Today she lives in anonymity and has not reoffended.
Thomas Kokoraleis—who was discussed in Chapter 1 as part of the Ripper Crew Serial Killer Gang—is set to be released from the Illinois Department of Corrections in September 2017. One of his Ripper Crew partners, Robin Gecht, will also be eligible for release in 2022. Kokoraleis will no doubt be one of the worst serial killers in American history to have been released from prison. His role in the grisly series of murders shocked Chicagoans, and the news of his impending release has reopened old wounds in the Chicago area.
Unfortunately for the people of Chicago, Kokoralei’s release is a certainty under Illinois law.
These are the only cases in the United States where a serial killer has been, or nearly been, released from prison.
In the mid-2000s, it looked as though Loren Herzog would defy the odds and become one of the few serial killers to be released from prison in the United States.
The basis for Herzog’s appeal lies in the fact that his Fifth Amendment right was violated during his marathon questioning and confession sessions. The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution ensures the right of a criminal defendant against self-incrimination. There have been many court cases pertaining to the Fifth Amendment throughout American history, but perhaps the most important, and the most pertinent in regards to Loren Herzog’s case, is Miranda v. Arizona. In that landmark 1966 case, the Supreme Court ruled that all criminal defendants must be told of their rights to receive counsel before an interrogation takes place. The result is that police in every department and jurisdiction across the United States are supposed to read the “Miranda Warning” to all defendants in custody, which begins with the words: “You have the right to remain silent . . .”
The tapes of the confessions proved to be Herzog’s best pieces of evidence because it showed that he was denied food during the interrogation, and was even denied counsel when he requested it.
Thomas Testa suddenly found himself in a quagmire.
If Herzog won a new trial by the Appeals Court, which it seemed likely would happen, there was a good chance the entire videotaped confession would be ruled ineligible for evidence. With the confessions thrown out, there would be very little evidence against Herzog—all the physical evidence implicated Shermantine. Some in the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Department thought Shermantine could be called to testify against Herzog, but others believed he had little incentive at the time to do so. Shermantine could be an unreliable and potentially harmful witness.
It would be bad optics to have Wesley Shermantine as the star witness against Loren Herzog. Having a witness who had already been convicted of the murders point his finger at Herzog, who could not be linked physically to the crimes, would surely reek of desperation on the District Attorney’s part.
Instead of letting the serial killer go scot-free, Testa decided to enter into plea bargain negotiations with Herzog’s attorneys.
After much back and forth, both sides finally agreed that Herzog would plead guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter in Cyndi Vanderheiden’s death, with a sentence of up to fourteen years in prison.
One half of the Speed Freak Killers was going to see the outside world again.
On November 24, 2004, Loren Herzog pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in front of a San Joaquin County Judge. He was sentenced to fourteen years in prison as per the plea bargain arrangement.
After he was sentenced, Herzog gave the following statement to the court.
“I wish this never would have happened, and I’m sorry it did.”
Although Herzog looked remorseful when he gave the statement, members of Cyndi Vanderheiden’s family were quick to point out that he was still shifting blame.
The residents of the Central Valley and the Speed Freak Killers’ victims were not impressed with Herzog’s show of remorse. The public outcry against Herzog’s new sentence was furious.
“Only 14 years – it seems like it’s very cheap for a person’s life,” said John Vanderheiden. “At least he’s off the streets for at least another eight years. We can live with it – for the time being.”
Unfortunately for the Vanderheidens, it was closer to six years when Herzog was finally released in 2010.
Problems Finding Housing
The initial outcry over Loren Herzog’s light sentence for serial murder slowly dissipated over the following months, until most in the area forgot about it. Herzog would be in prison for several more years most people reasoned, so there was no need to worry about it in the present.
But the future came quicker than most anticipated.
In 2010, the California Department of Corrections announced that Loren Herzog would be released on parole later that year, which led to a new and even more intense outcry from the citizens of the Central Valley. Both the Vanderheiden and Wheeler families were strongly opposed to Herzog being paroled anywhere in the Central Valley. The average citizens in the region were just as adamant about not wanting the serial killer living in their backyards.
Herzog’s family received numerous death threats which exasperated the situation.
Some people thought that if there was enough public pressure, the prison system would be forced to keep Herzog incarcerated.
But that is not how it works.
It was not a matter of if Herzog would be released, but where he would be released.
In a letter that was clearly written in the vein of “not in our backyard,” two members of the California State Assembly—Dan Logue from District 3 and Cathleen Galgiani from District 17—wrote a letter to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to release Herzog to one of California’s bigger cities.
Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
We are writing to thank you for your consideration of paroling convicted serial killer Loren Herzog on prison grounds instead of placing him within the general community.
However, we are now asking that he either be moved to prison grounds within an urban county, or confined strictly to prison grounds – prohibited from leaving prison property.
