Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos

Ruth Ann Leamon




Ruth, date, approximate 1982; Age-progression to age 49 (date, approximate 2015); Wesley Shermantine; Loren Herzog
Date Missing 08/19/1982
Missing From
Modesto, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Female
Race
White
Date of Birth 02/25/1966 (56)
Age 16 years old
Height and Weight 5'5, 84 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A cream-colored t-shirt with writing on it, Levi's jeans, a gold chain necklace with a cross, and four or five rings.
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Ruth has a small cross tattoo on the web of her right hand between her thumb and index finger. Her ears are pierced. Her nickname is Ruthy.
Details of Disappearance Ruth was living with a guardian in Modesto, California in 1982. She became acquainted with two men, both in their thirties, on August 19 of that year. Ruth made plans to meet the men later that evening at Sam's Food City at Carver Road and Teresa Street, three blocks from her home. She was last seen at approximately 8:45 p.m. after she left her guardian's apartment on Clayton Avenue. She said she was walking to Sam's Food City to purchase a soft drink.
Ruth did in fact arrive at the store, but vanished afterward. Her guardian was at work during Ruth's scheduled arrival time at home and did not realize she was missing until approximately 7:00 a.m. on August 20, the following morning. Ruth has never been seen again. Authorities questioned the two men scheduled to meet Ruth during the night she vanished, but both denied any involvement in her .
Ruth has seven siblings. At the time of her disappearance, she was a sophomore at Davis High School. The reason she was living with a guardian was because her mother had moved elsewhere in Modesto, outside Ruth's school district, and Ruth didn't want to have to transfer schools and leave her friends. Instead, she and her mother made arrangements for her to live with a female friend of the family who knew her mother well. Ruth still spent time with her family on a regular basis, and enjoyed playing softball, swimming and roller skating.
Wesley Howard Shermantine Jr. and Loren Joseph Herzog, the so-called "Speed Freak Killers," are possible suspects in Ruth's . They were arrested in 2000 and ultimately convicted of murdering several females in the 1980s and 1990s; authorities believe they had as many as fifteen victims. Photographs of both men are posted with this summary.
Shermantine is on death row. Herzog's sentence was reduced from 78 years to 14 years after the court ruled his confession had been coerced. He was paroled in 2010 and then took his own life in January 2012, after he found out his former partner had begun cooperating with authorities and had offered to reveal the location of victims' bodies in exchange for a payment of $33,000.
Shermantine lead investigators to the skeletal remains of Chevelle Wheeler and Cyndi Vanderheiden, who'd been Date Missing 1985 and 1998 respectively. He also pointed out an abandoned well in Linden, California that contained some 300 human bones and personal items. Shermantine stated the well contained up to twenty victims. He blames Herzog for all the murders and says he only helped with disposing the bodies.
Ruth had met Herzog before her disappearance; she and a female friend went to the Calaveras County Frog Jump with him. Shermantine and Herzog are being investigated in other missing persons' s, including Phillip Martin, Michaela Garecht, Susan Bender, Gayle Marks and Sylvia Standly. The skeletal remains of victims Kimberly Billy, a 19-year-old who disappeared in 1984, and Joann Hobson, a 16-year-old who disappeared in 1985, were identified, but Ruth's body was not found in the well.
No arrests have been made in connection with her disappearance, but foul play is suspected in her .
Investigating Agency
Modesto Police Department
209-572-9500
Other
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
The Modesto Bee
California Attorney General's Office
The Sacramento Bee
CBS 13
The Stockton Record
Fox 40
NamUs
The Fresno Bee

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Case Updates with Photos