On June 18, 2003 a press conference was held by the Carol Sund/Carrington Memorial Foundation for them to announce that they were offering a $5,000 reward for the recovery of Gayle Marks. The press conference was held at the Stockton Police Department. It was during this press conference that I discovered that these two animals were considered suspects in my daughter's disappearance, This came as a total shock to me.
I had been following the cases with great interest and had even gone to the Cyndi search headquarters and met the family. I had been at the courthouse on the day they were indicted for the 6 murders.
Had I known this at the time I might have been able to do something about this. But I did not know. And now there is nothing I can do. So I guess I should be content that they are in jail and one is waiting to die. However with the kind of people they turned out to be I imagine that there will never be closure for me and some of the other families involved. But I know that they will get their justice.
By Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
A Santa Clara County jury Wednesday convicted Wesley Shermantine Jr. of four San Joaquin County murders between 1984 and 1998.
After eight days of deliberation, jurors convicted Shermantine of killing: Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, of Clements; Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler, 16, of Stockton; and Howard King, 35, and Paul Cavanaugh, 31, both of Lathrop. Shermantine could face the death penalty, but prosecutor Thomas Testa may offer an option.
“I’m going to talk with the defendant, and if he’ll show us where the bodies (of Vanderheiden and Wheeler) are, with permission of the families, we won’t seek the death penalty,” Testa said. “They’d really like to have those bodies back. I don’t know if he’ll take me up on it.”
The Vanderheiden family said they would welcome such a compromise. “It’ll be hell on him anyway when he gets into prison,” said John Vanderheiden of Clements. “There’s no possibility for parole or anything. Other than that, I personally want to see him dead anyway.”
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“As long as I can have my Cyndi back,” whispered an emotional Terri Vanderheiden. “I need that closure.”
The Vanderheidens attended almost every day of the trial, which began in November.
Shermantine showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Others in the courtroom did.
“You could hear the sobbing coming from the victim’s families in the back of the courtroom,” Testa said. “It was very emotional. I was teary-eyed. Some of the jurors were crying.”
“This is the verdict, frankly, we expected. But to me, it’s 15 years too late,” Testa said. “For 15 years he’s gotten away with a large number of sexual assaults, abductions, kidnappings, other crimes. Finally, he’s being held accountable.”
Defense attorneys Douglas Jacobsen and Deborah Fialkowski did not return phone calls from The Bee.
There were no witnesses to any of the killings, and only the first two victims’ bodies have been found. Testa spent weeks painstakingly laying out the pieces he said connected Shermantine to the crimes.
Cavanaugh and King were shot to death in a car off a remote road late one night. Tracks at the scene matched the tires on Shermantine’s pickup truck.
Wheeler disappeared after playing hooky from school and driving into the mountains with Shermantine. Though Shermantine was suspected of killing the teen-ager for years, he was not arrested until 1999, after DNA tests determined that drops of blood found in his cabin in the mountains were almost certainly from the girl.
Vanderheiden disappeared after leaving a bar with a methamphetamine-fueled Shermantine and his friend, Loren Herzog. Vanderheiden’s blood allegedly was found on a head rest and in the trunk of Shermantine’s car.
In addition to these cases, Shermantine has boasted of killing as many as 22 people, and authorities consider him a suspect in murders elsewhere in California and in Utah and Nevada, Testa has said.
Though those specifics were not allowed to come up in the trial, Testa did tell the jury that Shermantine claimed “he had hunted the ultimate kill — humans.” Witnesses also said that when Shermantine was high on methamphetamine and other drugs, he often threatened people and claimed he had “made people disappear.”
Because the bodies of Wheeler and Vanderheiden were never found, the prosecution had to rely heavily on circumstantial evidence.
“I always felt it was a strong case. I thought some of the jurors might disagree with me, but they all came back with this verdict,” Testa said.
The penalty phase of Shermantine’s trial will begin Wednesday and may take up to four weeks, according to San Joaquin supervising deputy district attorney Lester Fleming.
The prosecution plans call to the witness stand several women Shermantine has been convicted of sexually assaulting. Judge Michael Garrigan would not allow the women to testify earlier in the trial.
Also testifying during the penalty phase will be Vanderheiden’s sister, Kim Wrage. She said she will describe the loss her family has suffered because of her sister’s death. Wrage will show the court baby pictures of her sister and photos of herself in labor, when Cyndi helped deliver the babies.
“I’m happy but not ecstatic,” said Wrage said of Wednesday’s verdict. “I’m just relieved.” Wrage welcomed a dozen or so friends and relatives to her parents’ Clements home Wednesday.
