Circumstances of Disappearance
Wheeler was last seen entering a red pickup truck outside of Franklin High School in Stockton, California on October 16, 1985. She told friends that she planned to skip classes that day and drive to Valley Springs, California with a male friend. Wheeler has never been seen again.
Authorities soon learned the possible identity of her friend; Wesley Howard Shermantine was an acquaintance of Wheeler's family.
Shermantine and Loren Joseph Herzog were arrested in 1999 for numerous murders in the western United States, including the presumed killings of Wheeler and another missing woman, Cyndi Vanderheiden.
Shermantine announced he would reveal the locations of two of the missing victims if authorities gave $20,000 in reward money to his sons. Prosecutors offered to drop the death penalty from Shermantine's sentence if he is convicted of the crimes, but he demanded the reward money instead. The offer was not accepted and Shermantine was convicted of the murders of Wheeler, Vanderheiden and two other individuals in May 2001. Shermantine was sentenced to death for the crimes.