CALAVERAS COUNTY, CA - Authorities confirm a human skull has been found at a Calaveras County location where there is a search underway for other victims of San Joaquin County serial "Speed Freak" killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.
According to the father of Cyndi Vanderheiden, whose body has never been found, fillings in teeth in the skull were not Native American. John Vanderheiden said his daughter had fillings in her teeth.
"It sounds like this could be my daughter. I'm hopeful that it is. If not, I hope it's one of the other victims so that their family can get closure too," Vanderheiden said
Deputy Les Garcia with the sheriff's department said investigators found the skull at 10:45 a.m. Aiding in the search are Calaveras County investigators and cadaver dogs with San Clara County. California Department of Justice investigators are also present.
Sheriff officials have not specified where the search is taking place. However, bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who has been in communication with Shermantine on Death Row at San Quentin, said according to the map Shermantine gave him, the spot where he believes the skull was found leads him to believe it belonged to Cyndi Vanderheiden.
Another victim whose body has never been found, Chevy Wheeler, could be buried a quarter-mile away from the Thursday's discovery, Padilla says.
Shermantine was convicted in 2001 of the murders of Vanderheiden, Wheeler, Paul Cavanaugh and Howard King. The murders were committed over a period of 14 years, with Vanderheiden's killing the most recent. She was last seen at a bar in Linden before disappearing in November 1998. Wheeler was killed in 1985.
Garcia said the skull was found farther down a road searched last week and different dogs were used. Investigators will continue to search for likely days, Garcia said.
The area being combed belonged to Shermantine's family.
The skull will be analyzed by DOJ for identification. Until then, "It's no relief," said John Vanderheiden. "It's still a possibility that it isn't her so I'm still - 14 years of doing this, it's quite devastating and I wouldn't want it to be done to anybody else."
News10/KXTV