Speed Freak Killers

WEBVTT

1
00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:33.039
Discretion, is it by ten needed
murder? Wesley Howard Shermantine Junior and Lauren

2
00:00:33.159 --> 00:00:37.520
Joseph Herzog lived at a small town
neighborhood where there weren't many other kids to

3
00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:41.920
play with. The two boys lived
on the same street in Lynden, California,

4
00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:47.200
and quickly became inseparable. Even when
Lauren and Wesley, who was known

5
00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:51.119
as Wes, grew older, they
didn't see any point in making new friends.

6
00:00:51.560 --> 00:00:56.280
Instead, they stuck with just each
other through their teenage years. Even

7
00:00:56.280 --> 00:01:00.119
if Lauren and Wes had decided to
branch out and make new friends, they

8
00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:04.000
wouldn't have had much luck. Their
favorite hobbies weren't exactly friendly. They found

9
00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.319
a lot of joy in bullying other
students at their high school and usually spent

10
00:01:08.359 --> 00:01:14.000
their spare time getting drunk or high. When they graduated high school in nineteen

11
00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:18.599
eighty four, they moved from Lynden
to Stockton, California, got an apartment

12
00:01:18.640 --> 00:01:23.040
together, and were free to abuse
methanphetamine as much as they wanted to.

13
00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:26.519
At the time, Linden had a
population of less than two thousand people.

14
00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:33.319
Everybody knew everyone else's business, and
the rest of Linden's permanent residents were well

15
00:01:33.359 --> 00:01:38.799
aware of Lauren and Wes's reputation as
heavy drinkers and meth users. It didn't

16
00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.400
matter what else was going on in
their lives, even when they were in

17
00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:46.359
a romantic relationship with women, or
when Wes was married and had several children,

18
00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:52.719
their first priorities were always drugs and
each other. Despite now living in

19
00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:57.120
Stockton, they often went to the
Linden Inn bar to drink and to talk

20
00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:00.200
to Kim Vanderhyden, the daughter of
the bar's owner, with whom Lauren had

21
00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:06.599
a brief romantic fling. In nineteen
ninety eight, Kim Vanderhyden's sister, Cindy

22
00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:10.400
was seen walking out of the Linden
Inn with Lauren and Wes. After that,

23
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:15.960
she was never seen again. For
investigators, it was like they'd been

24
00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:21.919
handed two suspects on a silver platter. Lauren and Wes had an incredibly unsavory

25
00:02:21.960 --> 00:02:27.680
reputation, and multiple witnesses placed them
leaving the bar with Cindy before her disappearance.

26
00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:32.039
When no signs of Cindy turned up, the investigation continued into early nineteen

27
00:02:32.120 --> 00:02:38.280
ninety nine, when Wes's car was
repossessed the San Joaquin Sheriff's department were able

28
00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:43.080
to search the vehicle and found human
blood inside. While the blood was being

29
00:02:43.159 --> 00:02:46.680
tested to confirm that it belonged to
Cindy, the Sheriff's investigation zeroed in on

30
00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:53.199
Lauren, who was believed to be
Wes's accomplice. During extensive questioning, Lauren

31
00:02:53.280 --> 00:03:00.199
eventually folded and started revealing Wes's criminal
activities. However, he didn't just provide

32
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:06.400
details about Cindy's disappearance. Instead,
he began incriminating Wes and other crimes that

33
00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.800
they had never been connected to.
He told investigators that in nineteen ninety four,

34
00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:15.360
he and Wes had been vacationing in
Utah when Wes shot and killed a

35
00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.680
man that was out hunting. The
San Joaquin Sheriff's Department reached out to the

36
00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:24.280
Utah Police and asked if they had
any cases that might match the details that

37
00:03:24.360 --> 00:03:30.080
had been revealed. As it turned
out they did. A hunter had been

38
00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:35.240
shot to death in nineteen ninety four, and his murder remained unsolved. The

39
00:03:35.360 --> 00:03:39.800
Utah hunter wasn't the only murder that
Lauren started talking about. In September nineteen

40
00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:44.680
eighty four, forty one year old
Henry Howell had been found dead in his

41
00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.080
park car, The case had gone
cold, and Henry's murder had been unsolved

42
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.599
for more than a decade. According
to Lauren, Wes was the killer.

