Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “Killing Team” Leonard Lake and Charles Ng Pt. 1

Episode Date: August 2, 2021

Fearing a nuclear apocalypse was imminent, survivalists Leonard Lake and Charles Ng dreamed of building a bunker in the middle of nowhere. Only, it wasn’t just meant to withstand the nuclear fallout — they wanted to use it to imprison female sex slaves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of these killers' crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, assault, and sexual abuse that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. It was the kind of California summer that should have been impossible to ruin. Sunny without being too hot, a light breeze rustling through the redwood trees, and the distant scent of a barbecue in the air. But for the residents of Greenfield Ranch, their idyllicly, life had become a bit of a nightmare. Their most problematic neighbor, Leonard Lake, was conducting target practice right in the middle of the forest. Greenfield was supposed to be a peaceful place,

a refuge for hippies and creative types fleeing the city. And though the residents each owned their own plot of land, the community abided by a certain set of rules. One of those rules, and perhaps the most important, was no guns. Yet ever since Lake had moved in, he'd made it clear that the rules didn't apply to him. Eventually, one of Lake's neighbors had had enough. This man, who will call Jeffrey, walked right up to Lake, a burly man in his mid-30s, and asked him to cut it out.

But as he tried to reason with his antisocial neighbor, Jeffrey saw something in Lake's eyes that gave him pause. Maybe he realized confronting an armed man was a mistake. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is serial killers. a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're covering Leonard Lake and Charles Ng,

a duo who murdered more than 10 people in 1980s, California. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Today, we'll explore Lake and Ing's troubled upbringings on different continents.

Lake's growing obsession with an imminent nuclear apocalypse, and how the two came to live together at a remote hillside compound. Next time, we'll discuss Lake and Ing's murder spree, which involved keeping women as sex slaves and killing off entire families. We'll also examine how their sadistic scheme came to an abrupt end, and the unusual trial that followed. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

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Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. As the old saying goes, no man is an island. Even the most introverted among us need to feel a. sense of connection and to find a community of people who share our values, our beliefs, and our passions. But finding your tribe isn't always a good thing. Sometimes instead of stable, healthy relationships, we build echo chambers for our darkest impulses. When that happens, things can go off the rails fast.

Then again, sometimes the train is wobbly to begin with. All it needs is a push from the right person. and there's no telling where that individual might come from. Leonard Lake was born in October of 1945, into an America filled with optimism and bright prospects. The post-war period was a time of great growth and expansion, especially for the city of San Francisco, where his family lived. But the post-war euphoria didn't frighten up every home.

Lake's parents, Elgin and Gloria, had a turbulent marriage and fought constantly, When things got really bad, Lake and his siblings were regularly shipped off to live with various relatives. Needless to say, life was far from stable. At some point in 1951, when Lake was only six, Elgin and Gloria reached a breaking point. They separated, and Elgin moved to start a new life in Seattle. Hoping to save her marriage, Gloria followed her estranged husband all the way to Washington. But she didn't go alone. Gloria brought along her two youngest children.

Sylvia and Donald. However, as Lake was the eldest and already enrolled in kindergarten, she decided to leave him in the care of her parents. In Gloria's mind, she was minimizing any sort of disruption in her son's life. Unfortunately, it was a decision that had a profound impact on Lake's development. According to statements from friends and relatives, he experienced the change as a form of rejection. Vanessa is going to take over in the psychology here and throughout the episode.

Please note, Vanessa's not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we've done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Research has shown that children who experience rejection from their parents have a higher risk of mental illness and emotional instability, as well as violent crime. In a 1997 book, criminologist Eric W. Hickey found that among a group of male serial killers, almost half had experienced rejection as children, either by a parent or another significant. figure. The type of rejection Lake experienced was particularly dramatic. Within the same year, both of his parents physically left the state of California without him. And it seems his unresolved feelings might have prompted a fixation with sadism. While he was still a child, Lake began collecting mice from his grandmother's yard. At first, the hobby seemed harmless enough.

