Honestly, if you were to drive through the Sierra Nevada foothills today, you’d probably think it was the most peaceful place on earth. The trees are thick, the air is crisp, and the silence is heavy. But back in the mid-1980s, a tiny town called Wilseyville became the backdrop for something so dark it basically redefined the "true crime" genre before the internet even existed. We’re talking about Charles Ng and Leonard Lake, a duo that turned a remote cabin into a literal house of horrors.
Most people know the broad strokes. The "sex slave" bunker. The videotapes. The cyanide pill. But the deeper you dig into what actually happened between 1983 and 1985, the more you realize that the horror wasn't just about the violence—it was about how easily two deeply disturbed men slipped through the cracks of the military and the law to build a "survivalist" nightmare.
The "Operation Miranda" Fantasy
Leonard Lake was a Vietnam veteran with a brain full of toxic survivalist tropes. He wasn't just a killer; he was a guy who spent years obsessing over a 1963 novel called The Collector by John Fowles. The book is about a man who kidnaps a woman to keep her as a "butterfly" in a cellar. Lake took this fiction and turned it into a project he called "Operation Miranda."
He wasn't some charismatic mastermind. He was a paranoid loner who built a cinder-block bunker on a property owned by his ex-wife, Claralyn Balazs. He wanted to survive a nuclear war, but he also wanted "slaves" to join him. Then he met Charles Ng.
Charles Ng was younger, a Hong Kong-born immigrant who had been kicked out of the Marines for stealing heavy weaponry. He was a kleptomaniac with a weirdly high energy and a complete lack of empathy. When these two met, it was like a chemical reaction that only produced poison. While Lake provided the "philosophy" and the location, Ng provided the muscle and a terrifyingly casual attitude toward human life.
Why Charles Ng and Leonard Lake Were Almost Never Caught
It’s wild to think about, but they were caught because of a $75 vise.
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On June 2, 1985, Ng and Lake walked into a lumber store in South San Francisco. Ng, being a serial shoplifter, tried to pocket a vise. When the employee called him out, Ng threw the vise into the trunk of a Honda Prelude and bolted. Lake stayed behind, trying to play it cool and pay for the item.
When police arrived, they looked in that Honda.
They found a .22 caliber pistol with a silencer.
They found a driver's license for a man named Robin Stapley, who had been missing for weeks.
The car itself belonged to Paul Cosner, another missing person.
Lake was arrested. While sitting in the interrogation room, he asked for a glass of water. Then, he leaned forward and swallowed two cyanide capsules he had taped to the collar of his shirt. He collapsed, went into a coma, and died four days later without ever saying a word about where the real owners of those IDs were.
Ng, meanwhile, had managed to flee all the way to Calgary, Canada. He stayed on the run for over a month until—wait for it—he was caught shoplifting again. This time it was a can of salmon. He shot a security guard in the hand during the struggle, which ended his run for good.
The Wilseyville Evidence
While Ng was sitting in a Canadian jail, investigators were tearing apart the Wilseyville property. What they found was a nightmare.
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- The Bunker: A 250-square-foot structure with a hidden room behind a shelf. It had one-way mirrors and a "throne" where Lake would sit.
- The "Treasure Map": A hand-drawn map led police to buried five-gallon buckets. They weren't full of gold. They were full of victims' IDs, wedding rings, and Lake’s journals.
- The Bone Fragments: Forensic teams eventually recovered about 45 pounds of charred human bone fragments. This made identifying the victims nearly impossible at the time.
- The Tapes: This is what made the case famous. They filmed themselves. The footage showed Ng and Lake mocking and terrorizing victims like Brenda O'Connor and Kathy Allen.
The Victims We Finally Know
For decades, the total victim count has been a moving target. The court eventually convicted Ng of 11 murders, but investigators have always suspected the number is closer to 25.
It wasn't just women. They killed entire families. They killed men to steal their identities and cars. They even killed Lake's own brother, Donald Lake, and his best friend, Charles Gunnar, just to steal their disability checks and bank accounts.
As recently as January 2025, new technology has been closing these cold cases. The Calaveras Cold Case Task Force used investigative genetic genealogy to identify remains found on the property as Reginald "Reggie" Frisby, a man who had been missing since 1984. It's heart-wrenching to think that families have been waiting 40 years for a name to be put to a fragment of bone.
What Most People Get Wrong
A big misconception is that Charles Ng was just a "sidekick." During his trial—which was one of the longest and most expensive in California history, costing over $10 million—Ng tried to play the victim. He claimed Lake forced him into it.
The tapes proved otherwise. In the videos, Ng is seen actively participating, laughing, and showing a level of cruelty that Lake’s journals described as "enthusiastic." He wasn't a follower; he was a partner who enjoyed the "game" just as much as Lake did.
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Another thing? The trial took forever. Ng was extradited from Canada in 1991, but he didn't face a jury until 1998. He went through dozens of lawyers, filed endless motions, and even tried to represent himself. It was a masterclass in dragging out the legal system.
Where is Charles Ng Now?
As of early 2026, Charles Ng is still on death row. He’s 65 years old now, sitting in the California Medical Facility. Even though the California Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in 2022, there’s currently a moratorium on executions in the state.
He’s spent more than half his life behind bars, largely surviving on the taxpayer's dime while the families of his victims continue to push for the identification of the remaining 40+ pounds of bone fragments still sitting in storage.
Actionable Insights for True Crime Follow-ups
If you’re following this case or similar cold cases, there are ways to actually help or stay informed beyond just reading articles:
- Support Genetic Genealogy: Organizations like the Calaveras Cold Case Task Force rely on donations and public interest to fund DNA testing that wasn't possible in the '80s.
- Missing Persons Databases: If you have a family member who went missing in Northern California in the early 1980s and was never found, contact the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office. They are still actively seeking DNA samples from relatives to match against the unidentified remains from the Wilseyville site.
- Check the "NAMUS" Portal: Use the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to see if details of unsolved cases in your area match any of the details from historical "spree killer" timelines.
The story of Charles Ng and Leonard Lake is a reminder that evil often hides in plain sight, disguised as "eccentricity" or "survivalism." It took a shoplifted vise and a can of salmon to end a reign of terror, but the work of identifying the victims and understanding the full scale of their crimes continues even today.
Source References:
- California Supreme Court: People v. Ng (2022)
- Calaveras Cold Case Task Force Records (2025 Update)
- U.N. Human Rights Committee: Ng v. Canada