Loren Herzog is notorious for bragging about being able to “make people disappear.” Herzog was originally charged with the murders of both Cynthia Vanderheiden (1998) and Chevy Wheeler (1985), along with four other murders. The bodies of Cynthia Vanderheiden and Chevy Wheeler have never been recovered.
Prosecutors believe Shermantine and Herzog could be responsible for as many as 22 other murders, dumping the bodies into mine shafts in the foothills and remote hill sides, and burying bodies underneath a trailer park. There are 26,000 known mine shafts in Calaveras County alone.
Herzog should not be allowed to move around freely within a rural area hidden from public view, where any potential future murder could be committed quietly, and where Herzog could easily dispose of remains and make people disappear, as he has done in the cases of both Cynthia and Chevy, and possibly countless others.
In reference to the disappearance of Cynthia Vanderheiden, an Aug. 14, 1999, a Stockton Record article made reference to Loren Herzog boasting of knowing just the place to dump dead bodies.
“I over heard him say he knew of a mineshaft that he could throw a body in and it would never be found,’” said John Vanderheiden, whose daughter Cyndi has been missing since November, 1998.
Prosecuting Attorney Tom Testa said during the court trial that over the years Shermantine told relatives and acquaintances he had “made people disappear” around the outskirts of Stockton.
“n a confrontation with one woman in a trailer park, Shermantine allegedly told her: ‘Listen to the heart beats of people I’ve buried here. Listen to the heartbeats of families I’ve buried here.’
According to Herzog’s own admissions, in September, 1985, the men picked up 24-year-old Robin Armtrout at a park near Del Mar Avenue in Stockton. Intending to go drinking together, the three ended up in a country pasture just east of Shermantine and Herzog’s homes in Linden.
Shermantine ‘got
carried away,’ Herzog told detectives, beating, raping and eventually stabbing Armtrout more than a dozen times, before leaving her naked on the bank of Potter Creek.
In actuality, Robin Armtrout was found with 45 stab wounds to her body, 14 of those being to her neck area. Neither Herzog nor Shermantine was convicted of her murder.
Herzog also implicated Shermantine in the 1994 shooting of a hunter in Northern Utah. Shermantine allegedly shot a hunter while he and Herzog were on vacation, authorities said. Local officials in Utah confirmed they are investigating the unsolved murder of a hunter from 1994. Neither man was charged for this crime.
Governor, all of the references above underscore the importance of ensuring that Loren Herzog is not allowed to roam freely within a rural area where he could easily conceal a crime as he is known for doing in the past.
While we are grateful that you are considering paroling him to state prison property, we would ask that he either be confined strictly to prison property, or that he be moved to prison property within an urban area, far removed from any remote area where he could easily repeat the pattern of committing murder and hiding his crimes.
Specifically, we request that you look to the precedent established when convicted murderer Larry Singleton was confined to a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin prison. It appears from news articles that Singleton was confined to prison property and not allowed to leave.
In 1978 a 15-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada, runaway named Mary Vincent hitched a ride outside San Francisco with a balding man in a blue van. The man approached her sexually, backed off, but later – having liquored up – beat her, bound her and raped her twice. Then he got his ax. He chopped off her arms and left her in a concrete culvert to die. She didn’t. The next day, read court records, Vincent was found ‘wandering nude … holding up her arms so that the muscles and blood would not fall out.’
California law at the time set a maximum of 14 1/3 years for the crimes, with sentence reductions for good behavior and work in prison.
Singleton’s release after just 8 1/3 years sparked opposition as authorities attempted to settle him in one Bay Area town after another. Angry crowds screamed, picketed and eventually prevailed. Singleton ended up spending the rest of his parole in a trailer on the grounds of San Quentin prison.’
Once again, for all the reasons listed above, we are asking that Herzog either be moved to prison grounds within an urban county, or confined strictly to prison grounds – prohibited from leaving prison property.
Thank you in advance for your attention to our request.
The letter’s reference to notorious criminal Larry Singleton was no doubt intended to stir, not only the emotions of the governor, but also his logic. After Singleton was released from prison in California, he relocated to Florida where he went on to commit several more crimes, until finally murdering a woman in 1997. Surely if a man as sick as Larry Singleton could be released, only to commit more violent acts, then Loren Herzog also could.
The letter from the assembly people was essentially a last ditch effort by lawmakers to keep Herzog out of certain communities—he was going to be released in September 2010, no matter how many death threats were made to his family or how many pleas were made by lawmakers. The only matter that the California Department of Corrections had to consider is where he would be paroled. Since most of the counties of the Central Valley refused to even consider Herzog as a parolee, the California Department of Corrections was forced to be creative.
The High Desert State Prison is a large prison that houses nearly 4,000 inmates. The prison grounds sprawl over hundreds of acres, and on that land are a number of trailers used to temporarily house minimum security inmates.
