Post by pamelabezley on Apr 21, 2012 14:16:56 GMT -5
Seeking help in writing a book. Quick note. Was involved with "Speed Freak Killer's" case. I have all original leads and information, case info, victims you name it. The last victim was a very close friend of mine. We started Cyndi Seach was able to arrest, and trial for the killers. One sits on death row now speaking out where many bodies are and the other hung himself at the high desert Susanville in Jan/Feb. he was released after a misstrial due to SJ Sheriffs violated his rights. Cyndis remains were located this yr along with others. The digs still continue as many as 20+ victims. I need help getting a book written and published. Thanks again and stay safe!!!
Here is a look back. Somewhat of a timeline
a quick look back 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 was so excited and loved that car. 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 Herzog. 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. Kim and Pamela never gave up on the search. They search mines, wells, fields, mountains, rivers just the two women determined to find answers and bring Cyndi home one way or another.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 County Sheriff's police force was also actively searching for not only Cyndi, but also for 16-year-old Chevelle Wheeler 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 methamphetamines. 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 murder 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 twins Kim and Pamela raised the reward money and in no way were the two gonna pay Wes for killing there loved one.
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 John, Kim, Pamela continued searching the hills and ravines in search of his daughter, sister, friend. 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 and close family friend Pamela also 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. Almost a decade later Kim would find herself divorced and back in Wyoming. Pamela too found herself divorced and moved from the area. Never loosing contact or hope.
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 victims. 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. April 21st Cyndi will finally be laid to rest with an open memorial service. Cyndis cat Topaz sat in the window seal from the time she came up missing waiting for her mom to return. The day Vanderheidens were to pick Cyndi up from the coroners her cat Topaz passed away. The two will be runined in death.
Cyndi Vanderheiden the last victim of the Speed Freek Killers Rein.
Web sites: Information
blog.sfgate.com/crime/2012/04/17/chilling-police-videos-of-speed-freak-killers/
www.mayhem.net/Crime/shermantine.html
www.angelfire.com/ca2/MissingPersons/
Speed Freak Killer sites
search.netzero.net/search?action=search&r=search&source=hybrid_zerobar&query=california%20speed%20freek%20killers
Wesley Shermantine
search.netzero.net/search?source=topsearchbox&action=search&query=Wes+Shermantine
Loren Herzog
search.netzero.net/search?source=topsearchbox&action=search&query=Loren+Herzog
Rob Dick owner of Renegade Investigations came to help us almost 1 yr into the search for Cyndi. Him and Leonard got Wes to talk and tell where bodies are. Really great men who saved us from unknown trouble. Make sure to check out his page on the victims under missing persons.
www.renegadeinvestigations.com/Private_Investigations.html
Cyndi my dear friend
For years we laughed cried, jet skied, laid in the sun, long car rides. Evil then took you and so our search began…. Our search for you took us many places so
many places in fact there rarely is a day that I encounter a spot we haven’t searched.
We searched sheds, schools, attics, basements, wells, mines, barns, cemeteries, garages, churches boats, cars, trains, abandon building, freezers, quarries, bridges, dams, landfills, closets, caves, holes, creeks, ditches, rivers, canyons, mountains, valleys, lakes, ponds, canals, pipes, culverts, gullies and ravines.
We encounter fences, rain, walls, snow, dark, mud, berry bushes, rocks, trees,
animals, brush, and an occasional barrel of a shotgun.
We used dogs, horses, trucks, motor cycles, backhoes, tractor, planes, helicopters, ladders, boats, metal detectors, computers, shovels and psychics
We were scared, determined, sad, brave, disgusted, raged, excited, discouraged, exasperated, angry and disappointed. We were trespassers, hikers, eavesdroppers, detectives, spies, and impersonators.
During our search we encounter many people most were kind hearted and helpful some were just just dreadful. Some we're on their own search for their lost loved ones.
During our search we posted flyers, gave interviews, put up posters and billboards, lit candles, released balloons, made phone calls, tied ribbons, attended and hosted vigils, and spent many all-nighters at the search center huddled around the phone, waiting for it to ring.
Regretfully, we now know that our search had brought us with in feet of you many times……
Thankfully, because of a mindful tow truck driver we able to get arrests and finally
Convictions.
While searching for you we realized when we found you we would find others and thanks to
Mr. Padilla and other’s persistence our suspicions will no longer be laughed at and ignored.
