Hunting The Ultimate Kill

by Jack Rosewood

  Sitting in Jail

  The modern justice system is an interesting concept in the United States, and in most Western countries for that matter. Defendants accused of crimes are said to be innocent until proven guilty, but those charged with the most heinous crimes, such as the Speed Freak Killers were, are often held in a county jail without bail, which implies a certain level of guilt.

  Both Shermantine and Herzog were facing multiple murder charges that carried the most severe penalty one can receive in the State of California—death.

  Anyone who has been through the system will tell you that the time spent in a county jail awaiting trial is the worst. The food is awful, many jails do not have an outside yard, and contact visits with anyone other than lawyers, are usually prohibited.

  But worse than all of those things is the nearly endless time on one’s hands. County jail inmates usually do not have jobs in the jail so they have to sit in their cells for most of the day. Court dates and lawyer visits are often the only times when inmates get out of their cells. It also gives inmates a lot of time to contemplate their futures, or lack thereof.

  While Shermantine and Herzog were in the San Joaquin County Jail, they were separated from each other for the first time in their lives. Since childhood, the duo had gone through school together, camped together, and ultimately taken many lives together, but after they were arrested in March 1999, the two were forced to go their separate ways.

  Separation anxiety is a very real for some people, who find it extremely difficult to function when away from a significant other, a close family member, or a close friend for an extended period of time. When one comes to rely on another for emotional support or help with mundane tasks, daily life can suddenly become very difficult if that special person is no longer available. For Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog, the separation the two men experienced after their arrests was probably traumatic for them.

  Their separation was possibly the difference between life and death.

  Since Herzog had “snitched” on Shermantine, the two were placed in separate cell blocks. Due to the high profile of their case─ it was revealed that they were probably serial killers─ both men had to be separated from the jail’s general population. Administrators in the San Joaquin County Jail were not going to take chances putting the two men in general population, where anyone could attempt to be a hero by assaulting or killing them.

  While in the county jail, at their lawyers’ behests, both Shermantine and Herzog kept low profiles. They gave no interviews to the press and they said very little to anyone other than their lawyers.

  That did not mean that their supporters had to keep quiet.

  Family and friends of both men proclaimed their innocence to the press, but as more details emerged regarding their decade and a half killing sprees, the number of their supporters quickly began to dwindle.

  Each time the Speed Freak Killers went to a pretrial hearing, more information about their brutal reign of terror over the Central Valley was revealed. To those who had known the two for several years and considered them friends, it became increasingly clear that Herzog and Shermantine were cold-blooded killers.

  None of the revelations stopped Loren Herzog’s wife, Christina, from voicing her support for her husband. She was quick to defend her husband in the press and around Linden, using the same argument that her husband made after he was arrested—Wesley Shermantine was the one responsible for all of the murders.

  Christian Herzog’s defense of Loren eventually put her into direct conflict with Cyndi Vanderheiden’s sister, Kim. The two women exchanged heated emails, which were published on the true crime website mayhem.net.

  Mayhem,net is a virtual gathering place for amateur/wannabe detectives, serial killer junkies and groupies, and family members of victims. In the pages dedicated to the Speed Freak Killers, the basics of the case were listed along with emails sent to the website from those connected to the case.

  In one email that was replete with spelling and grammar errors, Christina defended not only Loren, but also herself. She railed against the accusations of others who said she knew something about her husband’s activities.

  First, let me clear something up. How dare you tell me that I am responsible for someone else's actions. I AM NOT TO BLAME FOR ANY OF THESE CRIMES AND I WAS NOT AWARE OF ANY OF IT. I did NOT take the lives of any of these people, and I do NOT know who did.

  Second, in response to Kim's e-mail, I do not fear for my life. Fear is no longer part of my vocabulary, for reasons I am sure most people could never understand. I continue and always will stand by Loren because of reasons I can not explain. (If I have to explain you will never understand) Everyone involved should have thought ahead about the consequenses their actions would cause. I am not worried about this web site effecting myself or Loren, only my children. I have tried / contacted you (kim) more then once hoping to speak with you, reguarding more then one subject. But I now feel because of all the "media and politics" that has become so involved, it is in everyones best interest to let "sleeping dogs lay.

  Third, I think of MY children and family first. Regardless of what Loren has / has not done, it is my job to protect my children in any way I have to, from what ever negative / harmful effect this will have on them, NOT me.(I made the choice to marry Loren) They love him and miss him just as much as I am sure you all miss Cyndi. I have thought of Cyndi and Chevy and the other victims many, many, many times. I knew Chevy in the early 1980's. I have also thought of the victim's family's (even you kim) and friends many more times. I will never be able to find the words to express what I feel for all of you. I have searched and searched my brain thinking of where Cyndi and Chevy may be. I honestly wish I knew so I could tell. Those girls deserve to be laid to rest, the right way.

  Fourth, if the cops would have really listened to Loren (and one other person) when Chevy disapeared they should have been able to arrest Wes then. Also for the record, Loren and Wes NEVER went hunting together in Utah in 1994 or any other time. Will somebody PLEASE at least get something correct.

