Latest / Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained / The Best Friends Who Became SERIAL KILLERS True Crime Documentary

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The Best Friends Who Became SERIAL KILLERS True Crime Documentary · Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: We all hear warnings from a young age about the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: importance of trusting our gut in dangerous situations. We're told
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to be cautious of suspicious strangers, especially after dark, and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: always to be safe rather than sorry if we feel
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: that something is off. Sometimes it can be easy to
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: brush off this advice. We may think that there's no
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: way anything terrible could actually happen to us in our
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: own lives. We've all heard stories in movies and on
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: TV of deranged killers and cold-blooded psychopaths. But if we
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: really came face to face with these monsters in a
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: dark parking lot one night, how would we react? Would
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: we fight for our lives, flee out of fright, or freeze,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: unable to move and paralyzed by fear? The woman we
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: interviewed for today's episode unwittingly discovered her answer to that
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: question on a pitch black night back in 1998. What
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: is up, EWU crew? We love hearing real-life true stories
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: from our listeners, just like the one you will be
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: hearing today. If you or someone you know have had
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a similar unsettling encounter that you would like to share...
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: please reach out to us to speak about setting up
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: an interview that could be featured in an EWU episode.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: As always, be sure to hit the like button and subscribe. Now,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: let's get into it. Wesley Shermantine and Lauren Herzog were
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: like two peas in a pod. Born only two months
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: apart in the mid-1960s, They grew up as indisputable best buddies,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: navigating their youth side by side in the small town
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: of Linden, a quaint rural area of California nestled a
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: little way south of Sacramento and 95 miles east of
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: San Francisco. During their childhoods, they lived on the exact
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: same street within the quiet farming town, which had a
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: tiny population of less than 2,000 people. Wesley had affluent
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: parents who made the young boy's life very comfortable, and
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: he was never left wanting for material possessions. However, his
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: outwardly idyllic family life held dark secrets that his parents
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: tried to keep hidden from the public eye. The Sherman
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: times had a collective reputation in the town for being
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: people you didn't want to cross unless you wanted to
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: risk being ominously dealt with. Despite young Wesley's harsh home
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: life with expectations for perfection, he and Lauren were never
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: afraid to get their hands dirty, and they spent most
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: of their time outdoors in the rugged wilderness, hiking through
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the surrounding hills or hunting and fishing in the woods.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: In 1984, the pair graduated from Linden High School, and
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: despite their troublemaking tendencies, it seemed as if they were
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: headed on the right path. However, Just one year later,
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: an incident would shock the whole town, sending it into
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: disarray and throwing these two fresh graduates into the eye
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: of suspicion. A local teenage girl named Chevelle Chevy Wheeler
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: went missing on October 16th, 1985. She had been dropped
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: off at school in the morning, just like any other day,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: but she apparently had other plans for the afternoons. She
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: confided in some of her girlfriends that she had an
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: exciting meet-up to attend. She was going to skip class
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: to hang with a boy she knew. But when Chevy
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: gleefully snuck off the school grounds that day, neither she
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: nor her friends could have ever guessed that this was
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: the last time the innocent young student would ever be
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: seen alive. When Chevy failed to return from her secret excursion,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Wesley was identified as a person of interest. Authorities pinned
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: him down as the boy that Chevy had made plans
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: to meet up with. Unfortunately for Wesley, word of his
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: troublesome antics and mischievous inclinations had traveled fast in the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: small town, and his reputation had preceded him. Townspeople knew
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: that he and Lauren had gotten into some shady business
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: throughout the years, like roughhousing, drinking, and, most concerningly, Hard drugs. Specifically,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the two boys had begun to heavily use methamphetamine. If
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: you're familiar with drug terminology, you may be realizing how
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: the duo got their infamous title. The word speed, in
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the moniker Speed Freak Killers, originated from the influence of
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: meth on the pair's violent activities. Authorities and theorists alike
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: believed that this behavior-altering drug was largely responsible for the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: boys' alleged killing frenzies. And Chevy's sister later shared an
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: important detail during the ensuing investigation that aligned all too
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: well with Wesley's known drug use. She reported that young
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Chevy had mentioned her intentions to smoke marijuana with Wes
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: at their hangout that day. Accordingly, because of Wesley's already
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: questionable public image and connection with 16-year-old Chevy, the police
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: obtained a search warrant and investigated the young man's secluded
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: hunting cabin. Inside the small building, they discovered blood. At first,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: they couldn't be sure if this evidence was meaningful. After all,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: it was a hunting cabin. Perhaps the blood was from
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: a freshly caught deer. And indeed... Wesley and his folks
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: maintained that previously slaughtered game was to blame for the
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: red stains. But when the blood was tested, the results
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: seemed to confirm law enforcement's worst fears. The blood type
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: matched Chevy's. And then another strange turn of events fueled
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: police suspicion. Allegedly, Wesley, who was fairly well acquainted with
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: the Wheeler family, had confidently shown up at Chevy's home
