The remains of 14 murder victims are stashed somewhere in the vast and rugged Cow Mountain Recreation Area that straddles Lake and Mendocino counties, a San Quentin Death Row inmate has claimed.
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Wesley Shermantine
Lake County Sheriff's officials are skeptical but they are investigating statements made recently by convicted serial killer Wesley Shermantine, one of two men dubbed the “Speed Freak Killers.”
Shermantine “mentioned bodies in Lake County,” during a conversation several weeks ago, said Leonard Padilla, a bounty hunter who was instrumental in getting Shermantine to draw maps that led to the remains of five murder victims in San Joaquin and Calaveras counties in February.
Shermantine, 46, and a friend, Loren Herzog, were convicted of conducting a methamphetamine-fueled killing spree between 1994 and 1998 in the Stockton area where they grew up. It ended with their arrests in 1999. Shermantine was convicted of killing four people but authorities believe there are many more victims in California and elsewhere. Shermantine — who has maintained his innocence — has said Herzog told him he killed more than 70 people.
Herzog was released on parole last year after an appeals court ruled his confessions were illegally coerced. He hanged himself in January, shortly after learning Shermantine had drawn maps showing where bodies were buried.
Shermantine also made reference to 14 additional bodies Lake County bodies in a letter he wrote to Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton. Galgiani is the author of a bill, signed into law last week, that will allow Shermantine to accompany authorities when they search for more victims in San Joaquin County.
Read More: PressDemocrat
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