FOX40 local news
written by Staff
Friday March 30, 2012
The identification of two bodies in the Speed Freak Killers case is giving the families of missing loved ones hope that their mysteries will be solved.
San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore has been accused of dragging his feet in acting on information from death row killer Wesley Shermantine. But Moore said the search for bodies and investigation is on the fast track.
The logistics of digging and forensic DNA work is just time consuming and frustrating for family members.
"We've received about 90 calls from those who indicated their loved are missing,” said Moore.
At a news conference on Friday, Moore said that almost 1,000 bone fragments were found in a sealed Linden well. DNA and forensic evidence finally identified the remains of 19-year-old Kimberly Billy who disappeared in 1984, and 16-year-old Joann Hobson who vanished a year later from the same area of East Stockton.
The victims were identified using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA tests.
Moore said cadaver dogs found nothing at a second well site near where the bodies were found, but that doesn't mean more remains aren't there. The location of the well had been given to investigators by Shermantine, who along with his friend Loren Herzog, were the Speed Freak Killers in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
He said the whole investigation has been personally trying.
"It's been very difficult, we want to make sure we do the right things," said Moore.
Further, the investigation has been harder to do because all eyes are on his department
"With the full knowledge that we're being looked at, scrutinized and with the full knowledge of the families that want closure,” said Moore.
Shermantine said there are over 70 more bodies hidden elsewhere, but Moore’s not convinced they're all in San Joaquin County – and sorting through Shermantine's information won't be easy.
"It's going to be a long process to untangle all of the potential situations that he's spoken of and the information that we have,” said Moore.
After Herzog’s release from prison in 2010, Shermantine began writing letters to members of the media and a bounty hunter claiming he wanted to identify the locations of their victims.
Search crews first looked on a property in Calaveras County, where they found the bodies of Chevelle Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden.
There had been talk of starting a new dig at a second sealed well after the first well was completely searched. However, despite Shermantine’s insistence on its location and validity, the search has not started.
The Department of Justice Crime Lab is now working to identify the third victim recovered from the Linden well.
Some of the pressure may be off the department soon because the FBI will be taking over the case and will determine where to dig and whether they will make contact with Shermantine.
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