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the day after she went missing, pulling up casually in
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: his pickup truck and playing dumb when her concerned mother
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: and father asked him what had happened to their beloved daughter.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: He apparently laughed at the parents' frantic questioning and shrugged
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: off the implications of Chevy's disappearance with a sort of
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: smug nonchalance, asking them how he could possibly know anything.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Despite his surety that he wasn't under suspicion, authorities were
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: already on his trail after finding the incriminating blood samples.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: As concerning as this revelation was, the fact remained that
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the police were unable to locate any concrete evidence to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: charge Wesley. DNA analysis technology was not sophisticated enough at
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the time to garner any real conclusions. So the case
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: went cold. and Wesley walked free. Over a decade later,
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: police would discover that Lauren and Wesley, the two young
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: troublemakers they had let walk free, went on to orchestrate
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: what some have estimated to be 72 murders between 1984
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: and 1999. The deadly streak is thought to have begun
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: around the same time as their meth abuse, when the
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: two were only about 18 or 19 years old. How
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: the duo pulled off this deadly stunt for so long
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: without detection is hard to say for certain. But another
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: missing person case that began 14 years after Chevy's pulled
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: the elusive young men back into the spotlight. On November 14th, 1998,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Cindy Vander Heiden, a 25-year-old woman who had grown up
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: in San Joaquin County just as Wesley and Lauren did,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: suddenly and inexplicably vanished without a trace. Nobody quite knew
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: what to make of her disappearance, as just earlier that
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: same day, Cindy had eaten lunch and casually shopped with
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: her mother before heading to a karaoke night at Linden Inn.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: This establishment was one of the two bars owned by
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Cindy's father, both of which that Wesley and Lauren had
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: frequented for quite a while. On this particular day, Cindy
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: dropped her car off at her dad's other bar before
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: meeting up with a friend. and the two rode together
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: to the Linden Inn, excited for a fun night of
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: singing and letting loose. Now Cindy's older sister reportedly had
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: a fling with Lauren at one time, so when Cindy
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: saw him and Wes at the bar, she struck up
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: a casual and friendly conversation. After a relatively uneventful night,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Cindy's friend gave her a ride back to her vehicle,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: which she had left behind at her father's other bar,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: before following Cindy home as she drowsily drove down the
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: deserted streets at 2 a.m. After the friend was sure
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: that Cindy had safely pulled into the driveway of her home,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: she drove away, secure in the knowledge that Cindy had
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: made it back safe and sound to the household where
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: both of her parents were already asleep. And indeed, the
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: next morning, Cindy's parents would report hearing their daughter pull
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: into the driveway in the wee hours of the night.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: but it appeared that Cindy herself had never entered the home.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: In the morning, she was nowhere to be seen, and
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: while her mother grew increasingly nervous, her father decided to
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: call up Cindy's workplace and see if she had somehow
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: managed to wake up, get ready, and depart for her
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: shift without either parent knowing. This seemed like the more
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: obvious solution, but unfortunately, Cindy's parents' misgivings were confirmed. when
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: they were shockingly told that Cindy had never shown up
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: for work. Her father immediately began driving around town in
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: a panic, searching for any possible signs of his missing daughter.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: But what he soon discovered didn't help to ease his worries.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: Cindy's car was abandoned in a local cemetery. Her money,
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: cell phone, and purse were all inside. But of course,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: there was no Cindy. When the police arrived to investigate...
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Their first instinct was to suspect foul play, but they
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: couldn't deny that there were no signs of a struggle
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: present at the scene. Over a thousand citizens dedicated their
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: time to searching for the missing girl over the following weeks,
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: but to no avail. By then, authorities were putting the
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: puzzle pieces together. What a strange coincidence, they thought, that
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Wesley was not only a primary suspect in the disappearance
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: of Chevy all those years ago, but now he was
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: also one of the last witnesses to interact with Cindy
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: before she vanished. Attempting to delve deeper into this theory,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: they focused on searching the isolated hills and scouring mine
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: shafts that Wesley and Lauren were known to frequent. After
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: these intensive searches, they were left empty-handed. Still, with all
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: reasoning to believe that Wesley was involved, the police couldn't
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: turn a blind eye to the smug young man. In 1999,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: they searched his vehicle and once again found blood. But
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: this time, the bodily fluid was definitively identified as that
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: of Cindy Vander Heiden. While these DNA analysis results were
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: being confirmed, the police began laying the groundwork for their
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: case against Wesley. And to do that, they knew their
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: best bet was to get his faithful friend Lauren to
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: start talking. He was brought in for interrogation And although
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: he was initially a bit tight-lipped, he soon began to
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: spill secrets of a magnitude that went way beyond the
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: scope of what anyone had expected. At first, he was
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: defensive and refused to throw Wesley under the bus.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: He gets pretty wild when he's doing drugs or when
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: he's cranking and when he's drinking, doesn't he?
