THE THRILL MURDERS OF LEONARD LAKE AND CHARLES NG

“The perfect woman is one who is totally controlled, a woman who does exactly what she is told and nothing else. There are no sexual problems with a totally submissive woman. There are no frustrations. There is only pleasure and contentment.”- Leonard Lake’s thoughts on the characteristics the perfect woman should have.

In mid-June 1985 Calaveras County police officers began searching a suspicious looking concrete bunker hoping to figure out a puzzling suicide that occurred days earlier during what should have been a routine questioning. They found many pieces of evidence that suggested something horrific happened but nothing that could prove exactly what occurred on the premises. At the end of the second day exhausted with frustration and confusion they gathered around to watch a V.H.S tape, nothing could have possibly prepared them for what they were about to see. The tape simply labeled “M Ladies” showed two men that we now know as Leonard Lake and Charles Ng imposing their will onto defenseless women under the threat of death. The women were subjected to severe mental anguish; given the choice to be used as sex slaves or die. Disgusted by what they had viewed, the police closed off the property and began to look for any clues that would explain what happened to the unknown women on the tape. In total they found sections of scorched Earth, over forty-five pounds of bone fragments and the keepsakes of stolen lives. In total sixteen victims (ten men, four women and two babies) would be unearthed from that isolated killing ground in California. On that property, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng created a world where they could survive a “nuclear holocaust” while being in control of everything; including life and death. This need for survival and power would drive these two men to kidnapping, torturing and murdering innocent men women and children. Every step on this journey of death was documented on film which gives viewers an insight into the mind of a heartless evil excuse of a human. In his recordings, Lake would describe in very graphic detail his desires saying "I want to be able to use a woman whenever and however I want. And when I'm tired or bored or not interested, I simply want to put her away, lock her up in [her cell], get her out of my sight, out of my life”. What followed is the true story of what happened when he decided to turn his dark fantasies into a horrific reality.

Leonard Lake was born on October twenty-ninth 1945 in San Francisco California. Lake’s childhood was extremely unusual to say the least and all things considered it really is no surprise that he would grow up to be a monster. The chances of him having what many would consider a regular childhood would be made virtually impossible as his father walked out on their family shortly after Lake was born. This separation would bring a heavy financial burden onto his mother, who had to move what was left of her family into a low income area to make ends meet. The weight of this enormous financial burden would be too much for her to handle so she decided to chase after her estranged husband to regain stability. Five year old Leonard however would not be brought along for the trip and was literally ripped from his mother’s arms crying and begging her not to leave him. Many people would later theorize that this tremendously traumatic experience would be what drove him to hate women to the extent that he did. Leonard was sent to live with his grandparents who provided a very comfortable life for him. Despite all of the advantages he gained all was not well for Lake. Throughout his childhood he exhibited some very enormous signs of impending danger that should have alarmed those around him. It has been said that even as a child he had an affection for pornography and devious sexual activity. This fondness knew no boundaries as he even took naked pictures of his two sisters; possibly at the request of his grandmother but there is no way to prove that for certain. Horrifyingly enough his perversions did not stop at amateur borderline incestuous photography, there is evidence that he also extorted sex from his sisters. This is undeniable proof of the value he placed on women and is an example of how he saw sex in general (as well as the lengths he would go to get it) from a very early age. In addition to the deviant pornography, as a child he also demonstrated a love of killing small animals especially mice. Lake spent a lot of time pouring various chemicals on mice and would become excited watching their flesh melt away leaving only green puddles of slime and bone fragments. This is a universally acknowledged precursor to violence and is a sign that should never be ignored or taken lightly.

In 1965 at the age of nineteen, Lake joined the Marine Corps to properly prepare himself for the nuclear holocaust he was positive was imminent. Given his interests and irrational beliefs it is no surprise that he excelled in classes about weapons, chemicals and guerilla warfare. Lake would be given the chance to put his “unique” intellect to use in late December of 1965 when he would be sent to Vietnam. Despite acting like a model soldier and working hard as a radar electronics technician during both of his tours, the only successful mission he was able to complete was marrying his long time pen pal Karen Lee Meinersman. Their marriage was extremely one sided and he was possessive of her from the very beginning. Lake would bring his new bride around his marine friends and make comments about selling her body to them. In addition to the attempted prostitution, he controlled what she wore by demanding she wear clothes that were revealing and showed as much skin as possible. Around 1970, Lake became very paranoid thinking that his “peace-loving hippie” wife was at home protesting the war and was soon diagnosed with “impending schizophrenia with hysterical neurosis”. With this diagnosis, Lake was sent home as he was said to be a danger to himself and others. Trying to figure out what to do next he decided to enroll in San Jose State University; but would drop out after only one semester. To make ends meet he insisted that his wife work in a topless bar. Karen initially refused the idea, but he hit her until she agreed to not only work there but surrender all of the tips she earned. The tumultuous relationship would finally end after Lake saw his wife with another man and assumed she was having an affair.