She took calls of congratulation from families of other murder victims. Marc Klass, father of Polly Klass, a Petaluma girl who was killed after she was kidnapped from her home, was one of those who called.
Shermantine’s trial was moved to Santa Clara County because of the barrage of publicity in the valley surrounding the cases. Moving the trial has likely cost the county in excess of $100,000, Fleming said.
“Obviously that made it much more expensive. San Joaquin County had to pay all the expenses for all the facilities used.” The prosecution and the judge have had to be put up in hotels and all the witnesses transported to Santa Clara. “All of that adds up. It’s been several weeks and will be several weeks more,” Fleming said.
Also accused in the Vanderheiden, King and Cavanaugh deaths is Loren Herzog, 35, who is awaiting trial. It is likely Herzog’s trial also will be moved out of San Joaquin County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Shermantine sentenced to death
By MOLLY DUGAN
SANTA CLARA -- Wesley Shermantine, the 35-year-old Linden man convicted of four murders, was formally sentenced to death Wednesday.
In his first public statement since his trial began, Shermantine exploded in anger and tears to a stunned audience after San Joaquin County Judge Michael Garrigan accepted a jury's recommendation that Shermantine get the death penalty.
He maintained his innocence, calling the district attorney "a lying son of a b----."
Shermantine claimed that his friend Loren Herzog, whose trial begins July 30, committed the crimes. He accused the family of victim Cyndi Vanderheiden of paying people to testify against him.
"I did not kill these people," Shermantine said.
In an already emotionally charged courtroom, the families of Vanderheiden, 25, and victim Chevy Wheeler, 16, vented years of grief and frustration at Shermantine.
"You have put us through hell for the last 15 years," said Paula Wheeler, Chevy Wheeler's mother. "You don't deserve to live. I hope you go to hell."
Shermantine, whose trial was moved from San Joaquin County because of publicity, said he would testify at Herzog's trial.
So far, he has not cooperated with the district attorney or the families to help find the bodies of his victims. The bodies of Wheeler and Vanderheiden have never been found.
Shermantine offered to tell the families where the bodies are if they paid him $20,000, but they declined. On Wednesday, he said he will reveal the location of the bodies only in exchange for immunity for any crimes that might be charged when they are located.
"We won't have closure until we find her," said John Vanderheiden, Cyndi Vanderheiden's father. "I will find my daughter."
Other relatives hoped for vengeance, expressing the hope that Shermantine will be tortured in prison before he is executed.
"He got exactly what he deserved," said Raymond Wheeler, Chevy Wheeler's father. "I haven't been more satisfied since my daughter was born."
But Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said the family should not hold its breath waiting for the execution date. After the appeals are exhausted in another decade, Shermantine will have to wait his turn on death row. The process will likely take more than 14 years.
The victims' families, aware of the long wait for execution, asked the court to award them any wages Shermantine earns while behind bars to reimburse them for lost wages and travel expenses during the trial.
Jurors sat in on the sentencing, congratulating the family. But some said they were devastated at having had to make the recommendation for execution in March.
"We know in our hearts we made the right decision," juror Robert Dougherty said.
The relatives of other homicide victims, whom Shermantine is also suspected of killing, also showed up at the courthouse, wearing T-shirts that said "Remember me?" In addition to Vanderheiden and Wheeler, Shermantine was convicted of killing Paul Cavanaugh, 31, and Howard King, 35, in Lathrop in 1984. Acquaintances testified that he has bragged about killing others.
Herzog called ‘weak’ by own attorney as murder trial begins
By Ross Farrow/News-Sentinel staff writer
SANTA CLARA — Murder defendant Loren Herzog was painted Tuesday by one of his own attorneys as “morally weak and irresponsible” for not getting himself out of the control of his childhood friend, Wesley Shermantine Jr.
But he didn’t kill anyone, defense attorney Kenneth Quigley said during opening statements in Santa Clara County Superior Court.
Herzog, 35, charged with the murders of Cyndi Vanderheiden of Clements and four others, tried to act like a “tough guy” in front of Shermantine because Herzog was afraid of him, said Quigley, a private-sector attorney working on the case with Deputy Public Defender Peter Fox.
Shermantine, also 35, was convicted in February of murdering Vanderheiden, 25, Henry Howell, 45, of Santa Clara, Paul Cavanaugh, 31, of Stockton, Howard King III, 35, of Lathrop and Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler, 16, of Stockton.