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: He gets pretty wild, doesn't he? I don't know.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Wild enough, I'd say.
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: You ever think that Wes would be capable of forcing
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: a girl to have sex with him?
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: I don't.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: Know.
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: Maybe not.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: But in an interview soon after, Lauren had a change
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: of heart and opened up a lot more.
• 13:03
  Speaker 6: She probably went back to go back to her car.
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: She said that several times, you know. It wasn't going
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: that way. I feel like that's just like something moving
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: to the road going, this isn't good. Well, he started
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: telling her to do stuff, you know, and it's kind
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: of a back and forth argument kind of thing. And
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, if you do stuff as in, well, actually, yes,
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: it's a deep thought. And he's getting wilder.
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: And wilder and wound up more and more. I told him,
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: I went once. Don't kill her, man. Take her back
• 13:52
  Speaker 6: to her car. I got out of the car. I
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: started backing.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Up.
• 14:01
  Speaker 6: He kind of looked at me one time.
• 14:04
  Speaker 7: I didn't know what to do.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: His speech is hard to decipher in this dated footage,
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: but he seems to describe something about Wes holding down
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: the victim. I mean, He then makes a point to
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: claim that Wesley tried to get him to join in
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: on the foul acts. But Loren, of course, says he
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: refused to get physically involved.
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: No way.
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: The interrogator asks Lauren if this new story is the truth,
• 15:30
  Speaker 7: since it directly conflicts.
• 15:36
  Speaker 6: With what he had told them earlier about Wes's innocence.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Lauren nods that, yes, this story is an accurate retelling
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: of what really happened that night with Cindy. In yet
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: another interrogation session, Lauren shares the sad details of Cindy's
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: last moments. He also says Wesley boastfully asserted that he
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: would not be going to prison.
• 16:13
  Speaker 7: She tried bargaining with me, more or less.
• 16:18
  Speaker 8: Kind of, you know, please let me go, and, you know,
• 16:23
  Speaker 8: I don't know if it was trying to talk, but
• 16:25
  Speaker 8: maybe she just had calmed down and.
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: Just tried to talk to him.
• 16:27
  Speaker 8: I don't know if she was trying to calm him
• 16:29
  Speaker 8: down or not.
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: What was his reaction?
• 16:32
  Speaker 8: I guess it wasn't the time to calm him down.
• 16:35
  Speaker 8: Then she started screaming again. She was trying to calm
• 16:37
  Speaker 8: him down for a minute. Then she started screaming again.
• 16:40
  Speaker 5: When he said, so what's the story?
• 16:43
  Speaker 9: What did you tell him?
• 16:47
  Speaker 10: I don't think I gave him a reply.
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: I don't remember giving him a reply.
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: When he asked you, or he told you, I'm not
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: going to prison, did he just say that, or did
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: you ask him, well, why'd you kill her?
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: I guess he.
• 17:10
  Speaker 9: I didn't ask him that.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: He said it.
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: He just said it.
• 17:16
  Speaker 7: I'm not going to prison.
• 17:18
  Speaker 10: Who the f * * * did I tell that?
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: My reply, I think, was, Lauren goes on to confirm
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: his accusations that Wesley was behind it all. The assault,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: the murder, everything. He makes a show of claiming to
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: be scared of his accomplice and says that he feels
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: ashamed that he didn't do more to help Cindy. If
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: he could turn back time, he says he would have
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: tried to find a better way to assist and maybe
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: even save the helpless victim.
• 18:00
  Speaker 5: Wes Sherman time?
• 18:01
  Speaker 10: Yep.
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: You're scared of Wes Sherman time, that he's your friend?
• 18:07
  Speaker 10: I said we can do this for a long time.
• 18:10
  Speaker 10: That's why I guess I'm scared. Because that's the way
• 18:15
  Speaker 10: he is. The way he turned me on, he ain't
• 18:19
  Speaker 10: the same person as my friend.
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: Were you scared because he's unpredictable?
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: Yes, sir.
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: What else were you scared of?
• 18:28
  Speaker 11: The main thing.
• 18:30
  Speaker 10: What was the other one?
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: I was ashamed and scared the other way.
• 18:34
  Speaker 10: Ashamed of what? Being scared of everyone.
• 18:38
  Speaker 9: I think at one time you had mentioned being ashamed
• 18:44
  Speaker 9: of what, Lauren?
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: I'm not going.
• 18:50
  Speaker 10: To be able to do anything.
• 18:52
  Speaker 9: The officers warned Lauren that Wes had already made incriminating statements,
• 19:01
  Speaker 9: confessing that the duo in question had already hunted everything.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: Including the ultimate game.
• 19:23
  Speaker 9: Wes is making comments about you.
• 19:27
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: Things such as, you know, Lauren and I have hunted
• 19:35
  Speaker 5: just about everything, including the ultimate game. You know what
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: that ultimate game is.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: There is no ultimate game for him.