After his divorce Leonard Lake, like so many Americans, became entranced by the free love movement that was occurring in the Haight-Asbury area of San Francisco California. This mecca of cultural change attracted many different types of people from all over the country including infamous killer Charles Manson and his deranged so called family. Enchanted by all of the potential female prospects and motivated by the thought of an impending nuclear holocaust, Lake moved to a remote “hippie” commune in the woods of northern California to prepare himself for the future. His days on the commune were spent trying to find women who fulfilled his immediate desires of sex and posing for naked pictures, while scoping out others for more permanent goals. Knowing that the type of woman he was attracted to (one that was very young, thin and physically attractive) would not necessarily go for an older bolding over weight man, Lake decided to use many different kinds of tricks to lure women. Aside from his “profession” of selling marijuana, he would go to county fairs and parks with a surgically altered white goat which looked like a unicorn. The goat named Sir Lancealot would make the creepy Leonard seem attractive to many females, including one very unique woman Claralyn Balazz; whom he nicknamed Cricket. The two would hit it off immediately as they shared many of the same sexual fetishes. Their deviant sex life would include bringing in other women to satisfy both of their needs, her being tied down to fully satisfy his desire for control and making pornographic movies including fake snuff films where he pretended to kill her. It would not be long before the seemingly perfect for each-other couple would be married. Lake got a job managing a motel and the newlywed couple moved into it for convenience. Even though they had a legitimate business to tend to, but soon however they would be taking on much more.

Charles Chitat Ng was born on December twenty-forth 1960 in Hong Kong China. Charles father, Kenneth Ng, was a successful businessman who tried his best to provide a quality education for all of his children. Unfortunately this desire would drive him to become abusive when his children did not meet his rigid expectations. Kenneth acquired a respect for education while working very long hours selling various novelty items to British soldiers. During this time, he learned to speak English and enrolled in night school to study business. With this new education he was able to provide his children with luxury items many in their neighborhood did not have; these included a car and a piano to study music. To ensure what he thought would be a proper education Kenneth campaigned successfully to have all three of his children admitted into Catholic school. His two daughters would do very well in this highly structured environment but Charles would barely pass his classes or fail them completely. When Charles would disappoint his father, he would receive beatings with various blunt objects such as a cane or the handle of a feather duster until he agreed to perform better. In addition to the physical abuse, his parents subjected him to mental trauma by getting rid of his pets which were the only friends he had in the world. This treatment would make Ng very withdrawn from the rest of his family and begin lashing out with numerous acts of rage and rebellion. Ng showed signs of being dangerous as early as ten years old. As a child, Charles would assault strangers in the park (he targeted those who looked “western”), commit acts of vandalism and went as far as to start a fire in his school by mixing various chemicals together. All of the trouble he caused would come to a head at the age of fifteen when Ng would be expelled from school. Still wanting the best for his son, Kenneth sent him to live with his uncle and the rest of his siblings to attend a boarding school in Preston England. It would not be long before Ng’s mother would learn that her only son was not being treated well in his new surroundings. She learned that he was not being fed enough food and was living in a bedroom that did not have any heat in it; she without hesitation moved all of her children back to Hong Kong.

