Suvechha Sarkar
Christina Herzog was once a young woman who admittedly fell in love with her charming and loving husband. However, as the years went by, she discovered that her first love harbored terrifying secrets. It was revealed that he had a far darker side, one that even endangered, allegedly not only hers, but also several innocent lives. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Evil Lives Here: My First Love Hunted People’ delves deeper into Christina’s side of the story and how she had to face the devastating ripple effects of violence from someone she once trusted.
Christina Herzog Once Stood by Loren Without Allegedly Knowing His Secrets
Christina Herzog met her husband, Loren Joseph Herzog, when she was young. She was quickly drawn to his attractive nature and sense of humor despite him being older than her. Within a year of dating, Loren asked her to marry him, and they tied the knot on April 16, 1988. They settled in their apartment in Stockton, California, after their marriage. However, according to Christina’s statement on the show, shortly after their marriage, the alleged abuse started when one day she denied being intimate with Loren, and he had allegedly grabbed her by the throat. Christina claimed that from that day onwards, the alleged abuse escalated, with threats and even occasional beatings. Christina stated that despite her alleged strenuous relationship, by 1992, they welcomed two of their three children into the world.
Loren often went camping and hunting with his childhood friend, Wesley Howard Shermantine Jr., AKA Wes. In the show, Christina spoke about an incident when she, Loren, Wes, and his girlfriend went to the mountains for a camping trip. For around an hour, Loren and Wes allegedly went off in their vehicle, and when they returned, Christina claimed to have found them aggravated. She continued that within an hour, police showed up at the site and Loren allegedly hid his .357 revolver under a nearby boulder. The police had allegedly questioned them if they had gone around driving in the past hour because someone had heard shots being fired. However, Christina claimed that when each of them denied knowing anything about it, the police went away.
Christina claimed that one early morning, Loren woke her up to let her know he was going hunting. She had allegedly found that action unusual since he never woke her up, even if he had plans. When she went down to the kitchen to make him coffee, she claimed to have seen Wes sitting at the table, biting his nails nervously, and shortly after, he and Loren left the house. Christina then recalled Cynthia Ann Vanderheiden, lovingly known as Cyndi, whom she had met briefly a few times. On that day, after Loren and Wes had left, Cyndi’s father came by her house asking about Loren or if he knew about her whereabouts. It turned out that Cyndi had been missing since November 14, 1998. Detectives soon visited Loren’s house for questioning about her disappearance.
Christina Claimed to Shield Loren Out of Fear Before Breaking Her Silence
Christina claimed Loren had asked her to vouch for his whereabouts that morning and the previous night before the detectives. Hence, when they questioned her if Loren was at home that night, she admittedly lied to them that she had woken up around 12 to 12:30 am and allegedly had seen the barn light on. Christina claimed that when she saw Cyndi was missing, even after a few weeks, she decided to contact the police. She informed them that she had lied, and Loren didn’t return home that night. On March 17, 1999, both Loren and Wes were arrested in relation to Cyndi’s disappearance.
While Loren was charged with five counts of murder, Wes was charged with four counts of murder. During questioning, Loren claimed that he had witnessed Wes murder several individuals. The authorities reportedly believed that they were involved in over 70 murders, and they were known as the infamous “Speed Freak Killers,” who committed the crimes under the influence of drugs. Ultimately, in February 2001, Wes was found guilty of four counts of murder and sentenced to death on May 17, 2001. Loren was found guilty of three first-degree murders, one count of accessory to murder, and acquitted in the case of Robin Armtrout in October 2001 and sentenced to 78 years in prison on December 10, 2001.
In August 2004, following an appeal, Loren’s murder convictions were overturned. According to a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter, one count of accessory after the fact, and one count of furnishing methamphetamine. After serving approximately 11 years in prison, Loren was reportedly released on parole in September 2010. In January 2012, when Loren learnt that Wes had reportedly agreed to reveal the details about his burial ground to the authorities, he killed himself that very same day in his trailer near High Desert State Prison in Susanville, California. As of writing, Wes remains on death row at California State Prison, Sacramento, in Folsom, California.
Christina is Focused on Healing and Her Children After Loren’s Death
During the time of Loren’s death, he had reportedly left behind a note reading, “Tell my family, I loved them.” However, Christina had expressed in the show that it left her “angry.” She explained, “I got very angry that he didn’t say anything specifically to me that he loved me or that he was sorry.” Speaking about his death, Christina stated, “That’s the part that I don’t regret about my history with Loren. It’s all very upsetting to me to this day because, as someone that I loved so much at one point in my life, this person was gone. This person took their own life, and my children’s dad was gone.”
Christina revealed that after Loren’s incarceration, she stayed married to him. Further speaking about her life after his death, she expressed, “Loren’s death in some ways was kind of freeing for me because there was a weight that was lifted in a sense that it was finally over.” She added, “It took me a very, very long time to come out of a trauma mode, a survival mode. Somewhere along the line, I realized that if I didn’t take care of myself that I wasn’t able to take care of my children.” Following her tumultuous experience, Christina made the most of her time and embraced her life, taking care of her three children. Currently, she is living a quiet life away from the spotlight, surrounded by the love of her children. She has decided not to let her experience stop her from moving forward.
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