Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010 • Once convicted killer Loren Herzog to be paroled in Lassen County

Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010, edition of the Lassen County Times.

Requests from victims and witnesses were considered and once convicted killer Loren Herzog will be released on parole in Lassen County rather than San Joaquin County.

According to Luis Patino, public information officer for the California Department of Corrections, by law, a parolee should be released to the county of last legal residence.

However, Patino said, victims, victims’ next-of-kin and witnesses have the right to file for special consideration as to the location of the parole releases of their offenders.  All requests are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Patino said, “CDCR received additional valid requests. And an evaluation was made to determine what level of consideration was to be granted within the confines of the law. Based on those requests and the confines of the law, Loren Herzog will not be released in San Joaquin County.  Herzog will be released in mid-September in Lassen County.”

Recordnet.com, a news sources serving the Stockton and the San Joaquin County areas, reported “Herzog had been sentenced to 78 years for three murders as conspirator to Wesley Shermantinte, who remains on death row for four murders.”

According to a press release from the California State Department of Corrections, Herzog was convicted in Santa Clara County,  a change of venue from San Joaquin County, in December 2001.

In 2004, a state appellate court threw out Herzog’s three murder convictions and much of the evidence against him.

That led to a plea bargain and Herzog pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. On Dec. 8, 2004, he began serving a 14-year determinate sentence for voluntary manslaughter, three counts of being an accessory to a felony and one count of transportation of a controlled substance. Credit was applied for time Herzog served in county jail and state prison.

Lassen County District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman added the discussion of Herzog’s release to the agenda for the Sept. 14 Board of Supervisors meeting.

Herzog timeline — Lassen County Times, May 10, 2011
December 2001
A Santa Clara jury convicts Loren Herzog of three counts of murder and sentences him to 78 years in prison after a change of venue from San Joaquin County.

According to media reports on their trials, Herzog and codefendant Wesley Shermantine — childhood friends dubbed the “Speed Freak Killers” — each finger the other as the perpetrator of several murders in California’s Central Valley during the mid-1990s. Shermantine eventually is convicted of four counts of murder and currently awaits execution on death row.

2004
A California appeals court overturns Herzog’s conviction and much of the evidence used against him after it rules his statements to law enforcement officers had been coerced. Rather than face a new trial, Herzog pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 1998 murder of Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25, three counts of being an accessory to a felony and one count of transportation of a controlled substance.

Dec. 8, 2004
Herzog begins serving a 14-year prison sentence — with credit for the time served in county jail and state prison.

July 10, 2010
The California Department of Corrections, Division of Adult Parole Operations, receives notice Herzog is scheduled for release on parole in September 2010. CDCR begins the process of selecting Herzog’s parole location. CDCR considers releasing Herzog in San Joaquin County, Sacramento County and Modoc County, but those locations are all deemed inappropriate.

First week of September 2010
CDCR decides to place Herzog on parole in Lassen County.

Sept. 10, 2010
News of Herzog’s planned parole in Lassen County breaks.

Sept. 13, 2010
Third District Assemblyman Dan Logue and Fourth District Assemblyman Ted Gaines, a Republican candidate to fill the late State Senator Dave Cox’s position, pen a letter to Matthew Cate, secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, urging him to prevent Herzog’s release in Lassen County and parole him elsewhere.

Sept. 14, 2010
The Lassen County Board of Supervisors discusses the Herzog matter. More than 500 citizens try to attend the meeting, and it is moved to Jensen Hall. The message from the community — Herzog is not welcome here.

Sept. 15, 2010
CDCR officials hold a telephone conference with Lassen County Sheriff Steve Warren and Susanville Police Chief Jeff Atkinson to discuss details of Herzog’s release, placement in a trailer at High Desert State Prison and protocols for monitoring Herzog’s movement. The same day, CDCR sends a Notice of Release form to the Susanville Police Department, the Lassen County District Attorney’s Office and the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office, misidentifying Herzog’s parole location as Linden, Calif. No Lassen County official expresses any confusion over the typographical error.

Sept. 17, 2010
Warren and Lassen County Sheriff-elect Dean Growdon meet with the Division of Adult Parole Operations district administrator to discuss Herzog’s parole conditions.

Sept. 18, 2010
Herzog completes his 14-year sentence and is released on parole in a fifth-wheel trailer on the grounds of High Desert State Prison.

