Leonard Lake and Charles Ng kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered anyone unfortunate enough to accept an invitation to their house and answer or post an ad in the newspaper. After murdering between 12 and 25 people (and possibly more), it was petty theft that ended up being their downfall.
For part one, click here!
Investigation, Tracking Ng, Trial, Conviction
When police entered Lake’s bunker, they immediately saw 21 pictures of women in different stages of undress taped up on the walls. They found a journal that talks about The Collector and Lake’s fantasies with the Miranda Project. The investigators also found 7 different sites on the property that appeared burnt and charred. In the burned areas, they found what appeared to be bone fragments.
They ran the license plate of a truck on the property and found that it belonged to Lonnie Bond. Officers went next door to Bond’s house and discovered that the house was empty and had been for a while which was apparent from the rotted food. Another vehicle on the property was found to belong to Scott Stapley. Cadaver dogs were brought in and led the investigators to bones that were definitely not animal bones. This was now a homicide investigation.
3 days after Lake’s suicide, a full scale homicide investigation began and the property was sectioned of with officers assigned to each section and the whole property was searched thoroughly. About a hundred yards from the bunker there was a trench full of personal property: jewelry, buttons, zippers, etc. Hundreds of pieces of evidence. Inside the bunker, they found a secret door. Behind that was a double door that led to a secret room. There was another “closet” type area in there with a wooden cot and a shelf with toiletries and toilet paper. There was a hole in the wall near the ceiling and stuck to one of the walls was a typed list of rules.
From the other side of the wall, you could see into the room through a 2-way mirror. The whole place was dusted for fingerprints, but found nothing. Along with the human remains, the police found five-gallon buckets buried on the property. Police also came across a corpse that was later identified as Randy Jacobson who disappeared in October of 1984. Upon his arrest, Lake was found to be in possession of Randy Jacobson’s bank card. Jacobson’s body and those of other victims were found under the chicken coop on the property.
One bucket contained envelopes that had the IDs of missing people. This hinted that there were as many as 25 victims. The other bucket contained Lake’s diaries he’d kept between 1983-1984 and 2 video tapes titles “M Ladies”. One tape was the recorded torture of Brenda O’Connor and the other had recorded the torture of Deborah Dubs. It was said that Deborah’s torture and assault was so intense that there was no way she survived. On these tapes, they saw Charles Ng and now knew he was fully involved with all of this.
Using the video tapes, the authorities were also able to identify a 24-year-old man named Clifford Parenteau. They could only assume he was dead. Clifford had gone missing after winning $400 in a Super Bowl pool and had reportedly last been seen leaving a bar with Ng to celebrate his winnings. He was named in the charges against Ng. Clifford Parentau had worked with Ng at a moving company as did 25-year-old Jeff Gerald who also disappeared.
In his diaries, Lake wrote things like, “God meant women for cooking, cleaning house, and sex. And when they are not in use, they should be locked up.” and “If you love something, let it go. If it doesn’t come back, hunt it down and kill it.” Also in his diaries, Lake made repeated references to a place called “Pink Palace.” This was a “rooming house” (like a slummy motel) where Randy Jacobson had stayed and the authorities were able to trace 2 other victims back to this place. 26-year-old Cheryl Okoro and 38-year-old Maurice Wock were both unfortunate enough to accept offers to come over to Lake’s house, and their bones were found next to the bunker.
Near the cabin, investigators found 2 intact, mostly skeletal bodies wrapped in sleeping bags. Both appeared to have been gagged and handcuffed and it was determined that they were shot in the head. The bodies were determined to be Lonnie Bond and Scott Stapley. In the scouring of the property, the investigators discovered 40+ pounds of crushed and broken bones.
They were able to positively identify the remains of 12 people. The police released photos of 15 of the victims in order to try and get family or friends to come forward and identify them, but they were sure that identification was going to be impossible because most of the remains had been chopped up into small bits. The State Attorney General John Van de Kamp said that this had become such a big case that was so overwhelming and so gruesome that their computer system hadn’t been able to keep up with it. Investigators were able to determine that the 21 women in the photographs were all still alive.