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: He's implicating you. What I foresee here is that when
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: we haul Wes in here, he's going to pin it
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: on you.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: It is clear to see the trust and loyalty Loren
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: once had for Wes was dissipating as the interrogators carefully
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: selected their words and to drive a wedge between the friends.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: And just as planned, Loren would go on to reveal
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: a slew of crimes he said Wesley had committed outside
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: of the Cindy case. Loren first explained that the previously
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: unsolved death of a hunter from Utah in 1994 had
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: been Wesley's doing. According to Loren's tale, Wesley had deliberately
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: shot the man dead for no apparent reason after crossing
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: paths with him. Lauren continued to spout his surprising confessions.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: He reported that Wesley was behind the murder of a
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: man named Henry Howell, who had been discovered in his
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: parked car on the side of a highway with his
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: head and mouth grotesquely bashed in. As Lauren tells it,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Wesley jumped at the opportunity after seeing the vulnerable man
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: pulled over and immediately stopped the car to seize the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: victim's shotgun and use the weapon to end Howell's life
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: before robbing him It was only a matter of time
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: before Wesley himself was brought in for questioning. In the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: disturbing interrogation footage, he's asked what he thinks the chances
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: are that the blood discovered in his car belong to Cindy.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: He deflects the question.
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: You tell me, what are the possibilities of Cindy's blood
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: being in your trunk?
• 21:34
  Speaker 9: I don't know that it is Cindy's blood.
• 21:36
  Speaker 11: We're telling you, it's 169 million to one.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: And I don't know how it got in there.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: He then makes a weird, noncommittal statement, saying that he
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: would have already been long gone if he had been
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: up to no good with Cindy. His whole attitude towards
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: the situation is clearly not that of a concerned friend
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: who is worried about Cindy's well-being.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: If I had something to do with Cindy's disappearance, I
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: would have been gone a long time ago.
• 22:12
  Speaker 11: Are you afraid of anybody out there, somebody threatening you, No.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: The annoyance is evident in his facial expressions and tone
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: of voice as he recounts the night at the karaoke
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: bar with Lauren. He says they talked with Cindy, but
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: left the bar when it shut down for the night.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: He's asked what he thinks about the possibility of Lauren's
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: involvement in the case.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Lauren might be responsible for Cindy's blood in your trunk?
• 22:39
  Speaker 10: I didn't say that.
• 22:40
  Speaker 9: Okay.
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: I don't know.
• 22:45
  Speaker 8: I thought that's where you were going.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: I can't blame no one because I don't know.
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: Is there somebody else involved?
• 22:57
  Speaker 11: That night?
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: The fact is, Wes.
• 23:04
  Speaker 6: I wish I'd never stopped that f.
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: * * * ing bar that night.
• 23:07
  Speaker 11: No, you're not the only one.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: So do we. We couldn't be here right now.
• 23:12
  Speaker 9: Everybody else.
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: The scenario.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: The interrogator becomes increasingly frustrated as Wesley visibly shuts down
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and refuses to reveal any helpful information. They try to
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: make him understand the benefits of coming clean, but he's
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: just not having it.
• 23:41
  Speaker 11: Lauren, is responsible and you're just trying to help your
• 23:44
  Speaker 11: childhood buddy. Trying to protect him. If that's what you're doing,
• 23:49
  Speaker 11: if you want to go down the boat.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: I'm not trying to help him.
• 23:57
  Speaker 11: Has he threatened you in the past? I haven't threatened
• 24:07
  Speaker 11: a lot of people. Well, has he threatened you? Yeah,
• 24:15
  Speaker 11: he's pulled a gun on me before, too.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: If there's something that happened that night, you have to
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: tell us now. It's as simple as that. We can't
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: make it any simpler for you. If you lied in
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: the past, I don't care about the lies. I want
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: the truth of what happened that night. There's blood in
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: your car. There's a simple explanation.
• 24:36
  Speaker 5: He knows it.
• 24:36
  Speaker 9: I know it.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: It's there. Take the opportunity.
