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The Speed Freak Killers is the name given to serial killer duo Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine, together initially convicted of four murders — three jointly — and suspected in the deaths of as many as 72 people in and around San Joaquin County, California. They received the "speed freak" moniker due to their methamphetamine abuse. Shermantine is on death row. Herzog committed suicide in 2012; his conviction was overturned in 2004 and he was paroled in 2010. Bones recovered in 2012 from an abandoned well were positively linked to the killings.〔 〕〔 〕 ==Convictions== Herzog and Shermantine were arrested by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department and charged with a series of murders in March 1999. Shermantine, suspected in the case for several months, was implicated by Herzog, his longtime friend, during questioning by sheriff's deputies. The blood of 25-year-old Cyndi Vanderheiden of Clements was found in his car; she went missing after leaving with Herzog and Shermantine one night in 1998. The duo grew up as childhood friends in the town and were regulars at Cyndi's father's bar in Linden. Herzog described when Shermantine shot a hunter they ran into while they were on vacation in Utah in 1994. Utah police confirmed that a hunter was shot to death, but his murder was still classified as unsolved. Herzog also said Shermantine was responsible for killing Henry Howell, who was found parked off the road with his teeth and head bashed in; Herzog said he and Shermantine passed Howell parked on the highway and Shermantine stopped, grabbed his shotgun, killed Howell and stole what little money Howell had. Additionally, Herzog gave specific details about how Shermantine killed Robin Armtrout. In 2001, a jury found Shermantine guilty of four murders: those of Vanderheiden, Howard King and Paul Cavanaugh – each shot dead in his car in 1984, and 16-year-old Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, who disappeared in 1985 from Franklin High School in Stockton after telling friends she was leaving school to go with Shermantine to his family's cabin in San Andreas. Shermantine was sentenced to death and is on death row at San Quentin State Prison. Herzog was charged with murdering Cyndi Vanderheiden, Howard King, Paul Cavanaugh and Robin Armtrout and to being an accessory to Henry Howell's murder. He was found not guilty of being an accessory to Howell's murder and was acquitted of Armtrout's murder, but was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Cyndi Vanderheiden, Howard King and Paul Cavanaugh and given a 78-year sentence. The sentence was later reduced to 14 years. An appeals court overturned the first-degree murder convictions after ruling that Herzog's confession was coerced. Herzog was paroled in 2010 to a trailer adjacent to the High Desert State Prison in Susanville. He committed suicide, hanging himself outside the trailer in January 2012 after bounty hunter Leonard Padilla informed Herzog that Shermantine was planning to disclose the location of a well and two other locations where the duo buried their victims. Previously, none of their victims' bodies were found. Both men maintained that the other did the killing in all cases. The citizens of Linden, a small town with fewer than 2,000 people, 95 miles east of San Francisco, were long aware of the duo's reputation as methamphetamine users. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Speed Freak Killers」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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