In 1978, after finishing high school he moved to San Francisco to live with an aunt to study biology at Norte Dame College. It was not long into his first semester when Ng grew board of school and dropped out to illegally join the United States Marine Corps. During his trial he would claim that the recruiting officer helped him fake the necessary paperwork, but there is no known proof to support this claim. During his time in the marines, he kept to himself and only talked to people while practicing “martial arts”. Most of his time was spent learning about or working with weapons. Despite being introverted Ng made a few friends, one of which shared his love of guns and also had a survivalist mentality; Matt Novak. In 1981, it was Ng’s turn to guard the corps’ armory of artilleries. While on duty he was studying the room and noticed that there was a window in one of the corners that someone could fit through without making the person on duty look like an incompetent guard. With this discovery he formulated a plan to break in and steal a lot of weapons to sell on the black market later. Once his turn was over, he blackmailed some of his friends into helping him pull off what he thought would be the perfect heist. The plan went off with a lot of problems and three days later the N.I.S (The National Investigative Service) arrested Ng for his role in the crime; in total 11,000 dollars of weapons were stolen. Ng was charged with conspiracy to commit larceny of military weapons, theft of weapons (which included machine guns, grenade launchers, rifles and pistols) and burglary to commit theft. We now know that too many people were involved in the heist and that one of them leaked vital information. Feeling betrayed by one of his marine friends, Ng chose to give a full confession; a decision that allotted him a drastically reduced sentence. After sentencing he decided to not serve time at all but instead chose to escape into the jungles of Hawaii without food or any kind of shelter. He managed to make it to California and stayed with his friend Matt Novak who arranged for him to live with his friend Tom Meyers; who we now know was Leonard Lake. With three hundred dollars given by his family, he bought clothes and a ticket to San Francisco to work for free room and board at the motel Leonard managed. The two became fast friends sharing a love of weapons and raping women. One prostitute would later come forward telling the tale of being raped by the duo. She stated that during the rape they grabbed a knife and started to stab the mattress by her head. After being fired from his motel job, Lake, Ng and Cricket would move to a secluded area in the woods. The A.T.F (Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) was surveilling them the entire time, gathering proof of them stalk piling weapons. Once the green light was given the A.T.F moved in and Lake was charged with seventeen felony charges and Ng was sent back to Hawaii. Lake decided however to escape and live his life as a fugitive. Surprisingly Cricket and Lake would divorce on November thirtieth 1982. All was not lost for Lake as Ng would return and together they would fulfill a lifelong dream.

After Ng served his time in Hawaii, he would join Leonard Lake to bring to fruition years of fantasies. It all started when Leonard Lake read a book that inspired him to kidnap and enslave young women to keep as his personal sex slaves. John Fowles book “The Collector” tells the story of a deranged man who after coming into a large sum of money buys property in a secluded rural area in preparation to keep the object of his perverse affection captive. The main character purchases a home which he converts into a prison for a young beautiful college student named Miranda who he has been following for months. From the initial creepy stalking on the street, the physical conversion of a home into a prison, the undetected kidnaping and finally the young girl’s premature death, the reader is taken on a unique journey into the mind of a man who wants nothing more than to have a slave. This is a scenario that most would be and should be repulsed by but for Leonard Lake this became a goal that he desperately wanted to recreate. While Ng was away Lake converted a piece of isolated property into a holding cell for his future slave girls or “M Ladies” as they would be known (M Ladies is a direct reference to the character of Miranda from The Collector). He converted rooms in his ex-wife’s cabin to serve his deviant desires and had a two room bunker built on the property for the purpose of enslavement. One room was used as a torture chamber complete with tools and chains that would later be used to inflict horrendous amounts of pain and agony upon his victims; the other was a soundproof holding cell that contained a bed, a chemical toilet and a list of instructions on how the slave was to prepare herself to serve her new “master(s)”. This list was posted in plain sight and included these instructions: I must be ready to service my master. I must be clean, brushed, and made-up with my cell neat. I must never speak unless spoken to. Unless in bed, I must never look my master in the eye, but must keep my eye downcast. I must never show my disrespect, either verbally or silent. I must never cross my arms or legs in front of my body, or clench my fists, and unless eating, must always keep my lips parted. I must be obedient completely and in all things. I must obey immediately and without question or comment. I must always be quiet when locked in my cell. I must remember and obey any additional rules told to me. I must understand that and disobedience, any pain, trouble, or annoyance caused by me to my master will be grounds for punishment. As soon as Ng returned, two women would become real life Miranda’s.