In fact, for a while he doted on them. He built a miniature city for the mice in his bedroom, with tunnels and castles, mazes, and even a little train for them to ride on. But then something changed. Perhaps his grandmother insisted he get rid of the mice, or maybe Lake simply grew tired of them. Either way, he was done with them. But he had no intention of setting them free. Instead of releasing the creatures back into the wild,

Lake murdered the mice in the cruelest way possible. He dissolved their bodies in acid. As Lake grew older, his unresed. unsettling behavior became more sexual. He developed at a obsession with pornography, and unconfirmed reports also suggest he sexually abused his younger sister. Throughout all of this, Lake was seemingly able to put on a normal face for the world. He attended Balboa High School in San Francisco,

and after graduating in 1964, he enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 18. He trained as a radar operator in North Carolina and thrived in his new surrounds. He was fascinated by combat, by the use of weapons and explosives, and by field survival techniques. At some point, he visited an uncle in South Carolina and crossed paths with 18-year-old college student, Karen Lee Minersman. The pair were instantly smitten and began corresponding by letter. After completing his training, Lake was deployed to Vietnam, shortly before Christmas of 1965, but it was during his first tour that his careful facade of normalcy began to slip. At some point, Lake was hospitalized after exhibiting what a report described as

incipient psychotic reactions. Unfortunately, there are no further details on this incident, so it's hard to know exactly what happened. It's important to note, however, that an incipient psychotic reaction isn't a real medical term, but the phrase suggests that Lake had experienced some kind of psychotic episode. We don't know what this might have looked like, but we know that psychosis is a condition in which a person loses touch with reality. Schizophrenia is the most well-known psychotic disorder, and per the DSM-5, it can present with a range of symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, and catatonic behavior.

It's possible that any or all of these symptoms brought about Lake's colleagues' concerns. Whatever triggered his hospital stay, Lake Superior's weren't alarmed enough to send him home. After being treated, he finished his tour. Possibly spooked by his brush with madness, it seems Lake sought to find some stability. During a leave of absence back in the U.S., he asked Karen to marry him, and in March of 1968, the couple tied the knot. But a happily ever after wasn't in the cards. Almost immediately, Karen noticed a change in her husband, that we sometimes made lewd comments

about her to his fellow Marines. He'd otherwise been respectful. But suddenly he became controlling, overbearing, and started treating her like a slave. Even still, Karen stuck it out. For a few years, she attempted to make Lake happy, but nothing seemed to work. So when he volunteered for a second tour of duty in Vietnam, Karen was quietly relieved. But after shipping out in mid-1970, Lake's mental state deteriorated once again. This time, he became convinced that Karen was being unfaithful to him during his absence.

This unfounded belief hints at Lake's deep-rooted abandonment issues. Abandonment anxiety generally means that someone has a strong fear of losing loved ones. It's often caused by a traumatic loss during childhood. In Lake's case, this was the rejection of both his father and his mother. It was around this time that Lake was again examined by doctors. But they didn't seem to think abandonment issues caused Lake's latest episode. In their opinion, Lake's problem went much deeper, and it was like, likely caused by mental illness. In some reports, it's noted as schizophrenia. In others, it's

schizoid personality disorder. Per the DSM-5, people with schizoid personality disorder tend to be socially detached and emotionally restricted. The criteria include a lack of desire for social relationships, a preference for solitary activities, emotional detachment, and indifference to praise or criticism. We don't know enough about Lake's behavior say whether he fit the bill here or not. But as we discussed before, delusions are a key symptom of schizophrenia. In psychology, a delusion is defined as a belief that is clearly false, and that indicates an abnormality in the way the person thinks. As far as we know, there was no evidence to back up Lake's belief that his wife was cheating on him, so this could qualify as a delusion.