• 24:43
  Speaker 6: Oh, my Lord, praise the Lord.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't long before Wesley began to shift the
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: blame completely onto his accomplice, as Lauren had done to him.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Their hesitation and unwillingness to speak in initial interviews completely vanished,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: and the duo continued to turn on one another as
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the investigation continued. At one time, the two lifelong friends
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: had been roommates who enjoyed each other's company in a
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: small apartment. Now, watching the interviews, You cannot tell that
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: the two had ever felt anything resembling trust or friendship
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: in one another. They became something more like arch enemies,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: taking every opportunity they could to blame their partner and
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: pin all their horrible deeds on the other person. Both
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: were charged with Cindy's murder, along with two others from
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: the 80s. At this point, all inhibition on Lauren's part
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: was gone. and he went into excruciating details to explain
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: the horrors that Wesley had inflicted upon Cindy. According to him,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Wesley drove the trio to an isolated spot after they
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: had all smoked meth together in the cemetery, and he
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: proceeded to assault the unsuspecting young woman before taking a
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: knife to her throat. Apparently, they had all agreed to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: meet up that night for drugs, but Cindy had no
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: idea the dangerous situation she was condemning herself to when
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: she agreed to get into Wesley's car. Lauren confessed that
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Cindy had begged him to help her throughout the assault,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: calling him Slim, an old nickname she had given him.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: But rather than try to assist the desperate girl in
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: any way, he chose to remain unresponsive, watching from the
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: car as Wesley committed atrocious crimes against Cindy and then
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: ended her life. After their 1999 arrest The Speed Freak
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: Killers faced their trials in 2001. Wesley went first, and
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: after an unsuccessful attempt to deny his involvement and place
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: all the blame onto Lauren, he was found guilty of
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: murder on four accounts. But even in this hopeless situation,
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Wesley still managed to maintain his arrogant and sinister disposition,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: refusing to reveal the location of his victims' bodies unless
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: he was rewarded. with the advertised $ 20, 000 prize money. This
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: request was unsurprisingly denied. At first, we wondered what use
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: Wesley would even have for that sum of money in jail,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: but apparently his plan was to pass it down to
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: his sons. Regardless, his sick little scheme didn't work out,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: and he even denied an opportunity to avoid the death
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: penalty in exchange for the body location information. He really
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: was stubborn through and through, even in the face of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: certain death. Lauren was given a bit more of a
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: lenient sentence. It seems that the court viewed him as
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: the accomplice to Wesley's criminal masterminding. He was sentenced to
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: 78 years in prison. But even though the law may
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: have taken a little pity on Wesley's partner, they made
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: a decision that is almost incomprehensible in its foolishness. Following
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: an appeal in 2004, Loren's convictions were overruled. The argument
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: was made that he had been coerced into revealing implicating
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: information against his will and that he had not received
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: proper and fair treatment during the interrogation process. He was
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: paroled in 2010, but due to an uproar of public
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: disapproval over the court's decision to free Loren, especially from
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: the victim's family members, No California county wanted to take him.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: In response, Loren was made to live in a trailer
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: near the prison. This living arrangement sought to please the
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: concerned public, who, for good reason, didn't want the convicted
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: killer roaming free. But his carefree life of liberty didn't
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: last for long. The speed-free killers had long since dropped
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: any illusions of support or camaraderie between them, and Wesley
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: was not happy to hear how easy his partner had
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: gotten out of his sentence when he himself was landed
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: the death penalty. In the true fashion of a vindictive
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: soul seeking revenge at any cost, Wesley decided to take
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: an eye for an eye and reveal all to authorities.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: This meant he promised to create detailed maps to lead
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: law enforcement straight to where the bodies were buried, a
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: move that spelled disaster for Loren who was just beginning
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: to feel like he had gotten away with his crimes scotch-free.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Loren had always maintained his own innocence and pushed all
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: the responsibility onto Wesley, but clearly he had an inkling
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: that whatever was to be found along with the bodies
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: would prove disastrous for him. Immediately after it was announced
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: that a bounty hunter by the name of Leonard Padilla
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: had bribed Wesley into releasing the secret locations and information
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: about the victims' bodies in exchange for a payment of
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: over $ 30, 000, Loren was found dead in his trailer. It
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: was January of 2012, and he had taken his own
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: life by hanging himself. A ghastly scene reported to the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: police by an anonymous caller. And this unceremonious death brings
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: us to our interview with the one woman who may
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: have managed to escape the deadly clutches of the Speed
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Freak Killers. As per her wishes, we will be keeping
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: her name and identity anonymous. We want first to emphasize that,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: as she herself acknowledges, there is no way to be
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: sure if the men she crossed paths with were in
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: fact the Speed Freak Killers. or just another pair of
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: sketchy guys with an uncanny resemblance to the famous duo. However,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: the time and place she described line up almost too
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: perfectly with the speed-free killer's recorded active period. Although it's
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: almost impossible to confirm her story with complete certainty, if
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: it was actually the two serial killers she came across
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: that night, then that would make her the one and
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: only woman ever to escape the deadly duo. With the
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: devastation that the two men left in their wake, she's
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: glad to have not stuck around to confirm their identities
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: that night. She shared with us her reason for coming
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: forward so long after the alarming night in 1998.
• 31:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so the thing is that I know a lot
• 31:46
  Speaker 3: of people wonder why... you know, um, why I never
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: said it before, you know, but like, um, during the
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: time I just, I was trying to piece everything together
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: and things kind of started making sense as I went,
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: you know?
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Regardless, we are so glad that she finally felt brave
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: enough to come forward and share her story for the
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: first time ever with us. She had a very thoroughly
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: written timeline of events prepared to explain what happened that night.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: It was just, yeah, it happened in 1998. Um, And
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: I had went with one of my girlfriends to Delta College, St.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: Joaquin Delta College, to apply, you know, for school. And
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: dropped her off at home probably around, like, it was
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: close to 9 o'clock, you know, p.m. And I had recently,
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: I joined a gym. And so I forgot I had to,
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: you know, make a payment. So I was... oh man,
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: I need to deposit some money, you know, towards my membership.