On June 2nd 1985, a trip to the local hardware store would finally bring a close to the private land of sexual slavery and death the duo created. Police officers were called after Charles Ng stole a table vice from South City Lumber. Ng managed to once again escape capture forcing Lake to step in to clean up the rather stupid mess left behind. Lake introduced himself as Paul Cosner and offered to pay for the stolen vice in hopes to resolve the incident without further escalation. During the conversation, police discovered that in the trunk of the car was a gun with an illegal silencer leaving them no choice but to take the man into custody for questioning. At the police station he only surrendered his real name and the name of the shoplifter after receiving a glass of water and a piece of paper to make a statement. He wrote the words “Dear Lynn, I love you and forgive you. Freedom is better than all else. I’m sorry mom, Patty and all. I’m sorry for all the trouble, love Leonard”. Once the note was completed the suspect began to shake violently and fell into a coma to the absolute surprise of everyone. Lake would be pronounced brain dead on the way to the hospital and subsequently died three days later. His autopsy revealed that he had ingested cyanide; a lethal poison he was known to carry on his person out of refusal to be imprisoned. What should have been standard questioning regarding a routine shoplifting would reveal peculiar circumstances and left police baffled. Having very little to go on they started at the most logical place, the vehicle the recently deceased Lake drove to the San Francisco hardware store days earlier. After running the license plate numbers they found out that the car did in fact belong to the person Leonard claimed to be; a San Francisco man who had been missing for seven months named Paul Cosner. In the car were un-shot bullets and an unpaid electric bill in Claralyn Balaz’s name. Forensic officers discovered that there was a bullet hole in the visor of the car as well as traces of blood that had since been cleaned, suggesting that the owner was shot in his own car. With all of the troubling discoveries, a warrant for Ng’s arrest was issued.

Trying to get any information on the whereabouts of Charles Ng, the investigating officer’s decided to speak with Lake’s mother. Upon arrival at her home, they would be shocked to see Claralyn Balaz there. Balaz, they learned, was the ex-wife of Leonard Lake and that the electric bill that was left in Cosner’s car was for a cabin that her family owned. Intrigued by the happenstance of their findings, officers asked her to escort them to the property; a request she declined claiming she was simply too busy that day. Trying not to let the promising new lead slip away, the officers made arrangements for her to take them there the next day at her convenience with the understanding that she not go there between this time and the next morning. The first thing police noticed when they arrived on the property was a cinderblock structure adjacent to the cabin. Carolyn refused to let officers search it saying it was merely a bomb shelter and would not help them in any way. Before entering the cabin, Balaz admitted that she and Lake’s mother came up during the night and cleaned the place up. She claimed she was embarrassed about how messy it was; little did they know this was just the beginning of the suspicious behavior Claralyn would exhibit. Since this was not an official search as there was not enough evidence for a warrant, they were reluctant to scold or bully the otherwise generously forth coming woman. Upon searching the cabin an odd discovery was made; there were holes drilled into the headboard and foot of the bed where straps were added. A clearer picture of what occurred there formed when several pieces of video equipment were found; which made Claralyn extremely nervous. Clearly shaken, she said that she had enough and demanded the officers leave her property. Fortunately one officer noticed that the equipment fit the description of that belonging to the Dubs family who disappeared a year earlier. Once the serial numbers confirmed her suspicions, they had sufficient evidence for a warrant. Immediately after entering the bunker they saw pictures of several naked women on the wall, a tremendously tiny room with a bed and a list of instructions for captives to obey; making their fear of what happened there all the more real. Since there was no evidence to prove what happened, the bunker did not provide many answers it just seemed to create questions. Not being deterred, they expanded their search to the outside premises and found various personal items like belts buttons watches etc., Leonard Lakes creepy journal, several burn sites with what looked like bone fragments, vehicles belonging to a couple of Lake’s neighbors and a plastic barrel with a V.H.S tape inside. Once the items were confirmed to be human bone fragments the entire area was deemed a crime scene. At the end of the second day of searching officers gathered around to watch a tape simply labeled “M Ladies” which in no uncertain terms brought to life some of the appalling secrets that the cabin held. Officers would become repulsed watching Lake and Ng imposing merciless torture onto two defenseless women we now know were Kathleen Allen and Brenda O Connor. The “M Ladies” tape would be the cornerstone of the prosecution’s case in the later trial of Charles Ng. The state of California would be forced to wait nervously as experts sorted through the massive amount of human remains trying to conclusively determine the victims’ identities and just how many fatalities there were total.

Due to the methods the duo used to dispose of their targets bodies, very little is known about how or when their victims actually died. Given the limited information that was left, the inference is made that Lenoard Lake either poisoned, strangled of shot them before cremation. All that is known for certain is that Leonard Lake and Charles Ng were responsible for the deaths of: Donald Lake, Charles Gunnar, Randy Jacobson, Robin Scott Stapley, Harvey Dubs, Deborah Dubs, baby Sean Dubs, Paul Cosner, Cliff Perandeau, Jeff Gerald, Kathleen Allen, Lonnie Bond, Brenda O Connor and infant Lonnie Bond Jr.

