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DNA Testing Confirms Remains Belong To Wheeler And Vanderheiden

SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY (CBS13) — Human remains found in Calaveras County have been positively identified through DNA testing as those of missing teens Cyndi Vanderheiden and Chevy Wheeler.

San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore delivered the news to victims' families Tuesday following the testing by the Department of Justice.

Last week, sheriff's department officials told the families of the victims they had preliminarily identified the remains as the missing teens.

The remains were found on property in Calaveras County that had been owned by the family of Wesley Shermantine, one of the "Speed Freak Killers." Venderheiden's remains were discovered on February 9, and Wheeler's remains were found the next day.

Shermantine, who is on death row at San Quentin, has been talking with investigators over the last several weeks, offering to give them details about burial sites in return for money.

Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler went missing from Stockton on October 16, 1985. She told friends she was skipping school to go to Valley Springs with a male friend. Authorities later learned the friend was Wesley Shermantine.

Cyndi Vanderheiden was last seen with Shermantine and Herzog on November 14, 1998. She had been raped and murdered in Linden.

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