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: So the bank is like right across the street from
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: where my girlfriend lived at. And it's a B of
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: a bank of America. It's on 700 Kettleman lane, West
• 32:56
  Speaker 3: Kettleman lane. And so anyhow, I was there and, uh,
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: in my car and I got out cause you know,
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: back in 1998, you, you had to get out to
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: get the, the envelope, the envelopes, you know, to make
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: your deposit. So that's what I did. I got out and,
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: Got my envelope, sat back in the car, and then
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: my instinct told me to lock my doors because I
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: had a Monte Carlo two-door back in the day. And
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: then I locked my doors. And then I want to say,
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: as I'm writing my deposit slip, I want to say
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: maybe like five, ten minutes after that, here comes a
• 33:38
  Speaker 3: car like screeching in the parking lot. And that alerted me,
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: and I looked up, and to my right-hand side, which
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: would have been my passenger side, I saw this car.
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: It was not a van. It wasn't a truck. It wasn't,
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: you know, it was just a car, like a small-sized car.
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: I don't remember the exact car that it was, but
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: I just remember it parking right next to me on
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: my passenger side. And I was already scared because I
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: heard the screeching as it parked next to me. And
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: so I quickly turned on my car. And, I mean,
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: it happened so fast. I turned on my car, and
• 34:21
  Speaker 3: as I was reversing my car, I just remember looking
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: to my right-hand side, and I saw this white male
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: with a long ponytail paraded. And I just remember his face.
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: It just looked very scary. And as I look at
• 34:36
  Speaker 3: the pictures of Loren Herzog, it was his face. You know,
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: I just picture, you know, I just see that face,
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: that same face. And it was so coincidental because of
• 34:45
  Speaker 3: the fact that it was two males. So the passenger,
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: there was a passenger male with dark hair. I just
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: remember that. I didn't see his face. I only saw
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: the white male with the blonde, you know, blonde hair.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: And I remember him being tall because I looked up.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: But I got out of there so quick that, I mean,
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: I put it on reverse. I saw that really quick,
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: and then I just hit it on dry it. and
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: took off and of course I was super distraught. I
• 35:12
  Speaker 3: was scared because I was thinking it was just an
• 35:15
  Speaker 3: attempted robbery or something at the moment. I'm like, oh
• 35:19
  Speaker 3: my God, they were trying to steal, rob me or whatever.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: And so I just wanted to get somewhere safe and
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: I drove home. My mom was like, what's wrong? Because
• 35:30
  Speaker 3: I was crying and she's like, oh, what's wrong? And
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: I was like, I don't know mom, somebody approached me
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: at the bank and my mom was like, I told
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: you don't go to the bank late at night. So,
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: because it was after nine, a little bit after nine
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: when I went. And so, thank God I made it safe.
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: I made it out of that situation.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: She had luckily managed to get out of the close
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: scrape without a hitch. But as the weeks and months
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: went on, her strange experience in the parking lot would
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: continue to weigh on her mind. And the more she
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: thought about it, the more certain she grew that the
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: two men she had seen that night were, in fact,
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the speed freak killers in the flesh. This realization was
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: catalyzed by the widespread coverage that Cindy Vander Heiden's case
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: was receiving in late 1998.
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: Around November, December, when Cindy Vander Heiden became missing is
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: when I started seeing all her... I just saw a
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: lot of, like, posters everywhere of her face and, you know,
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: she was missing. And I was like, I wonder who,
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: you know, this must be a local girl or what.
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: And it didn't really make sense even then, you know.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: I couldn't connect the dots then. But anyhow.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: That happened. And then when, when, um, Sherman time, um,
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: Wesley Sherman time started speaking up about, about all the,
• 36:49
  Speaker 3: you know, like where the, you know, the bodies were buried,
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: things like that. I was like, you know what, I
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: bet you anything. And I just started kind of following
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: the story. And I was like, I don't know why
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: I didn't have that feeling that those are the two
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: men that approached me that night. You know, it just
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: started making everything was so coincidental. the height, and then
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: they mentioned his height, which was Lauren Herzog. He was
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: six foot something. The height, just the two men. And
• 37:16
  Speaker 3: then when there was a particular interview that happened between
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: Wesley Sherman Tyne that he mentioned, and I was trying
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: to look for the video because I wanted to piece
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: it together before I even spoke to you guys. I
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: saw it somewhere. I just don't know exactly what video
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: it was, but it was an interview where he, where
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: he said, you know, there was only one woman that
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: got away. And I, he mentioned it was at a
• 37:46
  Speaker 3: gas station, but you know, when, when you're high on drugs,
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: I mean, you don't, you know, you don't, you can't
• 37:50
  Speaker 3: really recall where I'm assuming, I'm assuming that that's, you know,
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: the situation, but anyhow, um, There are a lot of
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: gas stations in that area. They might have gone to
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: a gas station before they even approached me. Do I
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: know for sure that it was them that approached me? No,
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: it's not for sure. But when you look at the timeline,
• 38:08
  Speaker 3: the dates, I live in Lodi. So Lodi is not
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: too far from Linden and Clements. So it's very, everything's
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: just so coincidental that I was like, I don't know,
• 38:20
  Speaker 3: I just have a feeling that those two monsters, you know,
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: I call monsters because they were, you know, they were
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: the ones that approached me. I just got away. And
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: then when he mentioned that part, I was like, wow,
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: this is just too close, you know?