Herzog is charged with the murders of Vanderheiden, Howell, Cavanaugh and King. He is also charged with the 1985 murder of Robin Armtrout, 24, of Stockton.
Shermantine was sentenced to death in May and is in custody at San Quentin State Prison. He will be given the opportunity to testify at Herzog’s trial, but it will be strictly Shermantine’s decision, said Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, prosecutor for both the Shermantine and Herzog trials.
If Shermantine testifies, it will be near the end of the prosecution’s case, which should take about six weeks, Testa said. The trial is expected to take three months.
The Herzog trial was moved to Santa Clara after being awarded a change of venue in San Joaquin County due to extensive pretrial publicity.
Herzog, who lives in the small community of Peters, southeast of Linden, faces five murder charges because he has never had “the courage and moral fortitude” to distance himself from Shermantine and tell him to get out of his life, Quigley told a nine-woman, three-man jury.
“Wesley Shermantine is a serial killer, a serial rapist,” Quigley said. “He’s everybody’s worst nightmare. He’s Loren Herzog’s worst nightmare because (Herzog) is fighting for his life. Loren Herzog is too weak to shake this person that fate put in his way.”
Testa said it will be up to the jury to decide whether Herzog actually committed any of the murders that Herzog’s attorneys are pinning on Shermantine or if Herzog helped Shermantine commit any of the crimes.
If Herzog did as much as give Shermantine a gun, moral support or acted as a lookout as Shermantine committed a murder, then Herzog would be guilty of the same crime, Testa said.
“Loren tried to act like a tough guy to keep these acts from happening to him,” Quigley said.
Testa outlined for the jury how Vanderheiden and the four other victims died.
Vanderheiden, Shermantine and Herzog were at the Linden Inn during the early morning hours of Nov. 14, 1998. Shermantine and Herzog left at about 2 a.m., the bar’s closing time. Vanderheiden and a friend, Curtis Cox, left shortly before or shortly after Herzog and Shermantine did, Testa said.
Cox gave Vanderheiden a ride back to her car at the Old Corner Saloon at Highway 88 and Mackville Road in Clements, about a block from the Vanderheidens’ home. Cox followed Vanderheiden home, then drove away as she entered her driveway, Testa said.
But Vanderheiden didn’t show up for work the next day, and her unlocked car was found at Glenview Cemetery on Mackville Road, Testa said. Vanderheiden’s body has never been found, but she is presumed dead.
Shermantine was linked to Vanderheiden’s death because DNA testing showed Vanderheiden’s blood was in a crevice inside the trunk to Shermantine’s car and in the pole of the head rest to the passenger seat, Testa said.
Herzog and Shermantine were arrested on March 17, 1999, and have remained in custody ever since.
Howell, a draftsman in Sunnyvale who lived in Santa Clara, was found dead on Sept. 1, 1984, near the junction of Highways 88 and 89 in Alpine County, Testa said. He was shot to death with a shotgun, his skull was bashed in and his teeth were smashed back into his face, Testa said.
Herzog admitted during a previous interview with authorities that he watched Shermantine murder Howell, Testa said.
The bodies of King and Cavanaugh were found Nov. 27, 1984, at a sewage treatment plant on Daggett Road, just north of Highway 4 in the west end of Stockton. Shermantine and Herzog were linked because the tire tracks were from a red truck Shermantine owned at the time.
Armtrout was killed after being beaten and stabbed several times Sept. 5, 1985. Her body was found in some brush in the Linden area, Testa said. Herzog once said Shermantine raped Armtrout and stabbed her 10 times as Herzog watched, Testa said.
“You will have to decide whether to believe that statement as well,” Testa told the jury.
Much of the case against Herzog will be based on evidence that Herzog and Shermantine maintained a continuous close friendship before and after the murders, Testa said.
“I want to show that Loren was in no way afraid of Wes,” Testa said.
Members of the Vanderheiden and Wheeler families, along with a few jurors from the Shermantine case, attended Tuesday’s opening statements.
Superior Court Judge Michael Garrigan ordered Wheeler’s father, Ray Wheeler, to remove a button with his daughter’s photograph. He also ordered Wheeler’s mother, Paula, to turn a shirt with Chevy Wheeler’s photograph inside out so the jury wouldn’t see them.
Vanderheiden’s family and others associated with her case are scheduled to testify the rest of this week.
Loren Herzog
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jury in Santa Clara reached a verdict in the trial of accused mass murderer
Loren Herzog Tuesday afternoon. Herzog was found guilty on three of the five murder charges he was facing. Story updated October 23, 2001 - 5:10 pm