Whatever the doctor's reasons, by the end of 1970, Lake was deemed a danger to himself and others. So he was sent home for treatment at a hospital in California, and the following year he was discharged from the Marine Corps on medical grounds. Listless, Lake settled in San Jose, California with Karen, but for her, the red flags soon became too glaring to ignore. Upon his return to civilian life, Lake refused to work. But to make ends meet, he demanded that Karen get a job dancing at a local topless bar. He also began doling out controlled beatings as a prelude to San Francisco.

and pressured her into taking part in orgies with other couples. Needless to say, this put a strain on their marriage, and in 1972 Karen reached the end of her tether. She filed for divorce. Left without a submissive wife to torment, Lake's simmering psychosis only worsened. Over the next few years, a sinister fantasy began to take hold. Lake desperately wanted to take a young woman as a sex slave.

At first, the fantasy was vague, and there was no serious plan attached to it, but it was only a matter of time. Up next, Lake meets a survivalist soulmate, Charles Ng. Imagine living with a secret so big that if anyone ever found out, it would change everything. Imagine carrying that secret with you every day, desperate to one day get it off your chest.

Do you think you could take a secret like that to the grave? I'm a Stephanie Haigman, host of the new podcast series, Confessions, the show where we dive deep into the most explosive things people have admitted to while drawing their last breath, from murder, fake identities, heists, illicit affairs, and even top government secrets. This season on Deathbed Confessions, we investigate cases like Frank Thurrogood, the construction worker who claimed that the drowning of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones

was no accident. Margaret Gibson, a silent film actress who, while dying of a heart attack, confessed to one of the most famous unsolved crimes in Hollywood history. And ex-CIA officer Howard Hunt, who on his deathbed, confess to playing a role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Deathbed Confessions is a Spotify original from Parcast, airing episodes weekly starting July 21st. Follow and listen to Deathbed Confessions for free on Spotify. Now back to the story.

After the breakdown of his marriage in 1972, 27-year-old, 27-year-old, Leonard Lake slipped further and further into his darkest fantasies. He dreamed of taking a woman as his sex slave, but as the 1970s progressed, he also became consumed with another disturbing obsession. Lake believed that a nuclear apocalypse is coming. In fact, he was sure it would arrive any day. It's not clear where this obsession came from, but children who grew up during the 1950s had nuclear paranoia drilled into them, from bomb drills at school to frightening TV news reports at home, many children in the U.S. felt a constant threat of nuclear annihilation. Perhaps in Lake's case, that fear stayed with him into adulthood.

Whatever the case, his apprehension couldn't be unlaid, but Lake believed he knew how to avoid the fallout, thanks to the survival skills he'd learned as a Marine. All he needed was a base, an isolated residence, somewhere far from the city. There, he could build a compound that would accommodate both of his fantasies. contain a bunker that would allow him to ride out the apocalypse, as well as a prison cell where he could hold women captive. So, in the mid-1970s, Lake packed up all of his belongings and moved away from San Jose forever.

He drove north for a couple of hours and stopped in the rural town of Yucaya and Mendocino County. Tucked away in a valley between two mountain ranges, it was the perfect place to begin his new life. Soon after that, Lake purchased a property on the sprawling Greenfield Ranch, a remote ecological commune. The ranch was entirely self-sufficient. Electric power for the few houses on the property came solely from solar or hydro sources, and there were no telephone cables or other utilities. It was an isolated paradise for Lake, and he thrived on the hippie lifestyle there for several years. Then in 1980, Lake attended a Renaissance festival where he met and fell for a

30-year-old teacher's aide, Clairelyn Belaz. The couple married quickly, and Clarolin moved into Lake's ranch home. In Clarolin, it seemed Lake had finally met his match. Not only did she share his interest in nature and self-sufficient living, but she didn't bat an eye at his sexual proclivities. In fact, she shared them. Clarolin was game for just about everything, orgies with other couples, BDSM, and even taking part in the amateur porn movies Lake liked to shoot. Home movies. Home movies, These weren't the only thing Lake liked to shoot. He was known around the ranch as an antisocial loner who brazenly flaunted the no-guns rule.