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: She described how she was encouraged by her brother to
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: tell the story of what happened that night. Initially, she
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: had been hesitant, as she knew people would be skeptical
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: if she claimed she had come face to face with
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the speed freak killers without any proof. But all the same,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: she knew there was a more important reason why she
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: had to share her story.
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: And so my brother was encouraging me. He goes, you know, sis,
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: you should talk about that. You know, you should, you know,
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: and I'm doing it more as an awareness because I was,
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: I did put myself in an unsafe situation, you know,
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: being a young lady. And I would like to, you know,
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: just put out there as an awareness to others like women,
• 39:15
  Speaker 3: you know, just to be careful, you know, to look,
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: you know, Make sure they look around, you know, the surrounding,
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: things like that, because, you know, I wouldn't be here
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: talking about this right now if I wouldn't have taken off,
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: because these people were very. We discussed how lucky it
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: was that she had immediately locked her car doors when
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: she sensed something sinister. You would expect kidnappers to creep
• 39:29
  Speaker 3: up slowly and stealthily on their victims so as not
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: to alert the person they were after.
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: But in this case, the woman was grateful that she
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: didn't wait to scope out the situation. She locked the door,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: turned on the car engine and began to reverse almost immediately.
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: That's what saved my life, to be honest with you,
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: is the fact that I heard the screeching as they were.
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: It's like what it is, is they wanted whatever they
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: were trying to do. They wanted to do it really quick.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean? And it was just, yeah,
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, because as soon as I heard the screeching,
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: I'm like, okay, who's screeching in here? Because if you
• 40:20
  Speaker 3: look at the parking lot there at Bank of America,
• 40:24
  Speaker 3: it's a pretty closed-in parking lot. It's not a very,
• 40:27
  Speaker 3: it's not too of an open space, if that makes sense.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: You have to actually drive in there, right? And so
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: I was kind of like thinking, like, who's, you know,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: what's going on? So that alerted me to look up
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: and be like, oh, whoa, this doesn't look good. And
• 40:43
  Speaker 3: that was the first thing that came to my mind.
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: I was like, that doesn't, this doesn't look good. You know,
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: it's like kind of like that flight or fight kind of,
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: you know, situation. I immediately, when I saw that, I
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: immediately locked my doors and I, I'm sorry.
• 40:58
  Speaker 9: No, no.
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: I locked my doors previous to that. I'm sorry. I
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: started my car. I started my car. And then I,
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, because they drove up quick, you know. And
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: I already had my doors locked, but my car started
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: right away. Thank goodness. That's another thing my mom told me.
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: She goes, you know what? I'm so thankful that that
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: car started up right away when it did because we
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: always had a hard time starting up the car, you know? So, yeah,
• 41:22
  Speaker 3: I was able to get away from them. And, I mean,
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: if it was them, I'm assuming that it was them
• 41:28
  Speaker 3: just based on the timeline and everything. It's just so coincidental,
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: you know? You know, at the time when it happened,
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: I was thinking, oh... I mean not that it's a
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: minor thing but I was just kind of thinking it
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: was just an attempted robbery I'm sure something stupid like
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: that but I didn't you know I wish I would
• 41:47
  Speaker 3: have reported I didn't I didn't because I was so
• 41:49
  Speaker 3: terrified I was just like you know and I was
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: young too you know when you're young you just kind
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: of always just somebody being stupid but then as time
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: went by I was like wow these guys might have
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: been the ones that approached me you know and thank
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: goodness I'm here to you know just tell that bit
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: of a story you know The.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Fact that she may never know the true intentions of
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: the menacing men that night is haunting. And after reading
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: the horrible things that Wesley and Lauren had done to
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: their victims, she's beyond grateful that she thought fast that night.
• 42:21
  Speaker 3: I mean, just following the stories, you know, I don't know.
