Hunting The Ultimate Kill

by Jack Rosewood

  Although most people in Linden wrote off Herzog’s and Shermantine’s statements as testosterone-laden ego trips, the Stockton Police were not so sure.

  The Stockton Police interviewed Wesley Shermantine on more than one occasion about the whereabouts of Chevy Wheeler, since he was the last person known to have seen her. Although Shermantine admitted knowing Chevy, he claimed that he did not see her on the day of October 7, and that it had in fact, been quite some time since he had last seen her.

  The investigators knew he was lying but there was not enough evidence for an arrest.

  Based on conflicting statements he gave to investigators, along with the statements of witnesses who claimed that Chevy told them she was going to meet Shermantine that day, Stockton homicide investigators were able to get a search warrant for Shermantine’s car and his family’s cabin in Calaveras County.

  In 1985, forensic science was far from what it is today. DNA profiling was still a few years in the future, so investigators were often forced to use physical evidence that narrowed down the suspect pool, but was not enough to definitively uncover the perpetrator of a crime. Blood evidence taken from the scene of a crime could only be matched to a blood type at that time.

  When Stockton Police crime scene investigators conducted a thorough search of the Shermantine’s rural retreat, they discovered a few small drops of blood. Once the blood drop samples were tested for blood type, it was determined that they did not match Wesley Shermantine’s blood type, but were in fact, a match with Chevy Wheeler’s type of blood.

  Wesley Shermantine went from being the top suspect in Chevy Wheeler’s disappearance to being the only suspect.

  Still, the forensic evidence only showed that the blood may have been Chevy’s, but the blood could also have been left by thousands of other people in the area. There was also not much blood, so it was not a sure sign a homicide actually took place─only that someone with Chevy Wheeler’s blood type left a few drops of blood in the home.

  There was not enough evidence for an arrest, but there was enough evidence for the Stockton Police and the San Joaquin Sherriff’s Department to take a special interest in Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog. Shermantine would remain the prime suspect in Chevy Wheeler’s disappearance and murder for over ten years, until DNA testing proved categorically that the blood samples taken from the Shermantine’s cabin was in fact Chevy’s.

  The San Joaquin Sherriff’s Department believed for years that Shermantine was the sole killer in this case, but Loren Herzog implicated himself during his 1999 confession.

  When homicide detectives asked Herzog what he knew about Chevy Wheeler’s murder, he answered, “I was with him.” When pressed for details about the murder, he added, “I just remember that he killed a girl and stabbed her to death.”

  Investigators speculate that Chevy Wheeler’s murder followed a similar pattern of other Speed Freak murders. Shermantine offered free drugs to the young woman he believed was his girlfriend, and who he also believed would, or should, offer her body to him in return. When Shermantine’s sexual advances were rebuffed by Chevy, he probably did as he and Herzog had done to so many of their other victims—they tortured and raped Chevy for hours before finally ending her life. After killing Chevy Wheeler, Shermantine and Herzog made a short trip to the hills near the cabin where they disposed of her body in a mine shaft.

  Their pattern was firmly established.

  Chapter 4:

  Domestic Life and More Murders

  As mentioned in Chapter 1 of this book, there is a common perception among the public that the overwhelming majority of serial killers are consummate loners. Most people believe that the average serial killer cannot maintain normal everyday friendships, never mind a long-term relationship with a significant other.

  History shows that this is another misconception.

  Many of the world’s most notorious serial killers have had large social and professional networks, and more than a few were in long-term relationships with a significant other when their reigns of terror came to an end.

  Perhaps the most chilling example of this behavior is Gary Ridgway, the “Green River Killer,” who murdered over seventy women during the 1980s and ‘90s. Ridgeway was married for half the time he was an active serial killer, and he took many of his victims’ lives in his family’s home. Most of Ridgeway’s murders took place when his wife was at work, but there was at least one occasion when he killed while his son was in a room nearby.

  Ridgeway, like most other well-known serial killers, exhibited an uncanny ability to compartmentalize differing aspects of his life. Killers like Ridgeway are able to “turn off” their homicidal impulses when they are around their family and friends, and then go back to killing without remorse.

  The ability of serial killers to walk among members of society and to even maintain seemingly normal, long-term relationships stems from the fact that all of them are sociopaths.

  By definition, a sociopath—termed “anti-social disorder” by clinical professionals—is someone who lacks empathy for others and therefore has little or no remorse when he or she hurts another person. Every serial killer is a sociopath, but most sociopaths are not serial killers; in fact, some of the most successful sociopaths are politicians, corporate CEOs, and military officers.

  Serial killers, are able to feign empathy when they need to in order to keep suspicions away from them. The most successful serial killers hold jobs, maintain relationships, and even take part in community events, as Ted Bundy did.

  Herzog certainly, and Shermantine to a lesser extent, were able to feign empathy for many years.

  Presenting a Picture of Normalcy

  After Shermantine became the prime suspect in Chevy Wheeler’s disappearance, he and Herzog went into a cooling off period for almost a year. During this time, both men made attempts to portray themselves as normal upstanding members of society.

