14 years ago on this
day (14 November 1998), Cyndi Vanderheiden disappeared in Clements, California.
She was murdered by the Speed Freak killers. It is the name given to serial killer duo Loren Herzog and
Wesley Shermantine, together
initially convicted of 4 murders (3 jointly), and suspected in the deaths of as
many as 15 people, in and around San Joaquin County, California. Their nickname
was given due to their being methamphetamine users, with "speed freak "
a colloquialism for such. Shermantine is on death row. Herzog committed suicide
in 2012. He had had his conviction overturned in 2004, and had been paroled in
2010. Bones recovered in 2012 from an abandoned well have been positively
linked to the killings.
In loving memory of
her, I will be giving information on the Speed Freak killers on the other blog
of mine and also tell you more about the victim, Cyndi Vanderheiden from the
Charles Montaldo website, before giving my comments and condolences to the
family.
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Cyndi Vanderheiden
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Cyndi Vanderheiden - A Victim of the Speed Freak Killers
By Charles Montaldo, About.com Guide
The Murder of Cyndi Vanderheiden
Cyndi Vanderheiden
lived in Clements, California since she was four months old. Clements is a
small town in San Joaquin County and in 1998 it had a population of 250. It was
a tightly knit community where people knew what they needed to know about their
neighbors and helped keep an eye on each other.
The Vanderheidens
were a close and supportive family. Nicknamed Tigger by her family, Cyndi was
cute and energetic which helped earn her a spot as a cheerleader in high
school. As she grew older she hit some rough spots in her life, but things came
together and in 1998, after having just turned 25, she was happy.
She was working and
had managed to save enough money to put down on a new car, but she was still
responsible for the monthly notes. She decided to live at home until her temp
job went full-time. It helped to relieve some financial pressure.
November
14, 1998
It was November 14,
1998 when Cyndi disappeared. Earlier that day she met her mother for lunch and
then they did a little shopping. Cyndi told her mother that she wanted to go
karoaking at the Linden Inn, a bar that her father owned in Linden. Just a week
before her parents had thrown her a surprise birthday party there. The group
had a good time singing karaoke and Cyndi was in the mood to enjoy it again.
She asked her mother
and father if they wanted to go with her, but they were both too tired, so
Cyndi and a friend went instead. First they went to another bar that her father
owned in Clements, then she left her car there and drove with her friend to the
Linden Inn bar.
Herzog
and Shermantine
It was there that
Cyndi began talking to two of her sister's friends, Wesley
Shermantine and Leron Herzog1. Herzog (Slim as she called him)
was no stranger to the Linden Inn or the Vanderheiden family. In fact he was a
regular customer and at one time he had a close relationship with Cyndi's
sister Kim.
Cyndi knew
Shermantine more by reputation as did everyone around the area. She knew he was
Herzog's best friend, but she also knew he had a bad reputation. He had once
been investigated after a high school girl from Stockton, went missing and had
twice been accused of rape. But he was never convicted of any of the crimes.
Besides, Herzog had always been protective of her and her sister Kim, so it is
doubtful that Cyndi was too concerned about Shermantine.
At around 2:00 a.m.
Cyndi and her friend left the Linden Inn, went by and picked up Cyndi's car in
Clement, and then her friend followed Cyndi home. As Cyndi pulled into her
driveway her friend drove away.
Vanished
The next morning
Cyndi's mother, Terri Vanderheiden, looked into her daughter's room and was
happy to see she had made her bed. She didn't see Cyndi, but she figured she
had already left for work.
Cyndi's father John
Vanderheiden also missed seeing his daughter that morning and later called her
at work to see if she made it in okay. He was told that she wasn't there and
had not made it in to work at all that day. The news concerned Mr. Vanderheiden
and he began driving around town looking for his daughter.
Later in the day John
found his Cyndi's car parked at the Glenview Cemetery. Inside the car was her
purse and cell phone, but Cyndi was nowhere to be found. He knew something was
very wrong and he called the police.