  Wes' ex-wife Sherrie knew information for years and kept quite. Doesn't that make any sense to any of you about this whole ordeal? And as for Wes revealing the location of the bodies, wake up people. Don't you people feel the same about this as you do about Loren not "weilding the knife"? Wes is far from done, he has just begun to play games. He is pure evil. I don't mean the kind of evil we see here on earth. I mean, that demon is pure DEVIL EVIL.

  And last; you, the D.A., the judge, the lawyers, the jury, the reporters, not even me, will ever REALLY know what did / did not happen and who did / did not kill these people. The ONLY one who will ever know is GOD. And whatever does / does not happen to Loren and Wes, and the rest of us, it is God's decision. And that is the only decision that counts.”

  Christina Herzog (Sugar),

  WIFE and BEST friend of Loren Herzog.”

  The email obviously dripped with desperation and frustration, but did little to reveal if Christina was privy to her husband’s homicidal pastime. Logic seems to dictate that she probably knew something was going on. The strange email was rife with deflection and certainly did not make Christiana Herzog look very good to readers. With that said, Christina Herzog has never been arrested for any crimes associated with the Speed Freak Killers, and she is not currently a person of interest in any investigations.

  The Speed Freak Killers would both spend more than a year in the county jail awaiting their trials. Herzog would spend close to three years there.

  Shermantine and Herzog’s lawyers made several motions to have evidence thrown out. Shermantine’s lawyer argued that the blood samples taken from his car were obtained illegally, but the judge did not agree, and he allowed the blood into evidence.

  His lawyer had no argument against Chevy Wheeler’s DNA found in his parents’ cabin, nor the tire track impressions found at the scene of his second murder.

  Perhaps the most important pretrial motions c
onsidered how the duo would be tried. The killers were brought into the court room together for their initial appearance, but it became obvious early on, that the two men would be tried separately. Herzog’s attorneys wanted two different trials because they believed their client was far less culpable than Shermantine.

  Herzog’s attorneys believed that their client had a chance to beat his case by using the “Shermantine did everything” defense.

  The Trials

  When Wesley Shermantine finally went on trial in November 2000, he was facing four murder charges, including the murders of Chevy Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden. The trial was attended by reporters from nearly every major media outlet in the State of California, as well as a number of national outlets.

  Attending trial everyday were members of Shermantine’s victims’ families.

  “We were there every day, every minute of the trial and he just sat there and looked. He couldn’t care less,” said Chevy Wheeler’s mother, Paula Wheeler.

  It is true that Shermantine looked smug during the proceedings. He was often seen smirking and smiling at inappropriate times. Some reasoned that Shermantine’s attitude at court was due to his sociopathic nature, which no doubt played a role, but one must not forget the arrogance that he demonstrated throughout his life.

  Shermantine killed over twenty people during a fifteen year period before he was caught. A part of Shermantine believed that he could beat the cases.

  And technically, he would not have been wrong for thinking so.

  Testa admitted before, during, and after the trial to the press that the case against Shermantine was largely circumstantial. The few drops of blood that contained Chevy Wheeler’s and Cyndi Vanderheiden’s DNA were the only pieces of physical evidence that pointed toward Shermantine’s guilt. In an era when forensic investigation shows were becoming popular—both fictional and documentary—Testa knew that he had to present a convincing case.

  In fact, the blood evidence was actually circumstantial. Since Shermantine knew both Chevy Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden on a friendly basis, and since their blood samples that were found at his parents’ cabin and in his car, were so small, a good lawyer could argue that both came from small cuts. The amount discovered was far less than what would constitute a serious injury.

  There was also the lack of bodies that the prosecution had to work around.

  Although defendants are convicted of murder from time to time without the presence of the victim’s body, it is a rare event. In these cases, defense lawyers have successfully argued that since there is no body, there is no way to state definitively that a murder ever took place. In the cases of Chevy Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden, both young women had troubled pasts. Perhaps, it was argued in court, they decided to leave their difficult lives behind.

  On the other hand, in most of the cases where a body was not found but a murder conviction was won, there was far more evidence, both physical and circumstantial, than what the prosecutors had on Shermantine.

  A defendant only needs “reasonable doubt” for an acquittal, and only one juror to create a mistrial in the form of a hung jury.

  With that said, the defense had an uphill battle to earn an acquittal for Shermantine.

  Although Shermantine never took the stand in his own defense, his attorneys put up a spirited defense for their client.

  Shermantine’s lawyers argued that most of the circumstantial evidence against their client should not be considered in trial. There was another logical reason why it all pointed at him—Wesley Shermantine’s supposed best friend was the real killer. They argued that since Herzog had access to both the Shermantine’s family cabin and Wesley’s car, there was a strong likelihood that Herzog was the killer.

  Despite doing everything they could for their client, the jury quickly came to a decision. On February 14, 2001, they found Wesley Shermantine guilty of four counts of first degree murder. Wesley Shermantine was looking at the death penalty.

