1983
Leonard Lake's mother reported Leonard Lake's younger brother, Donald,
missing after he failed to return from a visit with Leonard in San Bruno
in July. Some investigators believe that Donald was murdered by Leonard,
although Donald's body was never found. Charles Gunnar, a friend
of Leonard Lake's, disappeared. Some investigators believe that Charles
Gunnar was murdered by Leonard Lake, although his body was never found.
1984
After serving time at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, Charles Ng rejoined Leonard
Lake. On July 25, Harvey Dubs, his wife, and his son disappeared.
In October, Randy Jacobson disappeared. On November 2, (or November
5 reports vary), Paul Cosner disappeared.
1985
On January 18 or January 20, Clifford Raymond Parenteau disappeared.
Reported dates vary. On February 24, Jeffrey D. Gerald disappeared.
In April, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng videotaped themselves mistreating
two women at Lake's home in Wilseyville. Other reports claim that
there were videotapes or still photos of 21 women. Sometime during
April or May, Leonard Lake's closest neighbors, Lonnie O'Connor, Brenda
O'Connor, their son, and their friend Robin Stapley, disappeared.
On June 2, 1985, a clerk (or a customer reports vary) at a lumberyard
in San Francisco (or South San Francisco reports vary) spotted Charles
Ng trying to shoplift a vice. The clerk called the police.
Charles Ng carried the vice out of the store, placed it in the trunk of
a tan 1980 Honda Prelude, and departed on foot. When the police arrived,
Leonard Lake was sitting in the Honda. He claimed that he had paid
for the vice. He produced a driver's license bearing the name Robin
Stapley but he didn't resemble the photograph. The license plate
on the Honda Prelude was registered to a man named Lonnie Bond but should
have been attached to a Buick, not a Honda. The police searched the
Honda and found a .22-caliber revolver that was illegally equipped with
a silencer. Leonard Lake was immediately taken into custody for questioning.
He reportedly told his interrogators that the name of the man who had stolen
the vice was Charles Ng. While he was being questioned, police ran
a check of the Vehicle Identification Number on the Honda and discovered
that it belonged to Paul Cosner, a resident of San Francisco. The
police also learned that Paul Cosner had been unaccountably missing for
nine months. At the jail house, Leonard Lake asked for a glass of
water. Shortly afterward, he swallowed one (or two) cyanide pill(s)
or capsule(s) that he had taped (or glued) to the collar of his shirt (or
hidden in a secret niche in his belt or in his belt buckle). The
various reports are conflicting. After some investigation, police
found (presumably in the Honda) an electric utility bill made out to Claralyn
Balasz and addressed to a cabin in Wilseyville. I don't know how
the police discovered the address of Charles Ng's apartment but, when a
patrol unit arrived there, Charles Ng was already gone. For 34 days,
he managed to elude an international dragnet set up by Interpol, the FBI,
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Scotland Yard. Leonard Lake
was kept alive by machines at a Kaiser Permanente Hospital near San Francisco,
California. On June 8, he was declared brain dead when the plug was
pulled (or the plug was pulled and he was declared dead the reports aren't
clear on that point). On June 8, police began digging outward from
the Wilseyville cabin. On July 6, while leaving a Calgary, Alberta,
shop, Charles Ng was challenged by security guards over grocery items in
his bag. He drew a gun and, in the ensuing struggle, one of the officers
was shot in the hand. Canadian police charged Charles Ng with robbery,
attempted robbery, possession of a firearm, and attempted murder.
He was convicted in 1985, in Calgary, Alberta.
1987
In February, the United States formally requested Charles Ng's extradition
to stand trial in California on 19 criminal counts including kidnapping
and 12 murders committed in 1984 and 1985.
1988
According to court documents, Charles Ng admitted to helping dispose
of Paul Cosner's body. In November, a judge of the Alberta Court
of Queen's Bench ordered Charles Ng's extradition.
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