On June 2, 1985, Charles Ng was arrested for shoplifting a vise from a San Francisco hardware store. This seemingly routine arrest led police to a horrifying discovery: the torture dungeon of Leonard Lake, a former hippie pornographer turned serial killer.
Leonard Lake’s Troubled Childhood
Leonard Lake’s dark path began long before he met Charles Ng. After being discharged from the United States Marine Corps for a mental breakdown, Lake was diagnosed with a schizoid personality disorder. However, signs of his disturbed nature were evident since childhood.
Raised by his grandmother after his parents’ divorce, Lake’s upbringing lacked structure and discipline. His grandmother ignored his disturbing behaviors, such as forcing his sisters to pose nude and extorting them for sexual acts. This lack of intervention allowed Lake’s twisted instincts to grow.
Transition From Hippie to Homicidal
After his discharge from the Marine Corps, Lake joined a hippie commune in San Francisco. However, his past caught up with him when his first wife discovered his involvement in homemade pornography. After their marriage ended, Lake found love again with Claralyn Balazs, who accepted his unconventional interests.
The couple moved to Greenfield Ranch in northern California, where Lake’s dark desires escalated. By 1983, he began acting on his sadistic fantasies, seeking victims to fulfill his twisted dreams.
The Arrival of Charles Ng
Lake’s paranoia about a nuclear holocaust led him to adopt a survivalist mentality. He convinced Balazs’ family to rent him their cabin in the woods, where he planned to execute his “Operation Miranda.” This plan involved turning the cabin into a haven for his sexual fantasies and protection from nuclear fallout.
Lake invited his younger brother Donald and friend Charles Gunnar to the cabin, but soon killed them. He then stole Charles Gunnar’s identity and continued his reign of terror.
In 1981, Lake posted an ad in a wargamers magazine, inadvertently inviting Charles Ng to join him. Ng had a history of kleptomania and troubled behavior, and the two formed a deadly partnership.
The Cabin Becomes a Torture Chamber
Between 1983 and 1985, Lake and Ng kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered between 8 and 25 people in their bunker. They held male and female victims captive, subjecting them to unspeakable horrors. Lake dismembered and dissolved their bodies in chemicals, scattering the remains around the cabin.
Their victims included Robin Stapley, a couple named Harvey and Deborah Dubs, and multiple local children. The men filmed themselves torturing and raping their victims, often forcing partners to watch the assaults before killing them.
Capture, Conviction, and Cyanide
In 1985, Leonard Lake and Charles Ng were caught after Ng attempted to shoplift a vise and Lake tried to cover for him. The police found a gun registered to a missing person in Lake’s possession, leading to a search of their cabin. This search uncovered stolen vehicles, human bone fragments, and disturbing videotapes.
Lake, realizing there was no escape, swallowed cyanide pills sewn into his clothing while in custody, dying before he could face charges. Charles Ng was convicted of 11 counts of murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection in 1999.