One afternoon, as Lake was engaging in target practice, a neighbor confronted him, pointing out that a stray bullet could easily kill someone. Unrepentant, Lake yelled back at him. Then he bragged that if he wanted to, he could go door to door and kill every single person on the ranch with his automatic rifle. Disturbed, the neighbor.

backed off. But that wasn't the only trouble he caused. At some point, Lake was arrested for stealing building materials from the housing firm he worked for. He spent several days in jail and was sentenced to a year of probation. But when he was released on bond, the ranch's owners asked him to move out immediately. For once, Lake didn't put up a fight. He was terrified of going back to prison and had no desire to wind up in any more trouble. Within days, he and Clarolin packed up, sold their home.

and vanished. Despite this setback, Lake was undeterred. He thought he'd found the perfect hideaway at Greenfield, but now he saw he'd been wrong. There were too many eyes on him, too many interfering neighbors who wouldn't understand. But as they drove away from the ranch for the last time, Lake felt uneasy, Clarolin was upset. Unlike him, she'd thrived on the ranch, and she didn't have much interest in his dreams for a bunker. Soon enough, Lake realized that he needed a new partner in crime, somebody who understood the danger of the coming nuclear apocalypse, somebody who shared his passion for survivalism, and who could help him live out his fantasy.

And though Lake didn't know it yet, his perfect match was just around the corner. But before we get there, we need to go back a little. Just as 18-year-old Lake was leaving his troubled home life behind to join the Marines, Charles Ng was enjoying a very different kind of upbringing. Ng. Ing was born a world away in Hong Kong in December of 1960. His parents were happily married and provided every opportunity they could afford for their son and two older daughters.

Though his parents discouraged fighting in any form, Ing was enthralled by martial arts. He spent hours crafting his own sticks out of paper towel rolls so he could imitate his idol, Bruce Lee. Academically, Ing struggled. In contrast to his two older sisters, he failed to keep up with homework assignments at his elite school. But this wasn't the most significant struggle Inge experienced in childhood. He loved animals and doted on his pet chicken, until one day his grandmother declared that the bird was too smelly to keep in the house.

So Ing's chicken was killed and cooked for a family dinner. Understandably, Ing was devastated by this experience. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first pet Ing had parted with. He was forced to release his pet turtle into the wild after it made a mess in the house, and one day he brought home a dog, which the family was unable to keep. Given his future, the fact that Ng was so attached to pets as a child is striking. Research suggests that childhood attachment to animals is associated with empathy and pro-social behavior. Meanwhile, childhood cruelty to animals has been linked to anti-social behavior and even

criminal violence later in life. At least as a child, Inge didn't demonstrate any of the warning signs we might expect to see in a future serial killer. But soon enough, the sensitive young boy began to transform into an angry young man. In his teenage years, Ing's parents reportedly even sought psychiatric treatment for their son, who was becoming increasingly unruly and violent. Inck racked up a litany of crimes, targeting children in parks and assaulting them, throwing Molotov cocktails from rooftops, and eventually arson. At 15, Ing was expelled from school after starting

a chemical fire in a classroom. Mortified by his son's behavior, his father Kenneth decided that the best option was to give him a clean slate. Fortunately, Kenneth's brother was a teacher at a prestigious boarding school in England. And so, Ing was sent 6,000 miles west to the north of England, where he attended secondary school in Yorkshire. Sadly, the change of environment didn't have the effect his parents wanted. Within months, Ing was caught stealing from fellow students and was expelled once again. His parents brought him back to Hong Kong to finish his schooling, and from there, the world was his oyster. When he was 18, Inge moved to California to attend college, but his interest waned quickly. He'd never had much aptitude for studying, and he realized that he

had other options. His father had been in the Army Reserve, and Ing had always been intrigued by the trappings of military life. So later that fall, Ing walked into a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting station to enlist. There was just one problem. He was a foreign citizen on a visa and therefore wasn't eligible. Somehow, though, Ing falsified his citizenship and was sent to infantry training at Camp Pendleton north of San Diego. For once, Ing thrived in a regimented environment. He was fascinated by weapons and developed an interest in survivalist tactics. After completing training, he was assigned to a battalion in Hawaii, where his superiors considered him an outstanding standing weapons handler.