43
00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:57.919
They had driven past Henry while he
was parked off the side of Highway eighty

44
00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.120
eight, and Wes pulled over the
car, shot Henry dead with his own

45
00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:06.719
gun and robbed him. Almost exactly
a year after Henry Howell's murder, the

46
00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:12.000
naked body of twenty four year old
Robin Armtrout was found on a creek bank

47
00:04:12.120 --> 00:04:17.160
close to Lyndon. Lauren confessed that
Wes had killed Robin two but Lauren,

48
00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:23.560
maybe not realizing, had not just
incriminated Wes in these crimes by admitting that

49
00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:26.720
he had been there at every murder
and had done nothing to stop it,

50
00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:31.160
he also incriminated himself. In March
of nineteen ninety nine, both Lauren and

51
00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:36.199
Wes were arrested. Each man faced
multiple murder charges. Both of their trials

52
00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:41.160
took place in two thousand and one, and despite being friends for decades,

53
00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:46.240
both men relied on one strategy in
court, blaming absolutely everything on the other

54
00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:51.319
one and maintaining their own innocence.
Lauren was found guilty of three out of

55
00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.680
the five murder counts against him,
and was sentenced to seventy eight years in

56
00:04:56.720 --> 00:05:00.480
prison. Meanwhile, Wes was found
guilty for f four murders, including the

57
00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:05.199
killing of sixteen year old Chevy Wheeler, who had disappeared after telling her friends

58
00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:09.959
that she was going to hang out
with Wes at his cabin. The witness

59
00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:15.040
testimonies at Wes's trial were brutal.
Five different victims told the jury about how

60
00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:19.759
they had been violently sexually assaulted by
him, including his own sister. One

61
00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:24.480
of the victims told the jury that
Wes had rear ended her car and then

62
00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:28.480
held a knife to her throat in
an attempt to kidnap her. He managed

63
00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:31.000
to get her inside his vehicle,
and she only escaped by jumping out of

64
00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:36.040
a moving car and then running for
her life. Wes's ex wife shared stories

65
00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:40.600
of the times that she had been
violently abused by him, even when she

66
00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:46.560
was carrying their children. From the
physical evidence against Wes and testimony after testimony

67
00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:50.000
proving his character, there was no
doubt in the jury's mind that he could

68
00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:55.879
never be released. While Lauren escaped
with a lengthy jail sentence, Wes was

69
00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:00.600
sentenced to death. In two thousand
and four, all of Lauren's convictions were

70
00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:04.759
overturned after the appeals court ruled that
all but one of his confessions had been

71
00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:10.600
coerced. The only confession that the
court believed was legitimate was for the murder

72
00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:15.959
of Cindy Vanderhyden, but a retrial
never occurred. In exchange for a guilty

73
00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:20.600
plea for accessory to murder and voluntary
manslaughter, Lauren's sentence was reduced and he

74
00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:27.000
only served eleven years in prison.
Meanwhile, on death row, Wes was

75
00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:31.959
strategically revealing more information about his crimes. He sent his sister several letters telling

76
00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:35.839
her that more bodies could be found
in an old well near their hometown.

77
00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:42.160
The sheriff's department investigated the well,
but they initially saw no need to investigate.

78
00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:46.040
The property owner told them that the
wells had been sealed for years,

79
00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:50.360
long before any of Wes's and Lauren's
victims went missing. After Lauren was briefly

80
00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:55.439
paroled, a local bounty hunter reached
out to him, telling him that Wes

81
00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:59.759
was going to lead the authorities to
several locations where more victims had been buried.

82
00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:02.439
Knowing that he would be back in
prison when more bodies were located.

83
00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:08.639
Lauren took his own life in two
thousand twelve. After finding out about Lauren's

84
00:07:08.680 --> 00:07:13.160
death, Wes sent a letter to
the media which heavily implied that Lauren might

85
00:07:13.199 --> 00:07:16.839
have been the person who kidnapped nine
year old Michaela Garrit. In November of

86
00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:23.040
nineteen eighty eight, Katrina Rodriguez,
who had witnessed the kidnapping, stated quote,

87
00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:27.800
I thought then and I think now, Lauren Herzog could be the kidnapper.