Sept. 20, 2010

Warren and Atkinson, meet with Herzog at HDSP. Herzog’s two parole agents meet with the Susanville Police Department to discuss Herzog’s parole. CDCR also provides GPS training and software to the Lassen County Sheriff’s Department and the Susanville Police Department so they can monitor Herzog’s whereabouts at any time.

Sept. 21, 2010
Lassen County District 2 Supervisor Jim Chapman says 6,500 signatures have been collected on petitions opposing Herzog’s parole in Lassen County.

Sept. 28, 2010
Lassen County and the city of Susanville file a petition in Lassen Superior Court seeking a writ of mandate to immediately remove Herzog from Lassen County.

Oct. 26, 2010
CDCR files a response in Lassen County Superior Court.

Nov. 8, 2010
Lassen County Superior Court Judge Donald Sokol hears oral arguments in the case. Sokol grants the petition for a writ of mandate ordering Herzog’s immediate removal from Lassen County. Sokol also rules Herzog’s placement in Lassen County is not in the best interest of the public.

Nov. 11-12, 2010
Sokol formally enters his judgment, statement of decision and writ consistent with his ruling.

Nov. 12, 2010
CDCR files a notice of appeal, automatically staying Sokol’s ruling.

April 28, 2011
CDCR files an appeal of Sokol’s ruling in the Court of Appeal of the State of California, Third Appellate District. Attorneys from Lassen County and city of Susanville have 30 days to file a response.

Update: Convicted serial killer found dead at HDSP • Lassen County Times, January 2012
Loren Herzog is dead and the preliminary cause is an apparent suicide by hanging, according to Lassen County authorities.

According to a press release from the Lassen County Sheriff-Coroner, local authorities received notification from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at approximately 11:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16 that they found Herzog deceased at his trailer on property at High Desert State Prison.

Deputies responded to the trailer and Herzog was pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17. According to the press release, the evidence at the scene was consistent with asphyxiation by hanging and suicide. An official determination related to the cause of death won’t be made until after the investigation and an autopsy are completed the press release said.

According to a press release from CDCR, Herzog’s parole agent had been alerted by the Global Positioning System monitor that Herzog’s monitoring ankle bracelet was indicating a low battery. The agent notified the institution after he attempted to contact Herzog, but was unable to make phone contact. HDSP staff responded to the residence and discovered Herzog unresponsive. The scene was secured until the LCSO was called in to investigate the scene.

According to CDCR, Herzog’s death is under review by the Lassen County District Attorney’s Office, the LCSO and the CDCR Investigative Services Unit at HDSP. The Office of Inspector General, Bureau of Independent Review was notified.

CDCR said Herzog was on parole after serving a 14-year determinate sentence for voluntary manslaughter, three counts of being an accessory to a felony and one count for transportation of a controlled substance.

Herzog and Wesley Shermantine were originally convicted of numerous first-degree charges including the 1998 rape and murder of Cyndi Vanderheiden. Herzog was sentenced to a 78-years-to-life. In 2004, the state appellate court threw out three the three murder convictions and much of the evidence against Herzog. CDCR said that led to a plea bargain and Herzog pleaded guilty to a voluntary manslaughter charge. Shermantine remains on death row. ​

Herzog was convicted of taking part in the murders of three people. but a judge ruled Herzog’s rights were violated during police interviews and his sentence of 78 years was greatly reduced.

He was paroled to Lassen County in September 2010 after victims’ family members requested he not be released in San Joaquin County, Herzog’s last place of legal residence.

When he was paroled, Herzog was placed under strict conditions including active monitoring by parole agents using a GPS monitor, a strict curfew and he had to abide by a strict no-contact list.

Victim’s father speaks out about Herzog’s death • Lassen County Times, January 2012
For one family, the news of serial killer Loren Herzog’s death, even by suicide, means justice  has been served.

However, John Vanderheiden, of San Joaquin County, said he wants to see either Herzog’s body or autopsy photos for full proof the man — who is responsible for his daughter Cyndi’s 1998 death —  is dead. ​

“I really would like to see him personally to see if he’s really dead. And if it is him, and if he is dead, I would say justice has been served because he should’ve been dead a long time ago,” Vanderheiden said. ​

Vanderheiden said he is even willing to drive the four hours to Susanville.