Authorities were sent around to anyone who knew or had contact with Lake and Ng or the victims they knew. They went with pictures of the belongings they’d found to see if they could get any victims identified. During their investigation, police questioned Balazs, but she wouldn’t talk until she had a deal for immunity. She claimed that she didn’t know anything about the murders, but after the stealing incident, Ng went to her house. They went back to the hardware store to see if Lake was alright, but when they saw him talking to the police they went back to her house and waited for Lake to call them.
When they didn’t hear from Lake, Balasz drove Ng to his apartment and he told her he had to leave town. She said that he mentioned Chicago, and that was the last time she saw him. After running from the hardware store, Ng had fled the state and later the country. The FBI was brought in when they found that he’d fled the state and discovered that a man that matched Ng’s description boarded a flight to Chicago under the name Mike Kymoto. Turns out, Ng had kept in touch with his former cellmate and called him up now. The cellmate drove Ng up to the Canada border and that‘s where they split. Ng was spotted boarding a bus for Toronto where his sister apparently lived. Officers staked out his sister’s house for days, but Ng never showed up.
However, the little kleptomaniac got caught stealing in Alberta, Canada. He got into a wrestling match with the security guard who tried to detain him. Ng pulled out a gun and ended up shooting a guard in the hand and was charged with assault with deadly weapon, shoplifting, and possession of a concealed weapon. Upon learning of his arrest, detectives flew up to Calgary where Ng was being held and questioned him. Ng gave them minimal answers and mostly tried to blame everything on Lake. He did admit to helping to dispose of a couple bodies.
Authorities in the US wanted Ng extradited back to California. He tried to fight this because California had the death penalty, but Canada didn’t. There was actually a treaty with Canada that said that no one who is facing the death penalty would be extradited back to the US. There were some exceptions such as; if the prosecutors could prove Ng was responsible for multiple murders. Then Canada would be required to send him back.
Ng was convicted and was given a sentence of 4.5 years for the charges in Canada so until he served that time, American authorities couldn’t initiate the extradition process. But upon his impending release he was held on an extradition request from the United States for the murders in California. They continued searching for evidence on Lake’s property during their wait for Ng and evidence kept building. Ng caused a great deal of back and forth with motions and things to try and delay or possibly prevent his return to the United States. He was overheard by a guard saying, “If you want to delay the process, you have to fire your lawyers.”, but the Canadian Supreme Court eventually said, “That’s funny. Get out.” He was sent back to California in 1991.
The Trial of Charles Ng
Once he was back in California, Ng was charged with 12 counts of 1st degree murder. However, it wasn’t going to be that easy. Ng was going to make this as difficult as humanly possible. He filed motions for better food, a shorter commute from the prison, and complained about his treatment. He filed other pointless motions and things to drain the county of money and cause delays. After his preliminary hearing he fired his lawyer and got a new one. The new attorney got the trial moved from Cavares County to Orange County, and this new guy was given 2 and a half more years to brush up.
Ng would continue to fire attorneys and in total had 10 attorneys throughout the trial. He sued some of them for malpractice before the trial even began and eventually decided that, if you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself. Ng decided to represent himself and this delayed the trial again for a year so he could study the laws. But Ng went back and forth on this and tried to get a lawyer back, and then said he wanted to defend himself, and then he wanted a different lawyer back. Then on April 20, 1998 he decided he wanted to defend himself again, but the judge refused, so Ng filed malpractice charges against previous lawyers. A reporter eventually said, “After Ng, California’s legal system should be placed on trial.”
Alameda County District Attorney, Tom Orloff was quoted saying, “This is just one of those situations where you have a defendant intent on using every mechanism for delay. In a case like this, the system has to return the same kind of focus to stop it from continuing.”
Finally, in August of 1998, the judge over the trial was done with Ng’s shenanigans and reprimanded him for “playing games within games within games.” So, Ng threw a temper tantrum and cursed at the judge. The defense attorney said this was evidence of Ng’s mental illness, but the prosecution said it was just Ng trying to be manipulative again. It would be 6 years from the time he was extradited to the beginning of his trial in October of 1998.
