Friday search for body fruitless

Authorities Friday searched a San Andreas property for the remains of a 1998 murder victim, one of several victims of convicted serial killer Wesley Shermantine.

The search for the remains of Cyndi Vanderheiden, of Clements, was spurred by a tip Shermantine gave to a Stockton newspaper reporter Thursday, San Joaquin County Sheriff’s spokesman Les Garcia said.
  

Investigators searched the areas disclosed in the letter for several hours with shovels and the aid of a cadaver dog, Garcia said. They found nothing.

Garcia said no further details, including other possible planned searches, are being disclosed because of the ongoing investigation. The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department has referred all requests for comment to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office.

San Joaquin and Calaveras County sheriffs’ deputies and the Department of Justice participated in Friday’s search.

Shermantine, 45, formerly of Stockton, earlier offered to lead investigators to up to a dozen buried bodies believed to be victims in a series of killings committed by him and former friend Loren Herzog.

Herzog committed suicide Jan. 16 in Lassen County.

Herzog, found hanging, had been living in a trailer just beyond the walls of High Desert State Prison in Susanville after being paroled in 2010.

Shermantine and Herzog, of Linden, were arrested in 1999 for a string of murders in the 1980s and ’90s. Herzog was released on parole in 2010 after an appeals court tossed much of his case.    

Shermantine remains on death row for four murders, including Vanderheiden’s.

Contact Lenore Rutherford at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 588-4585.