A
Massive Search for Cyndi
Word traveled fast
that Cyndi was missing and the next day more than 50 people showed up to help
search for her. As the day turned into weeks the support continued and people
from the surrounding areas joined in to help. At one point there were more than
1,000 people searching the hillsides, river banks and ravines in and around
Clements.
A search center was
set up which was eventually relocated next to the Vanderheiden home. Cyndi's
older sister Kimberly moved back to her parent's home from Wyoming to help in
the search and man the search center.
Through the tenacity
of the Cyndi's family organized searches for Cyndi continued and her story
became national news.
Shermantine
and Herzog Top Investigator's List
The San Joaquin County2 Sheriff's police force was
also actively searching for not only Cyndi, but also for 16-year-old Chevelle
Wheeler3 who had disappeared in 1984.
Investigators knew
that Shermantine was the last person to see Wheeler alive and now also one of
the last people to see Cyndi alive.
Shermantine and
Herzog had been friends since childhood and spent their lifetime in the
California wilderness exploring the hills, rivers and the many mineshafts that
dotted the hillsides. The investigators spent hours of manpower searching in those
areas that were well known to Shermantine and Herzog, but nothing turned up.
A
DNA Match
Shermantine and
Herzog were arrested in March 1999 for suspicion in the murder of Chevy
Wheeler. Shermantine's car was impounded which gave police access to searching
it. Blood was found inside the car and DNA testing matched it to Cyndi
Vanderheiden. Shermantine and Herzog were charged with the murder of Cyndi plus
two additional murders from 1984.
A
Killer's Confession
When investigators
started interrogating Loren Herzog, he started talking. Any loyalty he had
towards his lifelong friend Shermantine was gone. He discussed several murders
that he said Shermantine had committed, including details of the murder of
Cyndi.
"Slim
help me. Slim do something."
According to Herzog,
on the night that Cyndi Vanderheiden was murdered, Shermantine and Cyndi were
partying at a bar earlier in the evening and had made arrangements to meet at
Clements cemetery later that night with Cyndi. He said she wanted some drugs.
Allegedly the three
met, did drugs together, then Shermantine took them all on a "wild
trip" through the back roads. He suddenly pulled a knife and demanded that
Vanderheiden perform oral sex on him. He then stopped the car and raped,
sodomized, and slit Cyndi's throat.
When the interrogator
asked Herzog if Cyndi was saying anything during her ordeal, he said she asked
Shermantine not to kill her and asked him to help her. Calling Herzog by his
nickname "Slim", her words were, "Slim help me. Slim do something."
He admitted that he did not help her and instead stayed in the back seat of the
car and turned away.
The investigators and
the Vanderheidens did not buy Shermantine's story of what happened. For one
thing, Cyndi had to go to work the next day at a job that she liked and was
trying to move up in. It is very unlikely that she would stay out all night
doing methamphetamines4.
Also, why would she drive home first and pretend to pull into the driveway
instead of going directly to the planned meeting place after leaving the bar?
But regardless,
Herzog's own words were enough for investigators to charge him with murder,
plus the description of what happened to Cyndi in the car matched with where
the blood evidence was found.
Convicted
and Sentenced
Wesley Shermantine
was found guilty of first-degree
murder5 of Cyndi Vanderheiden, Chevelle Wheeler and two others.
The DNA evidence was enough to convince the jury of his guilt, even though
Cyndi's and Chevelle's bodies had still not been found.
During the trial
Shermantine made an offer to give up the information on where Cyndi's body and
three others were buried in exchange for $20,000 that he wanted to be given to
his two sons. He was also offered an opportunity to tell where his victims
bodies were located in exchange for not getting the death penalty. No deals
were made.
The jury recommended
a sentence of death for Shermantine and the judge agreed.
Leron Herzog's trial
came next and he was found guilty of three counts of murder and one count of
being an accessory to murder. He was sentenced to 78 years.
Set
Free?
In August 2004, to
the horror of the victim's families and to the citizens of San Joaquin County,
Herzog's conviction was thrown out on appeal and in 2010 he was paroled.