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: I just... And that's what I was afraid of, too,
• 42:27
  Speaker 3: as I was taking off. I was like, are these
• 42:29
  Speaker 3: guys going to follow me? You know, that's the first
• 42:31
  Speaker 3: thing that came to my mind. But, I mean, I
• 42:34
  Speaker 3: just remember seeing... You know, when I see pictures of
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: Lauren Herzog, I just remember seeing that face. And I
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: remember it just scared me, you know, and I remember,
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: I just remember him being tall and he was the
• 42:45
  Speaker 3: first one out of the car. I mean, it's like
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: he was trying to get out to, you know, either
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: open up my car door. I don't know, but I
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: wasn't going to hang out to see what was going
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: to happen next.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: We thanked her for being gracious enough to share her
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: chilling encounter with us and asked how this experience had
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: affected the rest of her life.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: I don't go to the banks at night anymore. I
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: don't do that. And I still live in Lodi. So
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: every time I drive by that area, it always, of course,
• 43:15
  Speaker 3: brings back those memories of like that moment that that
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: happened to me. And, you know, I do, I mean,
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: I've shared it with my younger sisters and just, you know,
• 43:25
  Speaker 3: my daughter, my own daughter, you know, hey, whatever you do,
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: be careful, beware of your surroundings, you know, that kind
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: of thing, because I don't want what happened to me
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: to happen to anybody else, you know, because like I said,
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: that could have been a very, uh, bad situation. It
• 43:40
  Speaker 3: could have been bad. You know, I wouldn't be here
• 43:42
  Speaker 3: to tell the story today if I didn't, if I
• 43:45
  Speaker 3: didn't take off when I did, you know, and, um,
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: I'm really grateful, you know, that I'm here because I
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: know there's a lot of families that don't have their
• 43:55
  Speaker 3: loved ones because of these two people, you know, and, um, Yeah,
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: it's just really it's a sad situation, you know, but yeah,
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: it definitely has changed me a lot. I'm very I'm
• 44:06
  Speaker 3: very careful about things now.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: We are so glad that our interviewee escaped the two
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: sketchy men she saw, regardless if they were indeed the
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: elusive speed free killers or simply two nameless, faceless men
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: looking to cause trouble for a young woman in a
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: dark parking lot. But there is no denying that the
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: speed free killers had a brand of their own. unmatched
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: in cruelty, vicious acts, and disregard for the sanctity of
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: human life. One conclusion that many investigators and theorists have
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: come to is that the duo seem to have found
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: a sick satisfaction in the killings. They usually didn't have
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: any clear motive besides just enjoying the gruesome activity of
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: assaulting and murdering innocent people. A pattern seems to be
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: evident in their exploits involving female victims. The two appeared
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: to lure their victims in with the promise of drugs,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: and once the girls were alone with them, sometimes having
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: willingly entered their vehicle, finishing the task was easy for
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: the heartless pair. But young girls weren't the only target
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: demographic of the speed-free killers. Wesley, or maybe both he
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: and Lauren, most likely killed for sport, picking a large
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: portion of their victims randomly and acting on rash impulse.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: The picture authorities often paint of the duo gives Lauren
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: a bit more sympathy than Wesley. Experts have said that
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: in most serial killer duos, the two individuals involved are
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: rarely of equal power within the operation. And to them,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: it is glaringly obvious that Wesley was the real mastermind
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: behind these deadly crimes, while Lauren was more of a
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: passive follower. But the difference in blame is minuscule. Both
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: men hold the responsibility for the countless lives lost and
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: families left devastated and confused for years at the disappearances
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: of their loved ones. In the end, Wesley and Lauren
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: were only convicted for a small fraction of the murders
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: they are speculated to have committed. Howard King and Paul
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: Cavanaugh are among the known victims of the duo, both
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: having been shot in their vehicles in 1984. As recently
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: as March 2020, gruesome discoveries of remains have been made
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: that are believed to be tied to the Speed Free Killers.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: A bone was found in a San Joaquin County well
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: by a local farmer, which is eerily similar to human
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: remains that were discovered a few years earlier and linked
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: to the Speed Free Killer case. Sheriff Withrow was reported
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: as saying, This is somebody's resting place right now. and
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: this is somebody's loved one, and we're going to recover
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: this in a legal manner, in an investigative manner. For now,
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: the remains are still under investigation. In a news article,
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: Ross Proviance, a Linden High School graduate, commented, I used
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: to live in the area where these swipes ran around.
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: I kicked them off the ranch several times. They know
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: where all the deep open wells are out there. I've
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: offered to come down at my own expenses to show
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: sheriffs where these possible sites are. I have worked on
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: all the windmills out there. That's what I did for
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: a living. No response. The real number of total victims
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: who lost their lives at the hands of the speed-free
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: killers may never be known. Wesley, as the only surviving
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: witness to the horrific crimes, may have even lost count himself.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: But their story... and the daunting tale our interviewee shared
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: both speak volumes about the importance of always remaining aware
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: and cognizant of one's surroundings. There are sick people like
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Wesley and Lauren out in the world who wish to
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: take advantage of others for their own twisted pleasure. It
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: is always best to be safe rather than sorry and
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: to avoid situations and individuals that could have dark motives.
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: If you ever feel like something is off, trust your gut.