Wesley Shermantine

Name

Wesley Shermantine

Status and sentencing

Wesley Shermantine was sentenced to death in California on May 16, 2001.

Charges, convictions, and legal posture mentioned

Shermantine had been convicted in four murders, including Cyndi Vanderheiden’s murder. Wesley Shermantine declined a plea deal offered in the Herzog case that would have involved testimony and help in locating victims’ bodies.

Cases and victims mentioned

California investigators believed Shermantine and Loren Joseph Herzog were a lethal pair and may have killed as many as 20 people, disposing of bodies in mine shafts, remote hill sides and buried underneath a trailer park.

The text listed seven California disappearances connected to the pair, including Hannah Zaccaglini and Karen Knechtel Mero. The text also stated that no charges had been filed against Shermantine in these cases.

Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler’s remains had never been located. Wheeler was identified as one of Shermantine’s victims, and Shermantine was convicted in 2001 for murders that included Wheeler.

Cyndi Vanderheiden’s body had never been found.

The bodies of Joanne Hobson and Cyndi Vanderheiden had never been found.

Relationships and case involvement

Loren Joseph Herzog and Wesley Shermantine were described as longtime friends. The case described Shermantine as offering information about the location of bodies in exchange for reward money or for testimony in another case.

Offers involving bodies, reward, and testimony

Wesley Howard Shermantine said that if his two young sons received $20,000 in reward money, he would reveal the location of the bodies of four victims—two for which he was convicted and two more. Police believed Shermantine may be responsible for up to 22 more slayings.

The text said authorities offered to drop the death penalty for two bodies, but Shermantine asked for cash instead. Victims’ families said they were willing to consider a death penalty deal but were against paying for the bodies, and they wanted to help other families locate missing loved ones.

Separately, Shermantine was described as sending letters from his cell on death row at San Quentin to Joan Shelley, whose 16-year-old daughter, Joann Hobson, disappeared 19 years ago. In the letter, Shermantine reportedly said Herzog was the killer, and that Herzog had “a date with my daughter that night and he killed her ... and he knew where her body was.”

The text also stated that Shermantine wrote a letter to the Vanderheiden family offering to testify against Herzog in exchange for a deal. Shermantine’s offer was described by John Vanderheiden as follows:

“He wanted everybody, all the victims' families, to go and ask the governor to make a deal with him and he would testify against Herzog and show him where the bodies and everything were,”

Quotations and attributions (verbatim)

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said:

“Mr. Herzog might be able to pull the wool over the eyes of the jury,”

Testa also said:

“I did not want Loren Herzog on the street, which could have happened by the end of January had we gone to trial.”

Shermantine declined the deal late Friday, saying he feared for his safety in prison if he became a snitch.

Judge F. Clark Sueyres asked for Testa’s legal reasoning and said:

“Obviously, this case turns on what Mr. Herzog had in mind on that night that Cyndi Vanderheiden was killed,”

Herzog said:

“I wish this never would have happened, and I'm sorry it did.”

San Joaquin County Sheriff Baxter Dunn said:

“I do disagree with the findings of the Court of Appeal,”

Dunn said:

“I do believe they would certainly have come to a different decision.”

John Vanderheiden said:

“Only 14 years -- it seems like it's very cheap for a person's life,”

John Vanderheiden said:

“At least he's off the streets for at least another eight years. We can live with it -- for the time being.”

John Vanderheiden praised the Santa Clara jury that convicted Herzog in 2001 and said:

“I think now that Loren has admitted to killing my daughter, ... he should now tell where the bodies are -- so we can lay this to rest,”

Herzog’s defense attorney Peter Fox said:

“I don't believe there's more than one person who knows the answer to that question,”

Peter Fox said:

Herzog’s sister Lorie Stoker said:

“When you have to plead guilty to something you did not do -- as Loren did -- it is difficult on him, and it's difficult on the family,”

Stoker said:

“Loren's coming home to us.”

Shermantine reportedly said in a letter to Joan Shelley:

“He said Herzog had a date with my daughter that night and he killed her ... and he knew where her body was,”

Testa said after the hearing:

“They're birds of a feather,”

Testa said:

“They're 50-50, not 90-10 or 70-30.”

Herzog said:

“Legal responsibility is not the same as moral responsibility,”

Herzog also said:

“Cyndi Vanderheiden called Mr. Herzog a good friend. I am certain that, instinctively, she counted on him to guarantee her own safety. ”

Herzog also said:

“But all we can do in court is carry out the law.”

Other details

The text described the appellate ruling as involving coercive police interrogations, noting Herzog had been physically exhausted, deprived of food and threatened over the course of several days of interviews, and that detectives ignored attempts to invoke the right to remain silent.