• Donald Lake: Lake’s own brother Donald Lake was killed in 1982 for financial gain. It really is not surprising that he killed Donald as he had a life long history of distain for him, claiming he was a parasite on society for collecting disability payments from the state. This criticism would cause a huge rift and the two stopped speaking for months. After deciding to “close down Donald” Leonard showed up at his brother’s home to make up with him and take him to fill out job applications. This show of brotherly love would delight the divided family members who were caught in the middle; sadly this would just be a farce and no one would see Donald Lake alive again. Once he was dead, Leonard hypocritically collected his brother’s disability checks.

• Charles Gunnar: Gunnar was a longtime friend of Lake’s who was killed for financial gain. Unbeknownst to Charles Lake hated his supposed best friend and constantly spoke ill of him to others. Lake took issue with Gunnar’s obesity and the fact that he received government checks, but mainly he hated how Gunnar abused his daughters. After much thought Lake decided to kill Charles, take custody of his daughters and collect his assistance checks. Once the man Lake dubbed a waste of life was dead, he received temporary custody of Gunnar’s girls and actually took great care of them. It would not be long before Lake turned the girls over to a family friend of Gunnar and resumed his plans.

• The Dubs Family: The entire Dubs family would go missing seemingly without a trace after an ad was placed in the local newspaper by Harvey Dubs wanting to rent out his video equipment. All that would be left behind was the indication of a suspicious timely departure and neighbor’s testimony about two strange men coming in and out the Dubs apartment. Since there was very little conclusive evidence left behind police were left with the difficult task of recreating that fateful night. Police theorize that after gaining entry to Harvey and Deborah Dubs apartment the men used Sean Dubs (their infant son) to keep Deborah quiet while everyone waited for Harvey to come home. Once Harvey returned home, they got him to agree to take off his shoes and be tied up with a telephone cord in a pointless attempt to save his son’s life. Neighbors would tell police that they saw an Asian man leave holding a baby, but they did not know if it was still alive. Given the nature of the crimes, it is most likely that they killed this family so they would have uninterrupted access to their apartment to steal their property easier. While in jail Ng said that the Dubs were strangled, but there is no way to know for certain what happened.

• Kathleen Allen and Mike Carroll: Eighteen year old Kathleen Allen was working at a convenience store when she received a strange call that her boyfriend Mike Carroll’s life was in danger, what they did not tell her was that he was already dead and buried. She was not told his condition but was informed she was needed and that an old friend was on their way to pick her up. Aware of his previous drug use she did not question that something could be wrong. She decided to speak with her manager and take time off to go to his aid; she would never be seen alive again. We know now that the “friend” that came to pick her up that day was Leonard Lake, who instead of bringing her to Mike’s side took her to his cabin of death. Upon arrival, Lake videotaped the last days of Allen’s life; this tape serves as a morbid time capsule of the torture she endured before she died. On the tape viewers see Lake explaining to the young Kathleen that her boyfriend, who Ng knew from serving time in Leavenworth, owed them some money and she was taken to pay off the debt. She was then forced to make an impossible decision; either stay there roughly thirty days to pay off the debt or the two men would “tie her down, rape her, shoot her and bury her (next to her boyfriend)”. After faintly agreeing to stay there, the men informed her that while under their control she would clean, cook and fuck for them. With little emotion she acknowledge she understood the conditions and was forced to strip so they could “see what they bought” before she was to take a shower with Charles Ng. While the young woman took off her clothes viewers see Ng being extremely excited about showering with her. Throughout her ordeal Kathleen seemed numb and willing to cooperate with her captives, but there was a sadness in her eyes that showed she fully understood the gravity of her situation and that she knew what her fate would be. Although they did not film her death, the footage they shot was just as hard to watch. Because of the tape, we can see her accepting her fate while being dehumanized constantly (in one scene she was forced to give Ng a massage naked) all in the name of Lake and Ng’s twisted desire.

• Paul Cosner: On November second 1984 Paul Cosner was scheduled to have a date with his girlfriend Marilyn who lived in the same apartment building. After missing their date without explanation, something very out of his character, she went looking for him and discovered his car was missing. She called the cops who initially did not help, it was not until she reported the car missing that they finally responded. The first thing they did was look into the “weird” guy who answered Cosner’s ad for his bronze 1980 Honda Prelude. It was Lake who answered the ad and on the day of the failed shoplifting Lake was driving Cosner’s car while using Cosner’s I.D. The stolen car had a bullet hole in its visor which is undeniable evidence that Paul was shot. It is suspected that Cosner was targeted for his material possessions and the fact that he loosely resembled Lake.

