More Human Remains Found On Former Shermantine Property

CALAVERAS COUNTY (CBS13) — The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office on Thursday notified most local media outlets that investigators have found more remains of vicitms of the "Speed Freak Killers" in Calaveras County.

CBS13 was not one of those agencies despite placing more than a dozen calls and emails to the sheriff's office, without a response. CBS13 has been asking many tough questions of how Sheriff Steve Moore's department has handled this case.

However, Cyndi Vanderheiden's father tells CBS13 he got a call from the sheriff's department telling him they found more human remains on the property former owned by Wesley Shermantine's family near San Andreas.

Only Cyndi's skull and a few bones were found. So, no one seems to know if these are more of Cyndi's remains or another victim of Shermantine and partner Loren Herzog.

"They killed a lot of people," bounty hunter Leonard Padilla said of the killing spree in the 1980s and '90s.

The two were convicted in 2001 of killing four people, including Vanderheiden and Chevy Wheeler, whose remains were found on the property. But Padilla and other investigators believe there are many more victims.

Padilla went out to the remote part of this Calaveras County back in early February. He says specially trained human remains dogs picked up on a scent in this area.

"We also went to the top of the hill and followed human remain, human decomposition, down the mountain and it ended right on the road right across from where Cyndi's remains were rolled off the cliff," he said.

He also took soil samples in several spots around the property and sent them to a private lab. The results showed signs of human remains.

So Thursday's find is just another sign to Padilla that there's more digging to do, and he hopes it's finally enough to get the sheriff to call in the FBI.

"They'll bring in a hundred people," he said of the federal agency. "You can't imagine the equipment they'll bring in. They'll bring in airplanes that will go over a field and ground-penetrating radar."