  Herzog married during the mid-1980s and had three children with his wife Christiana. Shermantine also married around the same time and fathered two boys. The duo had also settled into permanent work, bought homes, and spent time with their families.

  By all accounts, Herzog was the better husband and father of the two. He was still married when the pair was arrested for murder in 1999, and there were no reports of Herzog abusing anyone in his family. Herzog’s acquaintances later stated that he was a good father to his children, and he often took them on camping, hunting, and fishing trips. He was also active in his children’s school functions.

  Shermantine’s family life was much less stable.

  Shermantine and his wife divorced before he was arrested, and there were numerous reports that he physically abused his wife and children. Like Herzog, Shermantine was known to take his sons on fishing, camping, and hunting trips, but he was also neglectful, leaving his family for days or even weeks at a time, without so much as a phone call.

  Despite not being, “family material,” Shermantine attempted to produce a façade of being a family man to the community.

  Although Herzog, and Shermantine to a lesser extent, devoted much of their time to their new families during the 1980s, their bonds of brotherhood remained strong. The two new families often socialized and spent time with each other during the holidays, and Shermantine and Herzog continued to take long-weekend hunting, fishing, and camping trips together.

  The pair also continued to spend time in bars, drinking and selling crystal meth.

  In fact, by all accounts, by the late 1980s both men were full-fledged meth addicts. As crystal meth began to consume the lives of the Speed Freak Killers, their collective urge to kill reasserted itself time and time again.

  Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog were about to enter the most prolific period of their serial killer careers.

  The Cooling Off Period Ends

  The reasons why a serial killer enters a cooling off period, and why he or she begins to kill again, are complex and best understood on a case-by-case ba
sis. Oftentimes, the first cooling off period takes place after the first murder, and the killer contemplates the gravity of what he or she has done. Since serial killers are sociopaths, morals as most people know them are usually of little concern to them, but getting caught is. There is also the fact that serial killers usually commit their first murders when the “perfect” time and place is right.

  Jeffrey Dahmer’s first murder was committed while he had the family home to himself for the entire summer. After his first murder, he entered a cooling off period of nearly ten years, not because of guilt over what he had done, but because the opportunity never arose where he felt he could get away with another murder during that period.

  A number of factors contribute to a serial killer’s cooling off period coming to an end. For some, such as Dahmer, the homicidal impulses persist, and even intensify, until the right situation presents itself and the kill will occur again. For other killers, once they think that they have gotten away with the murder, the cooling off period ends and the killers looks for new targets.

  This appears to have been the situation with the Speed Freak Killers’ second cooling off period.

  The two men took a respite from killing when Shermantine became the prime suspect in Chevy Wheeler’s disappearance. He started killing again when he believed the heat from investigators had subsided.

  The increased consumption of crystal meth no doubt also played a role in the Speed Freak Killers’ decision to begin killing again.

  Crystal meth affects the user in a variety of ways, one of which is to induce an elevated ego or sense of invulnerability. The more one does meth, the more one feels that he or she is above the law and unable to be harmed by others. Meth also makes the user more violent and prone to rages, especially when using m eth over an extended period of time.

  As the summer of 1986 came around, Shermantine and Herzog embarked on a vicious meth-fueled odyssey of violence that lasted for more than twelve years. In their first two years of killing, the pair claimed the lives of at least seven people, but in the eleven subsequent years, they killed more than twice that number.

  “You know, he told me once he killed twenty-four people or something,” Loren Herzog told the police after the pair was arrested. Although Shermantine has never admitted to killing that many people, or anyone at all for that matter, and Herzog put all of the blame on Shermantine, newly uncovered evidence which will be discussed more thoroughly later, seems to verify this claim.

  The family structures of both mean meant they were able to hunt for victims throughout the Central Valley at will. As discussed earlier, Shermantine came and went from his home without feeling the need to tell his wife anything. Herzog, on the other hand, used other methods to assuage any suspicions at home. Throughout years of manipulation, Herzog convinced his wife that he and his best friend were spending quality male bonding time, when in fact they were really out killing. She never thought to question anything he told her.

  Investigators believe that the first victim the Speed Freak Killers claimed after their second cooling off period was thirty-one-year-old Sylvia Lourdes Standley. The young woman was presumably abducted near her home in Modesto, California on June 3, 1986, and then raped and murdered at an undisclosed location.

  It is believed that Standley was approached by Herzog, who knew the area better than Shermantine, with the offer of “partying.” It is unknown if Standley rebuffed Shermantine’s sexual advances as other victims had done, or if the Speed Freak Killers planned to kill her anyway. Based on the fact that their killing frenzy dramatically increased at this point, it is probable that Herzog and Shermantine meant to kill Standley as soon as they saw her. The two men needed to get their murder fix along with their meth fix

  When they spotted the first victim that suited their needs, they pounced.

  After raping and killing Standley, the Speed Freak Killers most likely disposed of her body in a cave, a decommissioned mine, or a well in Calaveras County.

