Sheriff criticized over missing persons
STOCKTON — Sheriff Steve Moore came under harsh criticism during the public comment session of Tuesday’s San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors meeting for his handling of events in the aftermath of a 15-year methamphetamine-fueled killing spree during the 1980s and '90s attributed to Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.
The berating from three members of the public comes on the heels of an accusation by state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, that the Sheriff’s Office had improperly deleted records from the national database of missing persons, most notably suspected murder victims of Shermantine and Herzog, before those bodies could be recovered.
Galgiani also accused the Sheriff’s Office of refusing to cooperate with police detectives from Hayward and Reno during their separate missing person investigations that led them to believe there might be a connection to San Joaquin County’s notorious duo.
Sue Kizer, 68, told supervisors that on Oct. 18, 1988, her 18-year-old daughter, Gayle Marks, disappeared from central Stockton and has not been heard from since. Kizer acknowledges that her daughter is dead. The incident, investigated by the Stockton Police Department, has long since gone into its cold case files.
When Kizer learned many years later that human remains were being unearthed in an abandoned well near Linden and that they were possible victims of Shermantine and Herzog — active during the same period her daughter went missing — she wanted to know if any evidence there could be linked to Gayle.
What she got, she says, is the cold shoulder from Moore and his department.
“When they were going to start the dig on the wells in Linden, I called out to the Sheriff’s Office and spoke to Sheriff Moore. I spoke to him about the chances of my daughter being in the well. His answer to me was, ‘What do you want me to do about it?’" Kizer said.
”Sheriff Moore has a dangerous lack of empathy, and the fact that he treated me so disrespectfully was very disturbing and hurtful.”
When Kizer went to the Sheriff’s Office in French Camp in an attempt to view a recovered photo that a family member told her looked like her daughter, she said a detective “talked to me like I was a criminal, no empathy at all. She didn’t even try to smooth out the situation.”
When Kizer finally was shown a photo in September 2013, it was not her daughter.
“Now I seriously wonder if it was the right picture or just some picture to make me shut up and go away. I know two detectives who have sworn under oath that they were treated the same way,” Kizer said, referring to the investigators from Reno and Hayward.
Kizer also criticized Moore for utilizing crews from the county Public Works Department to excavate the wells, calling it “just stupid, especially when there are colleges who will do it free. Filling in the well and then bulldozing over it has crushed any remains that may have been left. Now I will never know if my daughter was in that well or not. I will never know.”
Moore, who was in the board chamber when the criticisms were made, responded later during an impromptu interview. When asked about Kizer’s comments, Moore offered an apology:
“I know that she has contacted the Sheriff’s Office on numerous occasions and she is very dedicated to her daughter’s memory. And if there are any interactions with me that left her with the impression that I do not care, I wish to apologize to her, because that is definitely not what I intend to put forward," he said.
“It would make me nothing less than ecstatic to be able to solve all the missing persons cases within San Joaquin County, regardless of what agency, so with that I can tell you that we are more than willing to reach out to all law enforcement agencies to be able to share with them what we have as we have done in the past. And we will continue to do so.
"I have also made my first inquiries with the (California) Department of Justice to seek out potential solutions to be able to better make this available and be able to better solve the situation as it currently exists.”
Two other speakers came to the podium to address the Board of Supervisors about Moore. Frank Gayaldo, 49, described himself as a retired lawman now growing grapes in Lodi. In 1990, as a bounty hunter, he was approached by the family of kidnapped 9-year-old Michaela Garecht, who went missing from Hayward in November 1988, a month after Gayle Marks disappeared in Stockton.
“I am embarrassed to admit I did nothing to help. I ended up bounty hunting for another seven years before going to work on death row in San Quentin. I captured every single fugitive I ever chased, which was in the hundreds. That is if you do not count Michaela Garecht's killer. I am truly sorry for my personal and professional failure in this regard,” Gayaldo said.
“It is an irrefutable fact that there are a growing chorus of law enforcement professionals and victim families who feel the single biggest obstacle to solving numerous missing person cases from our area and beyond is Steve Moore. I find that totally intolerable.”
The third speaker was Tracy Espinoza, who grew up in the east county and described herself as a friend of Chevy Wheeler, murdered in 1985 at age 16, and Cyndi Vander Heiden, killed in 1998 at 25. Years later, after suffering close family losses, she started doing her own research into their cases and follow-up investigations.
“Sheriff Moore has stopped or impeded their investigation,” in reference to the Reno and Hayward cases. “Today, I stand in honor of Gayle Marks, but I hope my voice will help speak for Gayle who cannot speak for herself.”
While the supervisors could not comment on Kizer’s remarks, she implored them: “You think because the crimes are so old we will forget. I only wish each and every one of you including the sheriff could experience the loss of a loved one for 24 hours. I am asking that you do something about this creepy, disturbing and totally rogue sheriff.”
— Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/goldeenblog and on Twitter @JoeGoldeen.