Since the Department of Corrections found it nearly impossible to find Herzog housing, even in one of the state’s larger cities, it was decided to house Herzog in one of these trailers until a more permanent situation could be arranged. In the trailer, Herzog would have the basic amenities of any home: refrigerator, oven, hot water, air conditioning, and even a television. The trailer was also furnished with basic furniture, but he would also be allowed to add his own at a later time.
Herzog had a monitoring device placed on his ankle and was moved into a trailer. The prison is several miles from the nearest town. Herzog was isolated far from his family with no car or job. He spent most of his time in the trailer fighting boredom.
Herzog’s release unleashed a frenzy of fury from his victims’ families, and also caught the attention of Wesley Shermantine.
From his cell on death row, Shermantine followed the course of his former best friend’s case as it worked its way through the California Appellate Courts. He was surprised when Herzog was given a new trial and shocked when he was only sentenced to fourteen years in prison.
Shermantine’s shock turned to anger and hate.
Loren Herzog was not going to enjoy freedom if there was anything he could do about it.
Opting Out
The case of the Speed Freak Killers is quite unique when compared to that of other notable serial killers, not so much due to their M.O. or signature, but more so because of the ongoing legalities of the case. It has been nearly twenty years since the duo claimed their last victim, and more than fifteen years since they were convicted, but the case still makes the headlines from time to time.
After Loren Herzog’s release from prison hit the headlines, it only took another fifteen months for the case to once more take over the headlines.
As Herzog was moved to the trailer on the prison grounds, he continued to proclaim his innocence. He was allowed to have visitors such as his wife, but due to financial constraints, she rarely saw him. Herzog was given a phone that he used as much as possible to talk to his wife, but the calls cost money, which Herzog did not have. His wife was also strapped financially; because she was left to take fend for herself while he was in prison.
He was also placed on tight restrictions.
Herzog could not leave his trailer between 8:30 pm and 5:30 am or from 1:30 until 3:30 pm, which essentially barred him from working.
Not that anyone in the community would have hired him anyway.
If he left his trailer during the restricted hours, his GPS device would set off an alert and officers from the Department of Corrections were quickly sent to round him up. Since most stores were quite a walk away and the hours he was allowed to leave were quite limited, Herzog was effectively confined to his quarters.
With few visitors and nothing to do, Herzog was left alone with his thoughts. There are no signs that Herzog ever experienced any guilt for his crimes—the only time he ever accepted any amount of responsibility was when he was sentenced for Cyndi Vanderheiden’s murder—but having freedom in his grasp, yet being so far away from everyone was troubling.
Loren Herzog was essentially cleared in all of the murders he was tried for, but there was the possibility that he could be tried for others. At this point, Wesley Shermantine appeared to hold most of the cards.
As stated above, Shermantine could start pointing his finger at Herzog but it would have little effect because it would be a case of one killer’s word against another’s. But Shermantine held the ace card─ the location of their victims’ bodies. If he implicated Herzog and himself in a murder that neither were charged with in 1999, and if he corroborated that statement by leading the police to the victim’s grave, new charges could be filed against the two men.
Wesley Shermantine was already sitting on death row—what difference would it make to him?
In the first two weeks of 2012, Herzog was upset when he spoke to his wife on the phone, but assured her that they would be together again soon.
On the morning of January 16, 2012, the Department of Corrections workers did a routine check on Loren Herzog at his trailer. They were surprised to find the front door slightly ajar. When they entered, they found one half of the Speed Freak Killers hanging from a homemade noose in the bathroom. Investigators quickly determin
ed that Loren Herzog had committed suicide.
He left a note that read, “Tell my family I love them.”
Once Herzog’s suicide was made public, reactions quickly followed.
Herzog’s wife said that her husband was innocent and blamed his death on Wesley Shermantine, while some of the victims’ families showed disbelief.
“I don’t know; it’s like, ‘Wow,’” Terri Vanderheiden said. “He should have died a long time ago … I want to see the body to see that he’s really dead. What they say and what’s real are two different things.”
Others were not afraid to hide their glee when they learned of Herzog’s death.
"When I heard about Herzog hanging himself, I had a big smile on my face and said, 'Thank you, God,’”said Robin Armtrout’s niece, Melissa Woods. “My aunt Robin was really looking down on us that day. Back when they didn't convict those two for killing her I wanted revenge, and now at least some of us got some justice.”
Chapter 7:
Loose Ends
Although Loren Herzog’s suicide may have brought a sense of comfort and closure to his victims’ families, there were still many unanswered questions pertaining to the Speed Freak Killers case that needed to be answered. The first question that many familiar with the case asked was: why would Herzog kill himself when he appeared to be free and clear?
As discussed earlier, his life after prison was not easy and the amount of time he had on his hands no doubt led him to think about where his life was headed. Some people argued that his guilt was just too much for him, so he took his life out of a sense of remorse.
Hunting The Ultimate Kill Page 12