  After murdering Standley, Shermantine and Herzog may have gone into another cooling off period, or it may be that any victims they claimed in the year after her murder, are yet unknown to investigators. Family obligations may have prevented the two from killing again for another year. The children of both men were getting older and were involved in school activities, so Herzog, and Shermantine continued presenting a façade of being caring parents by attending their school functions.

  Investigators believe the next murder the pair committed was further down California Highway 99 in Fresno. On June 1, 1987, sixteen-year-old Theresa Ann Bier went to the store near her home and was never seen again.

  Like so many of the Speed Freak Killers’ other victims, it is believed that Bier was raped, murdered, and disposed of in a rural area of the Central Valley.

  Investigators think that Herzog approached the girl, possibly offering to give her a ride to the store. Once she agreed to get into the Speed Freak Killers’ car, her fate was sealed. The two men most likely planned to kill the teenager as soon as they laid eyes on her.

  Fresno is the furthest south the two are believed to have operated.

  Once the pair began killing again in 1986, they widened their geographic net for victims, no doubt to avoid the watchful eye of the Stockton Police and the San Joaquin Sherriff’s Department.

  But they did not avoid Stockton altogether.

  Authorities now believe that the missing person’s case of eighteen-year-old Stockton resident, Gayle Marks, who disappeared on October 18, 1988, may have been the work of the Speed Freak Killers.

  The afternoon in question was just another ordinary day for Gayle Marks and her mother, Susan Kizer. Gayle still lived at home with Susan and the two spent most of the day together having lunch at home. After lunch, the two had coffee and spent time around the house before they got ready for their night jobs. Susan owned the only car in the household, and agreed to drop Gayle off at the driver’s license bureau on her way to work. After getting her driver’s license renewed, Gayle walked to her part-time job at a pizzeria.

  It is known that Gayle made it into the driver’s license bureau because her driver’s license arrived in the mail at a later date. Gayle, though, never made it to her part-time job that evening at a local pizza restaurant which was just a couple of blocks away.

  It is believed that the Speed Freak Killers spotted Gayle between the driver’s license bureau and the pizza restaurant. Herzog probably offered her a ride, but it is not known if she accepted or if she was forcibly abducted. Since she was not known to be involved with drugs and she would not have willingly went with strange men, especially when she had to work, it is thought that one of the Speed Freak Killers jumped from the car, grabbed Gayle, and threw her into the backseat.

  Shermantine and Herzog took Gayle to a remote location where they raped and murdered her, and then dumped her body in a well or mineshaft.

  It was as though nothing could stop the Speed Freak Killers. As time went by they seemed to get more depraved with their crimes. About a year and a half after the Theresa Ann Bier abduction and murder, Loren Herzog would commit a horrendous crime that shocked, not just the Central Valley, but also the entire nation.

  The Abduction of Michaela Garecht

  Among all the people the Speed Freak Killers have been accused of, or admitted to killing, the case of Michaela Garecht is one of the most heart wrenching. If the Speed Freak Killers did in fact kill Michael, then it was also the duo’s most high-profile crime, even though they were not suspects at the time.

  In 1988, Michaela Garecht was much like any other nine-year-old girl living in the United States. She liked to ride a bicycle with her friends in her Hayward, California neighborhood and spend time with her family and pet cat. Despite giving her daughter the freedom to explore and be a normal kid, Michaela’s mother made it a point to protect her from the dangers of society. The neighborhood that the Garechts lived in was not a high crime area, but Michaela was trained to always tell her mot
her where she was going when she left the house, and she never went out without at least one friend with her.

  Hayward was a fairly safe city in 1988, but no matter how safe a town or neighborhood is, a predator can strike at any time— a predator like Loren Herzog.

  On the afternoon of November 19, 1988, Michaela’s best friend stopped by the Garecht house and the two girls rode their bikes to the neighborhood convenience store. After getting candy in the store, the two girls began walking back to the Garecht house when they realized that they had left their bikes at the store.

  The two girls went back to the store to retrieve their bikes. Michaela’s friend’s bike was where they left it next to the front door, but for some reason, Michaela’s bike was on the other side of the parking lot lying next to a car.

  Not thinking anything was wrong, Michaela walked over to get her bike. Unfortunately, Michaela did not know that a violent predator moved her bike as part of a ruse to snatch her. When Michaela was about to pick her bike up, a man jumped out of a car and grabbed her. He threw her in the car and drove off.

  It happened so quickly that there were few credible witnesses other than Michaela’s friend.

  The police arrived on the scene within minutes, but despite canvassing the area to look for the car of the abductor, it was gone. The driver may have disappeared into one of the many apartment complex parking lots in the area, or more likely, he got onto Interstate 880. After taking Interstate 880 north for a couple of exits, the abductor probably got onto Interstate 580 East. It was then just a short drive to the Central Valley where he more than likely put the defenseless little girl through unspeakable torture before killing her and dumping her body in a well.

  Michaela’s friend gave a detailed description of the man to the police, and a composite was made and shown on the local media. The abductor was described as a tall, slender white male with long blond hair. Michaela’s friend also noted that he had a rough complexion that was possibly due to acne scars.