During the preliminary hearing and later, at the trial, the prosecutor used the video tapes to show what Ng (and Lake) had done to Kathleen Allen as well as the video of Brenda O’Connor. In this video, Ng rips off Brenda’s shirt then uses a folding knife to cut off her bra. Ng tells her, “You can cry and stuff like all the rest of them, but it won’t do you no good. We’re pretty cold-hearted.” However, the prosecution’s case was still considered “circumstantial.” There were only the video tapes linking Ng to the murders, but those didn’t cover all the murders and those videos didn’t show murders. Torture and other horrific things, but not murder. The prosecution’s strategy was to use “overwhelming” circumstantial evidence.
A former prisoner, Maurice Laberge who had been next to Ng in jail testified that to pass the time in prison, Ng would draw these crude cartoons of his crimes and write stories about what happened. He turned over the cartoons and testified to everything in the preliminary hearing. But then he was let out on parole and died in a car accident, so he wouldn’t be able to testify at the murder trial. During the jury selection phase, Ng got agitated and started showing out so the judge had him wear an electric stun belt for the rest of the trial. The bailiff was able to trigger the device by remote control if Ng got violent again.
During the trial, one of the videotapes that was found at Ng’s apartment was rewound and there was a still of 2 bodies wrapped up and laid across a wheelbarrow. The bodies were very obviously in rigor mortis as they were stiff and this occurs fairly soon after death (about 2-3 hours after death) and by 12-18 hours the body is “stiff as a board.” Then, rigor dissipates after 48 hours. Ng had previously told detectives when they questioned him in Canada that he had helped Lake move the bodies at least 24 hours after, but this was very obviously pretty soon after they were murdered.
Also during the trial, they used over 200 pieces of evidence (personal effects from the cabin, bunker, and Ng’s apartment) to determine some identities and to link Ng to the murders as well as 75 witnesses that could prove that the things belonged to the victims. For example: Kathleen Allen’s body was never found, but she was on the videotape and a bunch of her personal effects were found on the property so her sister testified identifying a heart shaped necklace that Kathleen wore all the time. The typed letter that Kathleen’s manager testified to receiving was apparently a kind of calling card. Many of the victims’ family and friends would receive typed letters explaining their absence. These letters were compared and it was determined that they all came from the same typewriter. Forensic document examiners examined the Olympia typewriter that was in the cabin and determined that it was the typewriter used to write all of those letters.
Fortunately, it was pretty easy to link the video equipment found in the cabin to Harvey Dubs because Harvey was super organized and had receipts and serial numbers all documented. Some of the video equipment was also found in Ng’s apartment. Since their main witness, Laberge, died before the main murder trial, the prosecution argued to have the preliminary testimony transcripts read into evidence. The defense, of course, objected to this, but the judge let it happen. The defense also predictably tried to disparage Laberge’s testimony by pointing out that he had been a convict multiple times and that the deal that was struck with him was for him to go into witness protection so he received $30,000. Laberge also had $20,000 cash in his car when he crashed. So it was implied that he was basically paid for his testimony and would do anything for money. This hurt the prosecution.
The defense also spent their time making Lake the monster and that it was all him. They called witnesses that testified to Lake’s twisted sexual fantasies and interest in human sacrifice and none of these witnesses had ever seen Ng. They tried to use excerpts from Lake’s diary and strategically left out parts that included Ng, but the judge threw that out. The edited diary was another attempt at trying to show that Lake was the mastermind, and Ng was just the whipping boy that Lake bossed around. They also tried to point the finger at Balazs as an accomplice. Anywhere but at Ng.
Balazs had admitted that she had helped Lake bring women to the house. When she was called to testify, the defense attorney read the immunity agreement to the jury. It stated that she would have total immunity: murder, attempted murder, aiding and abeting murder, theft and receipt of stolen property…everything. And then the defense attorney just sat down. He didn’t ask her any questions while she was up there and since he didn’t, the prosecution couldn’t ask her any questions! She was excused without answering a single question. The point was apparently to make it look as though she had something to hide.
