Spotlighted : August 2004

(see Loren Herzog)

 

 

 

Officers located the tire trackes at the scene of King's and Cavanaugh's murder-bringing these about on computer,Shermantine's pickup truck was a perfect match.On January 22,2001-a warrant was issued to repossess Shermantine's truck,in doing so,blood was found in the back-later to be examined and able to find out it belonged to Vanderheiden.Later on,$40,000 worth of guns were found at the home in which Shermantine was living at-all were repossessed.During a confession with Herzog-it was stated that Shermantine murdered 5 people in California and one in Utah.When Shermantine was questioned,he reversed the Herzog's confession and stated that Herzog was the one whom murdered those people,and not him.It was concluded from the confessions that a total of 24 people have been murdered by either one or both.Shermantine's trial was moved to Santa Clara,due-to the publicity of the case in San Joacquin Valley.Five women were brought forward to testify against Shermantine,stating that he had brutalized them by either violently raping them,sodomizing them against wishes,and/or beating them.One of the five women to testify against Shermantine,was his estranged wife.Wheeler's parents were also called in to testify,in which they stated that Shermantine was a friend of the family's and that he had made a phone call to them the day before Wheeler disappeared-stating that she would be joining him on a mountain excursion.

The $40,000 worth of guns that were confiscated are still,to this day,being investigated one-by-one by a small group of Arms Technicians to see if any of the guns were used in any of the crimes that Shermantine and Herzog are charged for.Due-to confessions,the once cold case of a man being killed in Utah has been reopened in belief that there is truth to the confessions.Shermantine was charged with robbery and first degree murder of all charges,including Wheeler(because in 1999,a DNA test concluded that blood found in Shermantine's home was that of Wheeler's).He was sentenced to death.On March 5,2001-Shermantine offered to tell where four unfound victims' bodies were in return that his two sons would recieve $20,000.Instead,authorities offered to drop the Death Penalty for only two locations of two bodies,but Shermantine refused.Families of the missing victims have denied authorities all rights of paying Shermantine's sons to disclose where the missing bodies are located.Another deal was put on the table by Shermantine,where he stated that along with the four body locations,he would also tell them of several other bodies and they're locations that are missing for the $20,000 to each of his sons,but the authorities have yet to give a response to this deal.