One of San Joaquin County’s most notorious serial killers, Wesley Shermantine, has died in prison.
Shermantine, 60, and his late accomplice Loren Herzog became known as the “Speed Freak Killers.” Together, they fatally shot and stabbed on young Stockton women, not to mention drifters, fellow drug abusers and others unlucky enough to have crossed their paths. The exact number of homicides they committed never was fully determined but is possibly 19 and could be as high as 72. Both were arrested for murder in 1999.
Shermantine was serving his sentence for murder at California State Prison, Sacramento, one of 564 Death Row inmates. The cause of his death on Sept. 17 was under investigation, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
District Attorney Ron Freitas took note of Shermantine’s victims…