Since you have been gone I have gained a husband, two kids, some wrinkles, a few gray hairs, some extra pounds and a HUGE respect and empathy for your family...
I share our stories with my own kids. Watching them grow helps me remember our times
Together. When this world gets overwhelming it is your story that reminds me of what
really is important...
Now our search can now come to an end……
Here is a look back. Somewhat of a timeline
a quick look back 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 was so excited and loved that car. 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 Herzog. 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. Kim and Pamela never gave up on the search. They search mines, wells, fields, mountains, rivers just the two women determined to find answers and bring Cyndi home one way or another.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 County Sheriff's police force was also actively searching for not only Cyndi, but also for 16-year-old Chevelle Wheeler 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 methamphetamines. 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 murder 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 twins Kim and Pamela raised the reward money and in no way were the two gonna pay Wes for killing there loved one.
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 John, Kim, Pamela continued searching the hills and ravines in search of his daughter, sister, friend. 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 and close family friend Pamela also 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. Almost a decade later Kim would find herself divorced and back in Wyoming. Pamela too found herself divorced and moved from the area. Never loosing contact or hope.
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 victims. 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. April 21st Cyndi will finally be laid to rest with an open memorial service. Cyndis cat Topaz sat in the window seal from the time she came up missing waiting for her mom to return. The day Vanderheidens were to pick Cyndi up from the coroners her cat Topaz passed away. The two will be runined in death.
Cyndi Vanderheiden the last victim of the Speed Freek Killers Rein.
Web sites: Information
blog.sfgate.com/crime/2012/04/17/chilling-police-videos-of-speed-freak-killers/
www.mayhem.net/Crime/shermantine.html
www.angelfire.com/ca2/MissingPersons/
Speed Freak Killer sites
search.netzero.net/search?action=search&r=search&source=hybrid_zerobar&query=california%20speed%20freek%20killers
Wesley Shermantine
search.netzero.net/search?source=topsearchbox&action=search&query=Wes+Shermantine
Loren Herzog
search.netzero.net/search?source=topsearchbox&action=search&query=Loren+Herzog
Rob Dick owner of Renegade Investigations came to help us almost 1 yr into the search for Cyndi. Him and Leonard got Wes to talk and tell where bodies are. Really great men who saved us from unknown trouble. Make sure to check out his page on the victims under missing persons.
www.renegadeinvestigations.com/Private_Investigations.html
Cyndi my dear friend
For years we laughed cried, jet skied, laid in the sun, long car rides. Evil then took you and so our search began…. Our search for you took us many places so
many places in fact there rarely is a day that I encounter a spot we haven’t searched.
We searched sheds, schools, attics, basements, wells, mines, barns, cemeteries, garages, churches boats, cars, trains, abandon building, freezers, quarries, bridges, dams, landfills, closets, caves, holes, creeks, ditches, rivers, canyons, mountains, valleys, lakes, ponds, canals, pipes, culverts, gullies and ravines.
We encounter fences, rain, walls, snow, dark, mud, berry bushes, rocks, trees,
animals, brush, and an occasional barrel of a shotgun.
We used dogs, horses, trucks, motor cycles, backhoes, tractor, planes, helicopters, ladders, boats, metal detectors, computers, shovels and psychics
We were scared, determined, sad, brave, disgusted, raged, excited, discouraged, exasperated, angry and disappointed. We were trespassers, hikers, eavesdroppers, detectives, spies, and impersonators.
During our search we encounter many people most were kind hearted and helpful some were just just dreadful. Some we're on their own search for their lost loved ones.
During our search we posted flyers, gave interviews, put up posters and billboards, lit candles, released balloons, made phone calls, tied ribbons, attended and hosted vigils, and spent many all-nighters at the search center huddled around the phone, waiting for it to ring.
Regretfully, we now know that our search had brought us with in feet of you many times……
Thankfully, because of a mindful tow truck driver we able to get arrests and finally
Convictions.
While searching for you we realized when we found you we would find others and thanks to
Mr. Padilla and other’s persistence our suspicions will no longer be laughed at and ignored.
Since you have been gone I have gained a husband, two kids, some wrinkles, a few gray hairs, some extra pounds and a HUGE respect and empathy for your family...
I share our stories with my own kids. Watching them grow helps me remember our times
Together. When this world gets overwhelming it is your story that reminds me of what
really is important...
Now our search can now come to an end……