  In many ways, California is different than the rest of the United States. For the last thirty years, it has been one of the most politically liberal states in the Union, but it has also been a proponent of the death penalty. When the individual states were allowed to reinstitute the death penalty after the 1976 Supreme Court decision Gregg v. Georgia, California was one of the first to bring back capital punishment.

  Since its reinstatement in California, the death penalty has been applied rather unevenly throughout the state. Traditionally, juries in the larger and more liberal counties, such as San Francisco and Los Angeles, have sentenced convicted murderers to the death penalty far less per capita, than in the more rural and conservative counties.

  San Joaquin County is one place where the death penalty is given more frequently per capita.

  The good citizens of San Joaquin County believe in law and order, and if someone in their community runs afoul of the law, the citizens have no problem supporting the maximum sentence for an offender.

  When the jury found Shermatine guilty of multiple murders, his trial moved into the sentencing phase. The jury would have to determine if he would face the rest of his life in prison or be executed by lethal injection. There seemed to be few credible arguments that Shermantine’s lawyers could make to a jury to spare their client’s life. Shermantine was not a sympathetic defendant, and his antics during the trial did little to help his cause.

  But at the last minute, Testa came to Shermantine’s lawyers with a deal.

  Testa offered to give Shermantine life in prison without the possibility of parole if he revealed the location of the remains of Chevy Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden. The families of the two women were fine with the resolution of Shermatine’s trial and were satisfied knowing he would spend the rest of his life in prison, as long as they could claim the remains of their loved ones. Shermantine’s attorneys agreed with the proposal, so they anxiously exhorted their client to take the deal.

  But once more, Wesley Shermantine’s hubris surfaced.

  The Speed Freak Killer reasoned, since Testa made the offer, that he was now in a position to bargain.

  Over his lawyers’ objections, Shermantine made a counter offer to Testa—he would reveal the location of the remains of the two women only if he could claim the $20,000 reward the Vanderheiden family offered in 1998 for information about the whereabouts of Cyndi.Shermantine. He reasoned that he would use the money to pay back the restitution ordered by the judge to pay his victims’ families, and he would give the remainder to his two sons.

  Wesley Shermantine actually had the nerve to ask for the reward money from one of his victims’ families to pay back what he owed for taking their loved ones’ lives.

  Testa was immediately taken aback by the bold and arrogant offer. Once his initial shock wore off, Testa realized that it was just another game that Shermantine was playing. Here was his last chance to hold power over his victims.

  Despite the despicable offer, Testa was required to not only consider it, but also to alert the victims’ families of the proposal. Both the Vanderheiden and Wheeler families rejected the offer.

  Shermantine’s sentencing hearing was short, and for the most part, a foregone conclusion. He was sentenced to death on March 9, 2001. Shortly after his sentence was pronounced, Wesley Shermatine sat in a California Department of Corrections van and drove about two hours to his new home on condemned row at San Quentin prison. He will live there until his sentence is carried out.

  With Shermantine’s trial completed, it was time for Testa to focus his attention on Herzog.

  The case against Herzog was significantly different than it was against Shermantine. As stated earlier, there was no physical evidence that tied Herzog to any of the murders. The investigators and prosecutors who worked the case all believed that he functioned in a subservient role to Shermantine, which could have the effect of a jury mitigating his role in the murders.

  The most important piece of evidence the prosecution had against Herzog was his taped m
arathon confession. Although Herzog never admitted to killing any of the duo’s victims, he did admit to being at the scene during a number of the murders.

  Herzog’s attorneys were reasonably confident that they could get an acquittal on the most serious charges of capital murder, and instead, see their client convicted of lesser murder and/or manslaughter charges. In Herzog’s favor was the fact that Shermantine never gave a statement that implicated Herzog in any way. The only story on record pertaining to the Speed Freak Killers was the one that Loren Herzog gave to the San Joaquin County investigators.

  The lack of physical evidence led many residents of San Joaquin County, and some members of the press, to speculate that a plea bargain was in the works. It was rumored that Testa considered offering Herzog a lengthy prison sentence with the possibility of parole. The debate raged in the local press about whether or not Testa should offer Herzog a plea bargain. Those in favor of a plea bargain, argued that it would ensure that Herzog would stay in prison for a long time, possibly the rest of his life, and he would therefore not be likely to kill again.

  Those opposed to a plea bargain stated that in no way should a serial killer ever be released.

  Testa showed that the rumors of a plea bargain were invalid when he brought the case to trial with no plea offer.

  Although the prosecution’s case against Loren Herzog was largely circumstantial in nature, the circumstances pointed to no other perpetrators other than Herzog and Shermantine. Herzog’s lengthy confession was the most damning piece of evidence used against him, but there were other pieces to the puzzle that revealed Herzog’s guilt.

  Herzog’s statement about the 1984 double murder of Howard King and Paul Raymond Cavanaugh was particularly harmful to his case. Herzog claimed that on the evening when King and Cavanaugh were murdered, Shermantine used his own gun, as well as Herzog’s gun, to shoot and kill the two men. When they heard Herzog’s account, investigators were immediately skeptical. The story did not make sense: Why would Shermantine shoot one man with his own gun and the other with Herzog’s gun?