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Leonard Lake
Mugshot of Lake
Born:	October 29, 1945
Location:	San Francisco, California
Died:	June 6, 1985
Cause of death:	suicide by cyanide pill
Number of victims:	12-25
Country where killings occurred:	USA
States where killings occurred:	California
Span of killings:	? through 1985

Leonard Lake (October 29, 1945 - June 6, 1985) was an alleged American serial killer. The crimes he committed together with Charles Ng came to light when Lake committed suicide by taking a cyanide pill shortly after being arrested for a firearms offense. Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_California. ... is the 157th day of the year (158th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... This article is about the chemical compound. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the year. ... is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... is the 157th day of the year (158th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... Serial killers are individuals who have a history of multiple slayings of victims who were usually unknown to them beforehand. ... Charles Ng at San Quentin State Prison Charles Chi-Tat Ng (Chinese: 吳志達, Cantonese IPA: , Pinyin: Wú Zhìdá; born December 24, 1960) is an American serial killer who committed his crimes with Leonard Lake. ... For other uses, see Suicide (disambiguation). ... This article is about the chemical compound. ...

Early life

Lake was born in San Francisco in 1945. He was a bright child, but had an obsession with pornography that stemmed from taking nude photos of his sisters, apparently with the encouragement of his mother. It was also alleged that Lake extorted sexual favors from his sisters in return for protecting them from their younger delinquent brother, Donald. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Porn redirects here. ... Extortion is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person either obtains money, property or services from another through coercion or intimidation or threatens one with physical harm unless they are paid money or property. ...

When he was 20, Lake joined the U.S. Marines and served in the Vietnam War as a radar operator. Diagnosed as mentally ill, Lake was eventually given a medical discharge and underwent psychiatric treatment. Back in civilian life he got married, but his wife divorced him when she found that he was making (and starring in) amateur pornographic movies involving bondage. United States Marine Corps Emblem The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is the second smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... For other uses, see Radar (disambiguation). ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ... A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from his or her obligation to serve. ... Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. ... A model in bondage cuffs with a leg spreader In the context of BDSM, bondage involves people being tied up or otherwise restrained for pleasure. ...

In 1980, Lake was given a year's probation for theft. He married again, his new wife soon leaving him after she got tired of her husband's increasingly erratic behavior and his insistence that she star in pornographic movies. Lake was arrested in 1982 for a firearms violation, but he skipped bail and settled into a remote ranch in Wilseyville, Calaveras County. He was eventually joined by Charles Ng, a young Hong Kong-born man whom Lake had met a few years previously. Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A young waif steals a pair of boots “Stealing” redirects here. ... Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar). ... A firearm is a kinetic energy weapon that fires either a single or multiple projectiles propelled at high velocity by the gases produced by action of the rapid confined burning of a propellant. ... Calaveras County is a county located in Californias Gold Country. ... Charles Ng at San Quentin State Prison Charles Chi-Tat Ng (Chinese: 吳志達, Cantonese IPA: , Pinyin: Wú Zhìdá; born December 24, 1960) is an American serial killer who committed his crimes with Leonard Lake. ...

Discovery

On June 2, 1985, an Asian American man later identified as Charles Ng was seen shoplifting in South San Francisco. He fled by the time police arrived, but Leonard Lake, who was with him, was arrested when his car was searched and found to contain a pistol that was illegally equipped with a silencer. is the 153rd day of the year (154th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... For the band Shoplifting see Shoplifting (band). ... HK Mark 23 with a suppressor AR-15 with Gemtech baffle suppressor (ref) A suppressor (popularly known as a silencer, although no suppressor silences a firearm completely), is a device attached to a firearm to reduce the amount of noise and flash generated by firing the weapon. ...

He gave his name as Robin Stapley and had a driver's license in that name. However, the police were suspicious because, according to the driver's license, Robin Stapley was 26, while the man they had in custody was clearly in his late thirties. While being interviewed at the police station, Lake asked for a glass of water and used it to wash down a cyanide pill that he had secretly stashed in the lapel of his shirt. He collapsed and was rushed to a hospital, where he died three days later. This article is about the chemical compound. ...

By then, police had finally confirmed the true identity of their suspect as Leonard Lake. Furthermore, the man whose identity Lake had taken, Robin Stapley, had been missing for several weeks. Lake's car was found to belong to Paul Cosner, 39, who had gone missing eight months previously in November 1984. This article is about the year. ...

The police searched Lake's ranch in Wilseyville. It was clear Lake was a survivalist, his ranch fitted with a bunker and a stash of weapons. In a diary, Lake had written how he was convinced there was going to be a global nuclear war, and he planned on surviving in his bunker and rebuilding the human race with a collection of female slaves (he named this plan "Operation Miranda" after a character in the book The Collector by John Fowles). The police also found a stash of grisly videos showing Lake and Ng torturing and raping women. A survivalist is a person who anticipates a potential disruption in the continuity of local, regional or worldwide society, and takes steps to survive in the resulting unpredictable situation. ... Nuclear War is a card game designed by Douglas Malewicki, and originally published in 1966. ... Slave redirects here. ... The Collector is the title of a 1963 novel by John Fowles. ... John Robert Fowles John Robert Fowles (March 31, 1926 – November 5, 2005) was an English novelist and essayist. ... For other uses, see Torture (disambiguation). ...

The grounds of the ranch were dug up and 12 corpses were uncovered in shallow graves. Amongst these victims were two entire families; Harvey Dubs and his wife Deborah and baby son Sean, and Lonnie Bond and Brenda O'Conner and their baby son, Lonnie Bond Jr. The women had been abused and killed after their husbands and infants were disposed of. Five of the bodies were of men lured to the ranch to be robbed and killed — including Robin Stapley and Paul Cosner — and the twelfth was identified as 18-year-old Kathleen Allen, who knew Ng because her boyfriend had once been his cellmate in prison. Police also found many charred fragments of human bones, but they were unable to determine the identity of the victims they had come from or how many there had been. For other uses, see Body (disambiguation). ... Bad Touch redirects here. ...

Lake's younger brother Donald had vanished in 1983 and was presumed dead, as had Charles Gunnar, a friend of Lake's from his military days, whose remains were discovered under the ranch in September 1992. Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... For other uses, see September (disambiguation). ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ...

The authorities concluded that Lake and Ng had murdered as many as 25 people.

External links

• Crime Library.com