88
00:07:28.360 --> 00:07:30.040
I think there are features that look
very much like the man. It

89
00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:34.519
seems like a strong lead. However, none of the remains linked to lorn

90
00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:40.560
and Wess's crimes matched Michaela's DNA,
and in two thousand twenty a different man

91
00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:46.839
was arrested for Michaela's kidnapping and murder. That same year, investigators circled back

92
00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.279
to the abandoned well that Wes had
pointed them to. This time they did

93
00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:55.839
search the well, finding more than
a thousand fragments of human bone, which

94
00:07:55.879 --> 00:08:00.920
belonged to three different people and one
fetus. Two of the victims were identified

95
00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:05.720
as sixteen year old Joanne Hobson and
nineteen year old Kimberly Anne Billy, who

96
00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:09.079
had been missing for more than thirty
years. The remaining person and the fetus

97
00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:13.120
were never identified. With the help
of a letter that Wes wrote to the

98
00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:18.600
bounty hunter, two more bodies were
found, Cindy vander Heyden and another unknown

99
00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:24.279
victim. In twenty thirteen, the
FBI announced that they would no longer be

100
00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:28.399
using Wes's information to guide their search. They believed that Wes had been deliberately

101
00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:33.279
misleading them, and two potential burial
sites that had been indicated showed no signs

102
00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:39.639
that human remains had ever been disposed
of there. Despite Lauren and Wes's only

103
00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:43.200
being convicted of four murders, the
two men are widely believed to have at

104
00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:48.720
least nineteen victims, possibly even more. In a statement that Wes sent to

105
00:08:48.759 --> 00:08:52.919
a new station in Sacramento, he
claimed that the duo may have killed more

106
00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:58.360
than seventy people. For most of
their adult lives, Wes and Lauren appeared

107
00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:03.639
to have terrorized, assault, and
killed people for one main reason, they

108
00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:07.679
thought it was fun. Together,
they went out on what they called hunting

109
00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:11.559
trips to find more victims than disposing
of the bodies by dumping them on remote

110
00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:18.799
hillsides, burying them underneath trailer parks
and dropping them down mine shafts. While

111
00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:22.039
sexually assaulting one of his victims,
Wess held her ear against the ground of

112
00:09:22.039 --> 00:09:26.759
a trailer park she lived in while
telling her listen to the heartbeats of the

113
00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:43.279
people I've buried here. Listen to
the heartbeats of the families I've buried here.

114
00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:56.279
That's ten Minute Murder for today brief
invengeable True crime. I'm Joe the

115
00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:00.200
host, and I really appreciate you
listening. If you're brand new you to

116
00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:05.080
ten Minute Murder, I am extremely
happy that you chose this podcast to listen

117
00:10:05.120 --> 00:10:09.200
to. If you enjoy it,
make yourself comfortable, subscribe and catch up

118
00:10:09.480 --> 00:10:13.159
on all of the back episodes that
they're waiting for you. Connect with me

119
00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.480
on social media. See the pictures
of what we talk about here in the

120
00:10:15.480 --> 00:10:18.960
podcast. Never gross in graphic stuff
though, and if you like this episode,

121
00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:22.720
leave a rating and review on Apple, Spotify, Audible, any place

122
00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.440
that that's possible. Your positive feedback
helps the show grow. If you need

123
00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:30.480
more information on all things related to
ten Minute Murder, you can go to

124
00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:35.799
ten minute Murder dot com Quick listener
email for today, Hi Joe Megan from

125
00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:41.159
Ritzville, Washington Here, just curious
as to what your favorite scary movie is.

126
00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:43.399
I'm not sure if you have been
asked this yet, but I thought

127
00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:46.600
I would ask. Also, has
anyone ever told you that you kind of

128
00:10:46.600 --> 00:10:52.960
look like Dexter. First of all, I don't think I necessarily have a

129
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:56.120
favorite, but I can tell you
that Poltergeist is the reason that I'm not

130
00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:01.039
fond of clowns to this day.
I think I want much, much too

131
00:11:01.080 --> 00:11:03.519
young of an age, and it
did something to me. The ring.

132
00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.399
I'm laughing, but it's also traumatizing. The Ring is very good. I

133
00:11:07.480 --> 00:11:09.919
like that, but it's hard to
beat. If I had to say I

134
00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:13.600
have a favorite, it might be
Silence of the Lambs. And yes,

135
00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.960
people have told me that I looked
like Dexter. I love Dexter and that's

136
00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.639
my favorite TV show, so I
can't be mad about it. I mean,

137
00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.799
but people are telling me I look
like a serial killer, a fictitional

138
00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:28.519
serial killer, so I guess that
makes it okay. But speaking of I

139
00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:35.879
am currently reading with my ears audiobook
the first Dexter novel, Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

140
00:11:37.320 --> 00:11:39.960
It's the series, the book series
that the TV show was based on,

141
00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:43.440
and it's extremely good. I don't
know why I waited this long to

142
00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.360
read it. All right, that's
it. Thank you for listening to another

143
00:11:46.360 --> 00:11:52.200
ten minute Murder Podcast episode. I'll
see you on the next one. Bye.