The defense also played the tapes of Lake musing on his fantasies. On the tape, Lake is in his recliner describing his plans for his “sex slaves.” In the tapes, he says, “What I want is an off-the-shelf sex partner. I want to be able to use a woman any way I want. And when I’m tired, or say, she is, or bored, I simply want to be able to put her away.”
The defense rested their case and the prosecution did their closing. Then Ng, right then and there, filed a handwritten motion that he wanted to testify on his own behalf. When the lawyers tried to convince him that this was a terrible idea, he threatened to fire them. So, against their advice, Ng testified on January 7, 1999.
The defense started out trying to prove that Laberge had lied. He said that he had helped to imprison Kathleen Allen and Brenda O’Connor, but he did not intend to hurt or kill them. He said he didn’t tell Laberge any of those things. When asked if he killed or intended to kill any of the people he was being charged with murdering, Ng said he hadn’t. They went over every. single. statement. Ng said to Laberge and to every single one, Ng denied saying it. They did this for hours.
Then they addressed the video tapes and Ng telling Brenda that it’s better that her baby is dead. He said he said all the things he said in the “heat of the moment” and he didn’t even know he said it until the transcripts which were typed up word for word and presented to the court. The prosecution used the transcript to catch Ng in lies. They pointed out that Ng told Laberge things that weren’t on the written transcript, but that he previously stated he remembered and that Laberge couldn’t have known without Ng telling him such as the handcuffs clicking. The prosecution also set out to prove that Ng was a willing participant. The cutting off of the clothes, telling Lake that there’s a gun on a table, etc. He said that he told Lake that the gun was there in case Kathleen tried to get it and shoot them. She’s handcuffed and had shackles on her legs…She showed that he was a willing participant and that occasionally he even directed Lake.
The defense’s closing said that on those tapes, you don’t see Ng murder anyone. Sure he does other terrible things, but there isn’t a “murder” on the tapes. The jury deliberated for weeks. The prosecution thought this was a bad sign for them since their case was mostly based on circumstantial evidence. Because of the delays and motions and all that the trail was to be considered to be one of the longest and most expensive trials in California history, but on February 24, 1999, Ng was finally found guilty of 11 out of 12 murders (the charges for Paul Cosner were dropped because the jury was deadlocked) and was sentenced to death. A motion was filed in an attempt to reduce the sentence, but the judge said, “Nah, son.” or “No way, Jose!” or something along those lines.
In the end, it took 14 years to get Ng convicted from the time he was first caught stealing the vice in 1985 and California ended up paying an estimated $20 million to prosecute Ng. But that amount continues to increase because of appeals and he’s using tax dollars living in jail. Charles Ng is currently awaiting execution in San Quentin. No execution date has been set still and this guy is filing appeals. No executions have taken place in California since 2006 and in 2019 the California governor, Gavin Newsom signed an executive order halting the death penalty. This granted 737 death row inmates, including Ng with a reprieve.
Newsom said, “The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual. Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure.” He also said, “I do not believe that a civilized society can claim to be a leader in the world as long as its governor continues to sanction the premeditated and discriminatory execution of its people.”
This executive order is in effect throughout Newsom’s time as governor so the next governor could revoke that, but for now it’s unknown if/when Ng’s sentence will be carried out.
Other notorious prisoners on death row in California include:
- Lonnie David Franklin, Jr., 66, “The Grim Sleeper”
- Rodney Alcala, 75, “The Dating Game Killer”
- Cary Stayner, 57 – killed 4 women in 5 months near Yosemite National Park
- Scott Peterson, 46
- Richard Allen Davis, 64, killed Polly Klaas
- Marcus Wesson, 72 – killed 9 of his children who he’d fathered with his wife, nieces, and daughters. Police found the women and children’s bodies piled on top of each other in their rooms.
- Joseph James DeAngelo, 73 – accused of being the “Golden State Killer”
sources for this episode
The Big Book of Serial Killers: An Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Jack Rosewood
Serial Killers: Leonard Lake and Charles Ng (Crime Documentary)
