Serial killer offers to lead cops to remains

A serial killer on death row may soon return to Calaveras and San Joaquin counties to lead a search for the remains of murdered victims.

Wesley Shermantine, 45, a former part-time San Andreas resident, has offered clues to the whereabouts of as many as a dozen bodies in exchange for payment of restitution owed to the families of his victims.

San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore planned to host a meeting this morning with Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department, San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, FBI and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials to gain further information about what evidence Shermantine may have and how it should be handled.   

Sacramento bounty hunter Leonard Padilla and a Stockton Record reporter have received correspondence in recent months from Shermantine about the location of various remains, and the killer has said he wants to take authorities to those locales.   

Padilla further stated that he notified Loren Herzog, a former friend of Shermantine’s and partner in many of his crimes, about Shermantine’s correspondence just hours before the parolee apparently hanged himself Monday night.    

Padilla said he spoke to Herzog on the phone four weeks ago to tell him he would send him copies of Shermantine’s letters and that his former friend also sent maps to bodies’ locations.    

“‘He’s laying it on you, Loren,’” Padilla recalled telling Herzog.    

He said Shermantine wanted to pin Herzog for the murder of Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler, a 16-year-old Stockton girl who disappeared in 1985. Herzog continued to insist he had been at work when Shermantine kidnapped the girl, Padilla said.    

On Dec. 22, Calaveras County Sheriff’s detectives conducted a search on the former Shermantine property in San Andreas for Wheeler’s remains but turned up nothing. Padilla believes the search should have been extended. He has offered to pay Shermantine the $18,000 for court-ordered restitution payments he seeks if the killer’s tips lead to her remains.    

Herzog served most of a 14-year-sentence for voluntary manslaughter in the 1998 death of Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, of Clements, before his 2010 parole release to a trailer just beyond the walls of High Desert State Prison in Susanville.    

Two additional murder convictions were overturned by an appeals court in 2004, cutting short an original minimum sentence of 78 years for Herzog.   

Padilla said he told Herzog that Shermantine claims his former friend raped and killed Vanderheiden while he helped dispose of her body. Shermantine has been convicted of Vanderheiden’s murder as well as those of Wheeler, Paul Cavanaugh and Howard King.    

What Padilla believes got to Herzog was when he told him Monday afternoon that Shermantine claims they took the bodies of 10 victims and threw them in a well near Herzog’s Linden home. Padilla said Shermantine recounted pouring gas on the remains, burning them and then sealing off the well.    

“(Herzog) then kind of hyperventilated,” Padilla recalled of their phone conversation.    

Prison officials found Herzog’s body just after midnight on Tuesday and Lassen County officials believe he committed suicide.   

Padilla also said he thinks Herzog may have been disturbed by his resemblance to a composite sketch of the suspect in the 1988 disappearance of 9-year-old Michaela Garecht, from Hayward.    

He said he advised Herzog to retain an attorney, offering the services of a law school he founded in Sacramento.    

San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office officials learned of the possibility of Shermantine’s return on Tuesday. They quickly put together today’s meeting to learn more about the new information in the cases and under what circumstances Shermantine may return to the scene of some of his crimes.    

“We want to know, are these searches going to occur in San Joaquin County and what are the precautions that are going to be taken?” said department spokesman Deputy Les Garcia.    

Garcia said Moore wants to be able “to make an informed decision” on the matter.    

“His intent is to find out exactly what’s going to occur and where,” Garcia said.    

Garcia said the department is interested in whether or not technology such as a live video feed linking the prison and potential burial sites can be utilized.   

“Are there other options instead of bringing an inmate off death row?” Garcia said. “Ultimately, the security and safety of the citizens of San Joaquin County, and of Calaveras County as well, is our concern. We’d like to seek closure for the families, but we’ve got to do it in a safe manner.”    

The worst-case scenario of letting Shermantine out of San Quentin State Prison is his escape from authorities.   

“What does Shermantine have to lose?” Garcia mused.    

Calaveras County Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Macedo said Thursday that the meeting’s goal is to “discuss how to approach the information” about the victims’ remains and Shermantine’s possible return to the area.    

“We’re going to handle this jointly,” Macedo said.    

A state prisons official offered a brief statement Thursday regarding the matter.    

“We are working closely with local law enforcement officials who are looking into the Herzog-Shermantine case,” said Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Luis Patino. “We cannot comment further on what is an ongoing investigation.”