“I would definitely take the time to come up and confirm his death,” he said.

​Herzog, 46, was paroled to Lassen County in September 2010 after victim’s family members requested he not be released in San Joaquin County, his last place of legal residence.

Authorities found Herzog dead in his trailer at High Desert State Prison (HDSP) approximately 11:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16 and the Lassen County Sheriff Coroner officially pronounced his death at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17.

According to a press release from the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office, deputies found Herzog lying on the ground behind the trailer and saw no signs of life. They observed a rope that appeared to be fashioned out of a bed sheet or similar material around Herzog’s neck. There was a ladder next to Herzog that had a similar rope material fastened to one of the rungs. Deputies interviewed California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employees who said Herzog was hanging by the rope material that was attached to the ladder when he was found.

The ladder was leaning against the rear of the trailer. According to the press release, the CDCR employees located a knife and cut the rope Herzog was hanging from. On duty medical personnel were called to the scene and they found no signs of life.

An autopsy was conducted Tuesday, Jan. 17 and preliminary findings indicate Herzog’s death was caused by hanging. An official determination will not be made until the post mortem examination and toxicology reports have been received and reviewed. ​

Vanderheiden said, “I don’t care how he died. He needed to die. He’s beat the system several times already.”

In 2001, Herzog and his childhood friend Wesley Shermantine, were originally convicted of numerous first-degree charges including the rape and murder of Cyndi Vanderheiden, 25. Her body has not been found. Herzog was sentenced to 78-years-to-life, but in 2004, the appellate court threw out the three murder convictions and much of the evidence against Herzog after it determined law enforcement officers coerced his confession.​

In a second jury trial, Herzog pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in Vanderheiden’s death and his sentence was reduced to 14 years. Shermantine remains on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

While in Lassen County, Herzog lived in a fifth wheel and had to abide by strict parole conditions. Anyone who wanted to access the trailer had to get permission and go through the prison gate. Since Herzog’s death, that trailer has been removed.

According to a press release from the California Department of Corrections, officials from HDSP responded to Herzog’s trailer late Monday, Jan. 16 when his parole agent could not reach him by phone after receiving notification the battery on Herzog’s Global Positioning System ankle bracelet was low.

​HDSP Public Information Officer Charlie Hahn said the ankle bracelet has about a 12-hour battery charge and with that information, Herzog’s death could have occurred from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. that day.

He said Herzog had been dead for “quite a while,” when he was found.

According to the LCSO, a note had been found on a table in the main living space of the trailer that said, “Tell my family I love them.” The note made no reference to his criminal history or crime victims.

Another person also wants to see Herzog’s body. San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa put Herzog away for his first sentence of 78 years and convicted Shermantine on four counts of first-degree murder.

Testa said he learned of Herzog’s death from CDCR around 7 a.m. Jan. 17, “and my first  thought was he was murdered,” he said. ​​

Testa said Herzog did not strike him as someone who would commit suicide because it takes courage and that was something Herzog did not have. ​

Testa said he was not speaking from experience, but believes hanging would take a lot of effort, and he would be more believing of suicide if Herzog had overdosed on drugs.

Although Testa expressed his concerns about Herzog’s death, Testa said he was not “joyful” he committed suicide because that means “50 percent of the knowledge base about where the victims’ bodies are is gone.”

Testa said he thought that down the road either Herzog or Shermantine would reveal where the bodies are.

But a bounty hunter is claiming he has been told knows where the remains are located. Leonard Padilla said he has agreed to pay Shermantine $18,000 for the location of the remains of Chevelle “Chevy” Wheeler, 16, allegedly murdered by the pair in 1985, and another $15,000 for the location of the remains of Vanderheiden. ​

Testa said Shermantine called him collect Friday, Jan. 13 and the deputy district attorney was impressed by Shermantine’s sincerity.

He said Shermantine is not trying to get off death row. He sounded genuine and wants to help. Testa said the money will  go on the books and not directly to Shermantine as he is paying off what Testa estimates to be $18,000 to $20,000 in restitution. If Shermantine receives any remaining money, Testa said the man wants to use it to buy headstones for his parents’ graves.

Vanderheiden said he has been talking with Padilla as well as the San Joaquin County Sheriff.

If his daughter’s body is finally located he said. “I would very much like that. That would give us some closure and it would sure make it a lot better for me and my wife.”