The Mysteries of History (June 2 Edition)
Vicious and Heartless Serial Murders Caught
1985 — Serial Killers in Northeastern California
image from Google Maps
Leonard Lake (1945-1985) and Charles Ng (born 1960) were two especially vicious and heartless serial murderers. They lured people to their remote dwelling in rural and sparsely populated Wilseyville, California, about 142 miles northeast of San Francisco. They tortured and killed their kidnap victims after repeatedly raping and brutalizing the young women. Lake and Ng videotaped themselves perpetrating these crimes.
Lake also killed many men over the years, including his own brother.
When arrested for his role in a burglary carried out by Ng in San Francisco on this date forty years ago (in 1985), Lake killed himself with a cyanide tablet, realizing that his heinous crimes committed in Wilseyville would be found out. Ng, originally from Hong Kong, got away, and made his way north to Canada, where he evaded capture for years.
All told, Lake and Ng killed twenty people (with Lake being guilty of some of these murders acting alone, and the pair of Lake and Ng being responsible for the rest, including three young couples, two of which were killed along with their 1-year-old sons).
Lake died four days after taking the cyanide pills he had with him when arrested; Ng was eventually caught in Canada, extradited back to the United States and, after several years, convicted. He remains on death row in San Quentin.
public domain images of Leonard Lake, left, and Charles Ng, right
On a personal Note: I was living in Calaveras County at the time of these events; my father, a retired CHP officer and court bailiff at the time (not Bull Shannon, but rather “Ticket Ted” Shannon) escorted Ng from jail to the courtroom on several occasions.
Questions: Why did Ng’s trial take so long, when the videotapes Lake and Ng made of themselves raping, torturing, and murdering had been obtained by the police? Why was $11 million and several years wasted on Ng’s court case when his guilt was undeniable?
