Shermantine Writes More Letters From Death Row
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Convicted serial killer Wesley Shermantine has written more letters from death row - not to CBS13 this time, but to bounty hunter Leonard Padilla.
Shermantine has said there could be 70 victims out there, but we have not seen any major digging efforts for about a month. The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department is staying tight-lipped about the investigation into possible victims of "Speed Freak Killers" Shermantine and Loren Herzog, but these letters show the search is moving forward.
"I had a six-hour talk with the FBI yesterday. They want to build trust with me," Shermantine writes.
According to the death row inmate, the FBI told him three women were found in the well dug up in Linden last month.
Shermantine says the remains prove that is not the well he refers to as Herzog's "bone yard," which he says could hold a dozen bodies.
"I asked who they found, what race they were. I was told that it was three white women. I asked point-blank no African-American, a pregnant black woman? They said them bones were not of any black woman," Shermantine writes.
The San Quentin inmate also reveals he's getting lots of hate mail and acknowledges he has finally received a payment from the bounty hunter for his information.
"He has understanding now of how difficult it is to get money into death row," Padilla said.
The letter also gives startling new details on more possible locations. Shermainte claims Herzog, who killed himself in January while out on parole, may have used a different type of well to dispose of bodies - deep holes or pits used by farmers to dump dead animals and garbage.
"They don't like to publicize it cuz there are obviously health hazards involved, but those dead animal holes are all over the valley," Padilla said.
He advises Padilla to "... ask the farming/cattle community where all these wells are? You will find a hella lot of people this way."
"I tell you it's going to be crazy before it's over," Padilla said. "There are going to be a lot of bodies in a lot of places, lots of them."