But his experience in the Marine Corps wasn't all smooth sailing. As an Asian man serving in the American Armed Services, he stood out, and some reports indicate that he experienced racist bullying. Understandably, Ing began to feel disillusioned with the Marines. He'd given it his all, but was still made to feel like an outsider, and it may have been this disappointment that led him to look for ways to exploit his position. In the fall of 1981, 20-year-old Ng was assigned to guard duty at the armory and realized how easy would be for him to steal some of the weapons.

He also realized he could sell them for a huge profit. Despite his isolation, Inge had bonded with a couple of fellow Marines, including a young corporal named Vic Maury. When In quietly brought up the scheme, Maori agreed to be his accomplice. In early November, the pair successfully slipped into the armory one night and stole more than $11,000 worth of machine guns, grenade launchers, and other highly valuable weapons. Ng and Maori absconded with their loot and hid out at a hotel in Waikiki Beach.

But they'd involved too many people in their scheme, and one of their co-conspirators betrayed them. Three days later, naval officers arrested Ing and brought him in for interrogation. The charges against him included not only theft of military weapons, but also conspiracy to commit larceny. In other words, he was facing a lengthy prison sentence. Remarkably, the Marine Guards didn't keep a very watchful eye on Ing, and he escaped during a break in his interrogation. He slipped through a window and fled. But while he was free, Ings life was in ruins.

He'd blown it up. And now, on top of everything else, he could count on desertion charges being added to his rap sheet. What's more, it was only a matter of time before the authorities figured out that he'd faked his citizenship. That would mean certain deportation. Fortunately for Ing, he still had friends he could count on. He stayed briefly with Mark Novak, a corporal who shared Ing's fascination with survivalist tactics.

Novak told Ing it was too dangerous for him to stick around Hawaii. Military police were calming the state and had warned all officers not to assist Ing in any way. But Novak knew somebody who could help him out. He passed on the name of a man he'd met in San Francisco, somebody who also shared their survivalist mindset. That man's name was Leonard Lake. Coming up, Lake and Ing's deadly partnership begins. Now back to the story.

By November of 1981, 20-year-old Charles Ng had imploded his military career and was on the run. Desperate for help, he got the name and number of fellow survivalist, 36-year-old Leonard Lake. Just before Christmas, Ing placed a call that would change both of their lives forever. According to historian and true crime author Don Lasseter, Ng booked himself a flight to San Francisco using money that his parents wired him from Hong Kong. As soon as he landed, he found a pay phone and reached out to Leonard, who was expecting his call. A mutual friend had phoned ahead to explain the situation,

and Lake told him he was welcome to stay with him for a few months if he was willing to work for room and board. For Lake, the timing was perfect. He and his 30-something wife, Clarolin, had just accepted an opportunity of a lifetime. They were hired to manage a youth camp on a stretch of land called Indian Creek Ranch, near the tiny town of Philo, California. Now they needed an extra pair of hands. But despite the idyllic backdrop, life wasn't at all pleasant.

