"Remove and Destroy": CBS News on the Speed Freak Killers Missing-Person Records, 2015

Name: "Remove and Destroy": CBS News on the Speed Freak Killers Missing-Person Records, 2015
Uploaded: 2015-03-10T00:00:00Z
Duration: 3 min 24 s
Description: In March 2015, CBS News reported emails showing that the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department had asked in 2010 for missing-person cases tied to the Speed Freak Killers to be canceled. The sheriff said the files were only transferred. Shermantine is not heard.

In March 2015, CBS News reported emails showing that the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department had asked in 2010 for missing-person cases tied to the Speed Freak Killers to be canceled. The sheriff said the files were only transferred. Shermantine is not heard.

Subject: Wesley Shermantine
Recorded: about March 10, 2015
Runtime: 3:24

Content warning: None required (concerns murders and missing people; no graphic detail).

The Report

This is a 3-minute-24-second CBS This Morning item, posted on the program's YouTube channel on March 10, 2015. Correspondent Ben Tracy reported from Sacramento on claims that the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department had hindered the search for victims of Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog. Neither man is heard. The speakers are a woman whose father disappeared in 1993 (named in the report as Marie Gillette; name as heard), State Senator Cathleen Galgiani (identified by context), former FBI agent Jeff Rinek and San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore.

Historical Context

Wesley Shermantine was convicted in 2001 of four murders and sentenced to death; Loren Herzog died by suicide in January 2012. From 2010, Shermantine sent letters and maps to Senator Galgiani and others claiming to show where victims were buried. Searches in 2012 recovered remains in Calaveras and San Joaquin counties, and the FBI ended its search near Linden on February 22, 2013.

Circumstances

On March 9, 2015, Senator Galgiani, through attorney Mark Geragos, asked a federal court for records in the case, alleging that missing-person records linked to the pair had been removed from the FBI's national database. Sheriff Moore denied wrongdoing, saying the records had been temporarily transferred to the state Department of Justice. CBS's report aired the next morning.

What the Report Covers

The anchor says Shermantine "may have been involved in as many as 70 murders" (his own later claim) and that families say they are not getting help from the sheriff's department. The reporter says the woman whose father disappeared in 1993 believes the pair killed him. The reporter says Shermantine drew maps from his cell and that searchers stopped in 2013 after five bodies were found. The senator says Shermantine "has not given me reason to not believe what he's saying" but the sheriff's department has given her reason to distrust it. CBS says Department of Justice emails show someone at the department in 2010 asked that at least five cases involving victims of the pair be canceled from the national database although the bodies had not been found. Rinek says he has "never heard of any active missing persons case being deleted." The senator says, "Law enforcement is supposed to serve and protect, not remove and destroy." Sheriff Moore says he was not personally aware of any such deletions; a later statement said the files "were simply transferred for a period of time." The woman says she cannot trust the authorities and has "to trust the man that's in prison."

What Makes the Recording Significant

It is national network coverage of the 2015 records controversy, with the sheriff questioned on camera, and documents the families' loss of trust in the official search.

Archival Importance

A CBS News report on the program's own channel.

Important Caveats

Shermantine and Herzog are not heard. "As many as 70 murders" is Shermantine's own claim, not an established count (sources give at least 19 suspected). The deletion allegation was disputed: the sheriff said the files were transferred, not destroyed; page copy should present both. The senator is identified by context only; the relative's name (Marie Gillette) is as heard and not verified, and her father is not named. The opening line ("What's in it for you not to bring these people home?") is from an unidentified family member.

Anchor: This morning, a convicted serial killer on California's death row says he can show law enforcement where to find more victims. He may have been involved in as many as 70 murders in California, Nevada and Utah, but families of the missing say they're not getting help from the one place they expect it. In a CBS News investigation, Ben Tracy shows us the explosive allegations against the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department.

Family Member: What's in it for you not to bring these people home? For most of us, it's been decades. We're ready.

Ben Tracy: Marie Gillette's father disappeared in 1993. She believes he was murdered by these men, convicted serial killers Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine, known as the Speed Freak Killers because of their drug-fueled murders, mainly in California.

Ben Tracy: When a killer makes a map and says, "Here's where the bodies are," that's like gold to law enforcement.

Marie Gillette: That's what I would believe.

Ben Tracy: Wesley Shermantine drew these maps from his prison cell, showing the locations of victims. He sent them to several people, including California State Senator Cathleen Galgiani. After the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department and FBI found five bodies, they stopped searching in 2013, citing Shermantine's refusal to talk to them and the reliability of his information.

Cathleen Galgiani: He has not given me reason to not believe what he's saying. However, the sheriff's department has given me reason to distrust information coming forward.

Ben Tracy: CBS News obtained these emails showing that in 2010, someone from the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department ordered at least five cases involving victims of the Speed Freak Killers canceled, requesting their removal from the national database of missing persons, even though their bodies had never been found. Jeff Rinek is a former FBI agent. Is it rare for cases to be deleted off of this database?

Jeff Rinek: I have never heard of any active missing persons case being deleted from a state or federal database.

Ben Tracy: You believe someone's trying to cover something up?

Cathleen Galgiani: Yes. Law enforcement is supposed to serve and protect, not remove and destroy. Someone at the sheriff's department gave the order to destroy these records for these missing persons.

Ben Tracy: I'm Ben Tracy with CBS News. San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore agreed to talk to us on Monday, but had few answers. Are you personally aware of any missing person records that would have been deleted by the request of your department?

Steve Moore: Me personally, no.

Ben Tracy: This is the first time you've ever heard of this allegation?

Steve Moore: As far as deleting records that shouldn't have been deleted, yes, sir.

Ben Tracy: The Department of Justice emails say the sheriff's department insisted on the cancellations, but in a statement late Monday, Sheriff Moore said the files were simply transferred for a period of time.

Cathleen Galgiani: This is just mind-boggling.

Ben Tracy: Marie Gillette's father was on the list of canceled cases. She fears they will never find his body.

Marie Gillette: Who can I not trust? I cannot trust the authorities on this one. I can't. I have to trust the man that's in prison, which is the convicted serial killer.

Ben Tracy: For CBS This Morning, Ben Tracy, Sacramento.

Anchor: Very interesting story. Very different way of looking at things. You wouldn't think you'd go to the serial killer for [unclear: "now" (Whisper; second machine pass) / "frightening" (captions) / "of her own" (second machine pass, overlapping window)].

Anchor: [unclear: "Right. Yeah." (Whisper) / "Yeah, frightening." (captions)] Thank you, Ben Tracy. ("Thank you" from the captions and the second machine pass; Whisper has only "Ben Tracy.") [03:24: end of clip.] ---