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Jewish World Review Feb. 27, 2001 / 4 Adar, 5761

M.S. Enkoji

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Consumer Reports


Bounty hunter offers to pay a killer's fee

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- SACRAMENTO, Calif. | A bounty hunter is negotiating to pay the $20,000 a convicted serial killer is asking in exchange for information about buried bodies.

Wesley Shermantine Jr., 35, who was convicted Feb. 14 of killing four people over 15 years, has told authorities he will reveal where two of the victims are buried if the money is given to his two sons.

Families of victims including Cyndi Vanderheiden, a 25-year-old who disappeared in 1998 after leaving a bar with Shermantine, have condemned Shermantine's demand and are refusing to pay the money.

Bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, though, said he would do it so the families could get their loved ones' remains.

"If this individual, all he wants is a lousy $20,000, I'll give it to him," said Padilla, who has stepped forward in past high-profile cases to offer rewards.

"They feel like they're being extorted. This takes them off the hook," said Padilla. "It's a third party that's handling it."

Padilla said his lawyer is working out details with Shermantine's attorney, who could not be reached for comment. Padilla said he would set up a trust for Shermantine's two boys.

The bodies of two of Shermantine's victims have never been found. Besides Vanderheiden, 16-year-old Chevy Wheelerdisappeared in 1985 when she skipped school and left with Shermantine.

Shermantine also was convicted of killing Paul Cavanaugh, 31, and Howard King, 35, in 1984. Both were found shot to death in a car on a rural road.

Vanderheiden's mother, Terri, said Padilla's offer is generous.

"I commend him for it and I think he's a wonderful person for it," she said.

Wheeler's mother said she doesn't want Shermantine to get any money - for anyone.

"He's a murderer, and you don't benefit from your crime," said Paula Wheeler.

Shermantine's demand is unusual, said John Stein, deputy director of the National Organization for Victim Assistance in Washington, D.C.

The idea of criminals benefiting financially at the expense of their victims was addressed by new laws after the 1977 New York City serial killer David Berkowitz, "Son of Sam," tried to pen his memoirs.

But court challenges since have left the lines unclear, Stein said.

"My impression of payment of rewards is that it is hard to collect rewards; you have to prove a bunch of things to collect it," he said. "You would think an offender would be ineligible."

M.S. Enkoji is a writer with the Sacramento Bee. Comment by clicking here.

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