MISSING: Susan Robin Bender
Susan Robin Bender got into a van in 1986 and was never seen again. Police believe the teenage girl met with foul play and have renewed the search for answers, decades after her mysterious disappearance…but her mom thinks she knows who’s responsible.
For our friends in the Deaf and Signing community, you can view an ASL version of this episode.
A missing person flier for Susan from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
One of several maps Wesley Shermantine drew and gave to a Sacramento bounty hunter detailing an area in Linden, CA that Wesley called “Loren’s Boneyard.”
Please contact the authorities If you have any information about the following cases:
If you have information about Susan’s case, please contact the Modesto Police Department at (209) 572-9500.
We’d love to speak with you and see how we can support.
If you’re a law enforcement agency or family member of one of the people we mentioned in this episode, or if you’re looking for more coverage on a case, please reach out. You can email us at:
Episode Source Material
- The Modesto Bee – Teen-age girl missing; foul play is feared, by Daryl Farnsworth
- The Modesto Bee – Missing girl may be victim of foul play, by Daryl Farnsworth
- LA Times – Singleton Rumor Prompts Shots, by Associated Press
- The Stockton Record – Murder charges stand, by Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
- LA Times – Lawrence Singleton, 74; Rapist Cut Off Teenage Girl’s Arms, by Associated Press
- Mercury News – Free for a year, ‘Speed Freak Killer’ found hanged in trailer, by Associated Press
- The Stockton Record – Herzog found dead in home, by Scott Smith
- KCRA News – Dig For Human Remains Ongoing; Hotline Still Buzzing
- CBS13 News – Modesto Woman Wonders If Missing Daughter Another ‘Speed Freak’ Victim
- Mercury News – Bodies of two Stockton teens found in ‘Speed Freak Killers’ well; a third body awaits ID, by Associated Press
- CBS13 News – Two Victims From Linden Well Identified In ‘Speed Freak Killers’ Case
- KCRA News – Remains of teenage girl, fetus uncovered from Linden well
- CBS News – FBI digging up Calif. well looking for more “Speed Freak Killers” victims
- Calaveras Enterprise – ‘Speed Freak’ search ends in Linden, by Joel Metzger
- SFGATE – What happened to Susan Robin Bender? California police reopen case of missing teen, by Katie Dowd
- Loren Herzog and Wesley Shermantine interrogation videos, uploaded by The Stockton Record
- Department of Justice National Sex Offender Registry
- Assembly member Cathleen Galgiani’s letter to the FBI
- Wesley Shermantine letter to CBS13 News reporter Koula Gianulias
- Modesto Police Department records
- The Doe Network
Suggested Episodes
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 2
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. In Part 2, we look into cases of two other female dismemberment victims in Wisconsin with striking similarities to Rhys Pocan’s.
WANTED: Justice for Rhys Pocan & MMIW Part 1
In 2021, we set out to cover the case of Rhys Pocan, a 35-year-old Indigenous woman who was murdered in Wisconsin in the ‘80s. But while we were in the field, we uncovered a disturbing pattern of murders with similarities to Rhys’ that were just too blatant to ignore. So, we spent the next three years working with local and federal law enforcement to try and get to the bottom of it.
WANTED: The Keddie Cabin Killer
A family’s brutal murder rocks a tiny California town and leaves behind too many unanswered questions.
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