• Clifford Peranteau: All that is known about Clifford Peranteau is that he was a twenty-five year old coworker of Ng who died on Christmas. Ng would later testify that Lake shot Clifford, burned the body and planned to spread his bones around the property.

• Jeff Gerald: Gerald was a coworker who angered Ng by taking a week off from work without being penalized. On February twenty-third 1985 he was dropped off at his apartment after rehearsal and was scheduled to meet the next day to audition bass players for his band. The next day Ng called the apartment twice and spoke to Jeff’s roommate. The third time he called Ng finally got a hold of Jeff and offered him money to help him move. When Gerald’s roommate came home he discovered Jeff was missing along with all of his guitars and amps; nothing else is known about what really happened to Jeff Gerald.

• Robin Scott Stapley: Scott Stapley lived in San Diego with his girlfriend Tori Doolin and worked for the Guardian Angels, a group who tried to protect innocent people from crimes. In his spare time he was a photographer and happened to drop off some equipment to a repair shop to be picked up later; we now know Lake would be the one who picked up that equipment. His body would be found in a green sleeping bag next to Lonnie Bond. He was tied up and gagged with bullet wounds in his body and mouth. Experts determined that right before he died he swallowed teeth fragments which cut his vocal chords.

• Randy Jacobson: Jacobson’s body was found on the property incased in lime. Experts discovered he died from ingesting cyanide. His was the only body who incased in lime to speed up the decomposition process.

• Brenda O Connor, Lonnie Bond and Lonnie Bond Jr: Brenda O Connor was the second woman on the “M Ladies” tapes. She was Lake’s former neighbor and with the exception of his brother her death would be the most emotionally driven crime Lake committed. We know that they killed her husband Lonnie Bond and their infant son Lonnie Bond Jr quickly and kept her alive to torture her. Like Kathleen Allen, O Connor’s last days would be filmed. There are a few differences between what they endured but most notable is the disgust Lake demonstrated. The entire time she is on camera Lake is telling her how much he hates her, how her baby was given to a barren family and that he does not care how sick she was getting. We see him going as far as telling her to literally suffer through her dizziness, telling her if she passes out they will simply wake her up again. As bad as the verbal abuse from Lake was the most uncomfortable part to watch is when Ng cut off her clothes while Lake told her that nothing was hers anymore and that she completely belonged to them. Throughout the ordeal viewers see the defiant mother demanding to see her baby, a request they cold heartedly deny. Lonnie Bond was found in a sleeping bag with a ball gag in his mouth, handcuffs on his wrists and a bullet wound in his head. Experts analyzed the wound and made the ruling that the gun was placed inside Bond’s mouth and the bullet shattered his teeth leaving the possibility of using dental records impossible. Ng would later testify that Lake held the baby between his legs and twisted his head.

In light of all the damming evidence that was piling up every day and still trying to locate the elusive Charles Ng, Claralyn Balaz was brought in for questioning. Things would not go well for the police as she only agreed to talk after being granted immunity from future prosecution; this deal would be used in Ng’s defense as a way to move the suspicion from him to Balaz. During the interrogation, she denied any involvement in any murders and claimed she had no idea where Ng was. Suspiciously, she did hint to police that he would most likely be in Chicago visiting his sister; which we know now is exactly where he went as a pit stop on his way out of the country. While in Canada Ng’s method of survival was making make shift “shelters” in local parks, one of which would be spotted and turned in to local authorities. In a shockingly stupid occurrence, history would repeat itself as Ng once again was caught shoplifting; however this incident played out very different from the previous failure. This time, Ng brought a gun with him and once security discovered his theft a shootout ensued. Fortunately no one would be hurt or killed and Ng would be unable to escape; at least the dangerous criminal was behind bars. After deliberation and thorough consideration the Canadian government decided to enforce their laws and make him serve time there before extraditing him to America. For the next four and a half years Ng served his sentence arming himself with legal knowledge for his impending murder trial.