Lake still felt unsupported by Clarolin. While she was game to indulge in his sexual fantasies, she was less interested in his ambitions to build a doomsday bunker. That meant he was in the market for a new partner in crime. Fortunately for Lake, Ing was a kindred spirit. Like him,

Ng was a survivalist fascinated by military tactics and guns. So when Ing arrived in early December of 1981, the men bonded not only over their shared interests, but also in their sense of having been wronged by the military. But while Ing and Lake became fast friends,

their time at the ranch was short-lived. In the spring of 1982, about six months after Ing's arrival, the FBI received a tip that he was hiding out in Philo, and on April 29th, a task force of 12 moved in on the camp and arrested Ing. As officers searched the compound, they found dozens of stockpiled weapons, including rifles, handguns, and ammunition. Lake insisted that while some of the guns were his, the majority belonged to Ing. But he was nonetheless charged with 17 felonies,

including multiple firearms charges and violating his parole. Ing was transported back to Hawaii, where he was court-martialed and sentenced to two years in military prison. Back in California, Clarolin helped Lake to post bail, but he was in deep water, staring down a life behind bars. Lake felt like he'd rather die than go to jail. Still, as a survivalist, he was determined to stay alive until he had no other option. Days after posting bail, he skipped his court hearing and went on the lamb. This was the last straw for Clarolin. She didn't want to end their relationship, but she had no desire to live as a fugitive with her husband. She moved back in with her parents in the city of San Bruno and told Blake that they could continue to date, but she didn't want to be married anymore.

If 37-year-old Blake took the news to heart, he didn't show it. In fact, he seemed to thrive on his newfound freedom. With his wife out of sight and out of mind, he sought out sex with as many women as he could over the next few months. But despite his tendency to get distracted, Lake had a master plan, and all it would take was a little sacrifice. In November of 1982, Lake paid a visit to his mother and siblings in the Bay Area. He seemed particularly attentive to his younger brother, 32-year-old Donald.

This came as a pleasant surprise to their mother as the two had never been close. As a child, Donald had been hit by a train that left him partially disabled. Despite this tragic circumstance, Lake had no sympathy for his brother. He considered Donald a leech for collecting disability checks. He even commented that people like his brother should be lined up and shot. Lake also felt that Donald took advantage of their mother because he still lived with her, and it's likely that he resented his brother for another much deeper reason.

Remember, when Lake was just a little boy, he was sent to live with his grandparents, while Donald got to remain with her mother. Clearly traumatized by the abandonment, Lake might have felt animosity toward Donald. And now he saw an opportunity to get revenge on the brother he hated. Lake explained that he knew of a position up north that could be perfect for Donald. It was a house-sitting job with minimal physical demands. Donald agreed and left with his brother a few days later. He was never seen again.

Lake never confessed to murdering his brother, but all the evidence points to that conclusion. Given his physical limitations, Donald would have been defenseless, especially in the face of Lake's arsenal of weapons. Soon after Donald's disappearance, Lake walked into an exclusive social club in San Francisco and opened up a membership under his brother's name. To prove his identity, he presented a fake driver's license, and in the months to come, he collected a number of social security checks in Donald's name. Lake felt unstoppable.

He had a regular income and a brand new identity. Now all he needed was the perfect location to build his bunker, and one was about to fall into his lap. Despite their divorce, Lake and Clarolin still dated on and off, and while she knew he had an insatiable sexual appetite, it's unclear how much she knew about his criminal activities. When she came to visit, she'd sometimes stay at a remote mountainside cabin her father owned,

It was miles away from civilization in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. When Lake first clapped eyes on the cabin, he knew this was where his bunker belonged. The plot of land was tucked away in the middle of rugged, treacherous terrain, surrounded by dense trees and rolling hills. There were only a handful of other homes anywhere in the vicinity, making it the ideal place to disappear. But Lake kept dragging his feet on starting construction. The main problem, aside from his laziness, was that he was bruntless. Donald's Social Security income didn't cover all his expenses. As the months drew on, he became increasingly nervous about using Donald's checks, worrying that

the authorities would trace them back to him. He needed a more permanent solution, especially if he wanted to finance the bunker. And now that he knew how easy it was to make someone disappear, he saw no reason not to do it again. So in April of 1983, Lake invited his friend Charles Gunner to visit him at the cabin. A stocky 36-year-old, Gunner had been Lake's best man when he married Clarolin. Although the two had spent a lot of time together, Lake had grown tired of the friendship. Just like Donald, Lake thought of Gunner as a leech, because he too collected disability

