victim are eliminated from the suspect pool, the chances of catching the killer diminish exponentially.
Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler was a carefree, pretty blonde sixteen-year-old-girl who had her share of problems with school and family. In the previous two school years, Chevy was truant quite a bit and her grades had fallen. She was also running with a rough crowd that liked to drink and do drugs. Chevy’s lifestyle choices had caused considerable tension with her parents, but when the 1985-86 school year began, it appeared she had outgrown her rebellious phase.
Chevy was attending all her classes and she was getting along much better with her parents, when she disappeared from the face of the earth on October 7, 1985.
On the morning of her disappearance, Chevy told her friends that she was going to skip school that day and go with a male friend to hang out in Valley Springs in Calaveras County. Although Chevy had apparently turned over a new leaf and skipping class was more reminiscent of her old self, Chevy’s friends did not find the information particularly disturbing. A lot of girls skipped class with male friends.
On this day, though, the male friend was Wesley Shermantine.
Before she left home that morning, her older sister overheard her talking to “Wes” about cutting class and smoking marijuana. It became clear to Chevy’s friends, family, and law enforcement, that Wesley Shermantine was the last person to see the teenager alive.
But how exactly did the serial killer and the rebellious teen know each other?
Chevy and Shermantine had met several months earlier through a mutual friend in Stockton. Shermantine was immediately infatuated with the attractive teenager and he often drove out of his way to visit her in Stockton. He wanted Chevy to be his girlfriend but her family stood in the way.
Shermantine came to the Wheeler family home on more than one occasion, but Chevy’s parents were not impressed.
“The guy was no good. There was just something in his eyes that I just didn’t like period. His eyes were dead,” said Chevy’s father, Raymond Wheeler. “There was nothing in them; just as blank as you could get.”
The Wheelers, though, were apprehensive about upsetting Chevy. They knew that if they came down too hard on their rebellious daughter, they risked alienating her further. The Wheelers hoped that Chevy would grow bored of the older Shermantine and move on to a boy her own age. After all, Shermantine was not particularly good looking and a little overweight; surely their attractive daughter could find someone better.
But Shermantine was using his drug connections as a hold over Chevy. If she wanted marijuana or meth, Shermantine was there with a free supply for her.
But nothing was free in Wesley Shermantine’s world.
The tipping point took place when Shermantine came to see Chevy at her folk’s house. Raymond Wheeler noticed a pistol lying on the floor of Wesley Shermantine’s truck Chevy’s father asked Shermantine about the gun. Shermantine essentially blew the concerned father off by saying it was there for his protection.
After that incident, Raymond Wheeler forbade Chevy from seeing Wesley Shermantine.
When Chevy failed to return home from school on October 7, her family became worried. Their worry soon turned to fear. They pieced together the conversation Chevy had with her friends from school, along with the phone call Chevy’s si
ster overheard that morning, and they realized that Wesley Shermantine was involved in their daughter’s disappearance.
After making several frantic calls to Chevy’s friends, Raymond and his wife received an interesting visitor on October 8—Wesley Shermantine.
Shermantine drove up the Wheeler’s driveway, got out of his truck, and rang the front door bell as if nothing had happened. When the Wheelers asked Shermantine where their daughter was, he said he did not know and he thought she was at home. The Wheelers pointed out to Shermantine that they knew he was the last person known to be with their daughter, but he continued to deny knowing anything about Chevy’s disappearance.
According to the Wheelers, Shermantine appeared to think the entire situation was funny. He had a smirk on his face during the entire conversation and acted as if he had somewhere better to be.
After talking with the Wheelers for a few minutes, Wesley told them to have Chevy call him when she returned. He got back into his truck with the smirk still on his face and left.
Although the Wheelers did not believe much of what Shermantine told them, they held out hope that their daughter was at another friend’s house. Perhaps she went back to drinking or doing drugs and was ashamed to come home. When Chevy did not return home after a couple of days, the Wheelers went to the Stockton Police with their suspicions. Unlike the Robin Armtrout case where Shermantine’s and Herzog’s names came up, but neither was ever considered serious suspects, Wesley Shermantine quickly went to the top of the list of persons of interest.
But the police did not know if they even had a crime on their hands.
They learned that Chevy ran with a wild crowd. She was known to do drugs and she had ongoing problems with her parents. Despite the signs that potentially pointed toward Chevy being a runaway, the Stockton Police investigated her disappearance as probable foul play.
Hunting The Ultimate Kill: The Horrifying Story of the Speed Freak Killers (The Serial Killer Books Book 2) Page 5