The
Aftermath
Not long after Cyndi
went missing John Vanderheiden closed the Linden Inn bar and walked away from
it, letting the new owner have whatever was inside. For years he continued
searching the hills and ravines in search of his daughter.
Cyndi's mother Terri
Vanderheiden, even after the convictions of Herzog and Shermantine, never
stopped looking for her daughter walking down sidewalks and in with crowds of
people. Many times throughout the years she thought she spotted Cyndi, but
would realize she was wrong. She never gave up hope that one day she would see
her daughter alive.
Cyndi's sister
Kimberly continued to man the phones at the search center and help organize
search parties for years after Cyndi disappeared. It would be nine years before
she returned to the life that she had before Cyndi went missing.
Herzog
Commits Suicide
In January 2012,
Leron Herzog committed suicide within hours of learning that Shermantine was
going to deliver a map to authorities with the locations marked where several
of his victims had been buried.
Closure
In late February,
2012, Shermantine led investigators to locations where he said Leron Herzog buried
many of his victims6. A skull with teeth was found in a shallow
grave on a ravine on Shermantine's property that proved to be that of Cyndi
Vanderheiden.
The Vanderheiden
family is hoping that with this discovery that they can now find some kind of
closure, although it will always remain bittersweet.
©2012 About.com,
Inc., a part of The New York Times Company.
All rights reserved.
Links in this article:
- http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/speedfreakkillers.htm
- http://www.netplaces.com/family-travel-northern-california-lake-tahoe/visitors-bureaus-chambers-of-commerce-and-helpful-groups/northern-california-visitors-bureaus.htm
- http://crime.about.com/od/missing/ss/chevelle-wheeler.htm
- http://alcoholism.about.com/od/meth/
- http://crime.about.com/od/Crime_101/f/What-Is-Murder.htm
- http://crime.about.com/b/2012/02/16/serial-killers-tips-leads-to-burial-sites.htm
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Quote: Herzog killed himself last month
on 16 January 2012. The couple said they want Shermantine to be executed for
his crimes.
"As far as I'm concerned, he can
burn in hell like his friend should be doing," said John Vanderheiden.
The Vanderheidens plan to hold a public memorial
for their daughter Cyndi and bury her at the Clements Cemetery less than a mile
from her home.
Comments and Condolences:
When I heard that Loren
Herzog had committed suicide, I was overwhelmed with joy as one of the serial
killer duos had been terminated from the face of this earth. At that time, I
was worried that Proposition 34 will pass and most likely, Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine will not pay with their
lives. As of today, Wesley Shermantine is still on California’s Death Row. So,
I prayed that Shermantine will at least remain on Death Row. I soon recalled
one of Immanuel Kant’s thoughts, I quote from this website:
In Kant's opinion a death penalty is justified only regarding murder and not any other crime, unless it causes a very substantial damage to the society. It is impossible to allow a situation where a murderer would be entitled to any legal rights and would be able to justify his actions. Kant believes that we cannot possibly replace capital punishment. If the death penalty is abolished what could be used instead? Life imprisonment is an extremely shameful measure, worse than a death penalty. Suppose there are two prisoners sentenced to death. One prefers death and the other is ready to accept shameful life in prison to survive. Which one of the two is better? Kant thinks that the first: "I say that the man of honor would choose death, and the knave would choose servitude" (Kant, 1996). Based on this logic Kant concludes that by abolishing capital punishment we impose an even more severe punishment which is unfair because a murderer deserves death and not something worse.
Immanuel
Kant’s opinion is that both the serial killer duo must die and they do not
deserve anything worse than death but suffer only death. Herzog belongs to the
one who prefers death, as he had already committed suicide, while Shermantine
is still on Death Row, most probably trying to appeal against his sentence.
For John
and Terri Vanderheiden, I walked in their shoes and give my utmost empathy and
sympathy for them, as I do with other murdered victims’ families, regardless of
their race and nationality. Cyndi lost her life when she did nothing wrong to
deserve to lose it. When I thought of Herzog’s suicide, it encouraged me to
tell others to Vote No on Proposition 34, that was why I prayed for the Californian Voters. Now, it is time for California to work together to put
their murderers to death now!
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