Ng would use all of the knowledge he obtained in prison to prolong his trial, making the chances conviction very unlikely. He fired his lawyers, petitioned for better food and for a shorter ride from his holding cell to the courthouse among other various complaints; all of which to reduce the chances of a death sentence. After eventually running out of delays his trial was set to begin, but Ng still had one last trick to use. Since he fired his council his new lawyers had to petition for time to prepare; this would add two and a half years to the actual start of proceedings. Thanks to his knowledge of law three and a half years would go by before the trial would officially begin. Once the trial officially started Ng became enraged screaming that he did not want a trial, the judge was forced to order that a stun belt be placed around his waist to ensure the safety of everyone in the courtroom.

The prosecution had a very tough task ahead as most of the evidence they had against Ng was circumstantial. In order to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, they would have to use every single thing they had collected to connect him to the crimes in anyway. They used several pieces of the victims personal belongings found at Ng’s residence, cartoons he drew in jail that illustrated the murders, the testimony of fellow inmates who claimed they heard him bragging about the murders and the strategic playing of scenes from the M Ladies tape that showed Ng being an equal participant in the victims torturing that occurred before the murders. The two most damning pieces of evidence used against Ng were the testimony of police informant Maurice Laberge and a unique typewriter found in Ng’s apartment. Laberge testified that while serving time in the cell next to Ng the two talked frequently about all of the crimes and that Charles even drew him comics about what he did to his victims. The case would be made that the details Laberge knew, which were never released to the public, could have only been given to him by Ng. The defense would counter the testimony by using Laberge’s extensive criminal past, the fact that he received both money and a reduced sentence for his cooperation and the fact that he died just hours after his release with thousands of dollars in cash to try to prove that authorities bought his testimony. In a strange occurrence, many of the victims’ relatives and friends received typed letters from the victims explaining their sudden disappearances. We now know that Ng wrote these letters in an attempt to deter people from looking for their loved ones. With the use of forensics, authorities proved that a typewriter taken from Ng’s home was the exact one that wrote those letters to many of the victims’ families.

Ng’s defense attempted to counter the massive amount of circumstantial evidence with a rather simple defense; they tried to prove that it was really Lake who did all of the killings and that it was Balaz who was Lake’s assistant, a claim that is hard to dismiss as logically she knew way too much about the crimes to not have been involved. The cornerstone of their defense was Lake’s journal which was read throughout the case to establish motive and years of forethought. To support their claim that Ng was following Lake’s orders, the defense called sixty two witnesses who all testified in different ways that they witnessed Lake abusing Ng. The most anticipated witness who was called to the stand was Claralyn Balaz. An eerie hush fell in the courtroom as she walked the length of the courtroom to be sworn in; disappointedly she never got the chance to say anything. Instead of examining her, the defense read the details of the immunity agreement Balaz had with the state and then refrained from further questioning. This unusual tactic made people believe she had something to hide.
From the very beginning Ng’s trial was full of surprises, but perhaps the biggest one was when he, against the advice of his lawyers, took the stand in his own defense. He attempted to argue that he was just doing what Lake told him and that he was not even aware that people were dying. Despite the effort, his testimony just seemed to cast even more doubt onto him. The jury would deliberate for close to three weeks before finding him guilty on eleven of the twelve counts of murder he was charged with. He was found guilty for the murders of: Sean Dubs, Deborah Dubs, Harvey Dubs, Clifford Perandeau, Jeffrey Gerald, Michael Carroll, Kathleen Allen, Lonnie Bond, Robin Scott Stapley, Lonnie Bond Jr and Brenda O Connor. Noticeably absent was the name of the person whose car started this whole case; Paul Cosner. Thirteen years two months and eight days after his arrest, Charles Ng would be sentenced to death and justice would finally be given to all who deserved it. In total the trial of Charles Ng would cost the state of California approximately twenty million dollars and at that time was the longest trial in state history; the case files were said to have weighed over two tons.

Leonard Lake and Charles Ng unleashed an unimaginable horror, one that was literally something out of a suspense novel. Many innocent people lost their lives, several of their family and friends had loved ones stolen from them and for a period in time darkness reigned over northern California. It would take a small county over thirteen years and all of its resources to bring closure to this case but thanks to the hard work of determined police officers, intelligent investigators, unwavering lawyers and patient jurymen justice would prevail in the end. Although the killing ground was closed and the perpetrators were caught, the memory of the atrocities that occurred there would never be forgotten. Generations to follow will have the ice cold words of Lake as an intimate and extremely candid glimpse into the mind of a monster.