checks from the government. So in Lake's mind, Gunner had to go. But the man's formidable size presented a challenge. Lake had enough heavy weaponry to murder his friend, but disposing of his business, but disposing of his business, body was another matter. In his diaries from that spring, Lake documented his struggle to find a solution. At last, in the final weeks of May, Lake landed on the perfect plan. Gunner was newly divorced, and Lake told his friends that he was taking him to Vegas for some much-needed R&R. The details of what happened next are unclear, but Gunner was never seen again. When Lake returned to California, he told anyone who asked that Gunner had met a girl in Vegas

and wouldn't be returning. Soon after that, he sold Gunner's possessions, pocketing the profits, and began driving his Volkswagen van. He also started collecting Gunner's Social Security checks. For all of his supposed moral standards about not taking government handouts, Lake was only too happy to take them second hand. With this money and the proceeds from selling Gunner's things, Lake was finally able to begin building the bunker of his dreams.

During the summer of 1983, Lake started to start, started excavating a hillside next to the Wilsieville cabin. He made slow progress throughout the rest of the year on what he ultimately dubbed Operation Miranda. This codename was a reference not only to a novel he loved, but to his friendship with 23-year-old Charles Ng. One of the shared interests they had bonded over was their shared love of John Fowl's book, The Collector.

The novel follows a butterfly collector who begins kidnapping women, longing to possess them in the same way. Lake and Ing saw something of themselves in this twisted character and dreamed of imitating him. It's unclear when, but at some stage, Lake had confided in Ing about his fantasy of building a bunker that could double as a cell for female captives. By the time Lake started work on making this dream a reality, Ing had now been in prison for more than a year, but they stayed in touch via letter, and Lake kept him up to date on the project through thinly veiled references. Then as the bunker neared completion in the summer of 1984, Ing was finally released from prison.

As soon as he learned that he was being granted early release and wasn't going to be deported, he dialed Lake's number. The two friends picked up right where they left off, bonding over their shared feelings of disillusionment and betrayal toward the military. And in their toxic echo chamber, their anger grew. This shared sense of victimization might explain the pair's unusual psychological relationship and how both seemed invested in the dream of imprisoning women and their belief in an imminent nuclear apocalypse,

it's possible that Lake and Ing were experiencing a shared psychosis. This condition is commonly known by its French name, Foli adieu, literally madness for two, and involves two or more people sharing the same delusional belief. According to the DSM-5, shared psychotic disorders generally develop when one person has an already established delusion They then pass it on to the second person in the context of a close relationship.

Since we know Lake had been obsessed with the coming apocalypse for many years, this feels like a plausible explanation for how Ing came to share that delusion. In any case, the Paris delusional bond was well formed by now. So when Ing called, Lake didn't hesitate to invite his old buddy over to the cabin. And Ing was thrilled when he saw everything Lake had accomplished. The bunker was not only designed to withstand a nuclear apocalypse, it also contained a hidden prison cell. It was all coming together.

They could finally bring their favorite novel to life, collecting beautiful women and keeping them hostage. Now, all they needed was the perfect victim. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with part two, where we'll explore Lake and Ing's chilling murder spree. For more information on Leonard Lake and Charles Ing, Amongst the many sources we used, we found Don Lassiter's book,

Die for Me, the terrifying true story of the Leonard Lake Charles Ing serial murders, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound design by Billy Pace

with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Katovich. This episode of serial killers was written by Emma Dibden with writing assistants by Jane O. and Joel Callan. Fact-checking by Haley Milliken and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. Do you want to hear something? spooky.

Some monster. It reminded me of Bigfoot. Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

A beloved 75-year-old man washing up, getting ready for bed, is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hixed. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat

on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.