Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “Killing Team” Leonard Lake and Charles Ng Pt. 2

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

By the summer of 1984, Leonard Lake finished construction on his fallout shelter. There, Lake and his partner-in-crime, Charles Ng, tortured, raped, and murdered countless female victims. But women weren’t their only targets. Over the course of the next year, the murderous duo even killed off entire families. 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, rape, sexual assault, kidnapping, torture, and suicide that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. It was a beautiful July morning in 1984, but all was not well. As Barbara Speaker brewed a pot of coffee in her apartment, she tried her best to remain calm. She knew she was probably overreacting, but ever since her upstairs neighbors had seemingly vanished, she'd been on edge. Harvey and Deborah Dubs were a sweet young couple, just starting their lives together in San Francisco

with their one-year-old son. Barbara knew it was possible that they'd just taken a spontaneous trip out of town, but it wasn't like them. They would have told her about it first. But then, just above her, she heard the sounds of footsteps coming from the Dubs' apartment. Relieved, she headed upstairs to greet her friends. However, instead of the young family, Barbara ran into a complete stranger. A young man in his 20s walked out of the Dubbs home, carrying a bulky duffel bag in each hand.

Confused, Barbara stared at him, but he didn't stop to explain who he was or what he was doing. In fact, he avoided her gaze altogether and hurried down the hallway. Barbara followed the stranger out onto the street, trying to get him to stop, But the man kept on walking, pretending he couldn't hear her. But Barbara was persistent. She called out to him once more until he finally looked back and stared coldly into her eyes. At that moment, Barbara knew something was very, very wrong. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson.

This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're concluding the story of the sadistic duo Leonard Lake and Charles Ing. 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. Last time, we discussed how Lake and Ing grew up as outcasts in San Francisco and Hong Kong, respectively. We tracked both men's experience in the military and how a shared obsession with disaster and violence brought them together.

Today, we'll take you inside Lake and Ing's murder bunker in the Sierra Nevada foothills and examine how they enslaved young women and slaughtered entire families. We'll also explore the chaotic investigation that left one man behind bars and the other dead. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels, but you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more.

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Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life. Drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Bucks slot machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a 1.6 million

billion dollar dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club's Toronto members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21 to enter. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. In the summer of 1984, Leonard Lake felt that his life was finally falling into place. At 38, he was on the cusp of accomplishing his greatest goal, building a secure fortress in the middle of the California woods, where he could ride out the coming apocalypse and carry out his darkest fantasies. He'd spent months excavating a hillside next to his cabin in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Now he was finishing construction of the bunker itself, laying down concrete in the sweltering sun. After so much hard work, Lake couldn't wait to show the bunker off, but his 27-year-old on-off girlfriend and former wife, Clarolin, wasn't impressed. While she was open to a lot of things, including Lake's more twisted sexual appetites, she'd never shown much interest in his survivalist project. It's unclear exactly how much Clairelin knew about Lake's plans for the bunker. The cabin belonged to her parents, and she clearly spent at least part of her time there with Lake, but her level of involvement remains a mystery.

Whatever the case, Lake was eager to find someone who'd truly appreciate what he was building, So when he got a call from his friend, 23-year-old Charles Ng, he was thrilled. Ng was a fellow survivalist who shared many of Lake's twisted obsessions. He was also fresh out of prison and needed a place to crash. Something Lake didn't seem to mind. So when Ing arrived at the cabin in early July, the two men happily reconnected. They chatted about Ing's time behind bars, as well as their shared fantasy of capturing women and keeping them as sex. slaves. But to Lake, the talk was more than wishful thinking. With Ing by a side, he was determined

to bring his darkest fantasies to life, and he'd already figured out how to make it all happen. At some point, Lake brought Ing to see the bunker. There, he proudly gave In a tour of his main workshop, a 20-foot-by-12-foot room, furnished with a sturdy workbench and various power tools. To the casual observer, it looked like a fairly standard toolshed. But Ing wasn't. to casual observer. He quickly noticed that the inside of the workshop was much smaller than the dimensions of the bunker from the outside. He looked expectantly at Lake, then asked, where's the rest? With a grin, Lake walked over to the plywood wall where the power tools hung and pulled it open to reveal a hidden door. Behind the door was a small room, containing a bed,

a nightstand, and stacks of books about chemicals, explosives, and warfare. On the wall, a wooden Plack read Operation Miranda. This name was a reference to Lake's favorite book, The Collector by John Fowles. The novel told the fictional story of a young man who kidnapped a woman named Miranda and held her captive in his cellar. To pay tribute to the novel, Lake fitted the bunker with another surprise. Behind a bookshelf lay another hidden room, or, to be more accurate, a hostage cell. Smaller than the average U.S. prison cell.

It was about three feet wide and seven feet long, just big enough to contain a narrow bed, a chemical toilet, and a water container. Lakehead drilled holes in the wall to allow for ventilation. There was also a window between the cell and the main bedroom, made out of two-way glass. It was reflective on one side, but transparent on the other. This viewing window was equipped with a military starlight scope, which was designed specifically for low-light conditions.

In other words, whoever was in the main window, bedroom could easily spy on the inhabitant of the cell, while the prisoner would only see their own reflection. You see, Lake planned to imitate art and capture his very own Miranda. He wanted to kidnap a woman and keep her as a permanent sex slave, who he could brainwash into falling in love with him. But more than anything else, he wanted a woman who'd be around whenever he wanted her, then disappear whenever he was finished with her. Simply put, he wanted complete control.

Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa isn't a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. According to psychologist Michael Webster, the very act of kidnapping often comes down to a deep craving for control. In a 2007 overview for the U.S. Department of Justice, Webster expanded on this phenomenon and identified two distinct motivations for kidnapping.

The first is instrumental, where the kidnapping is designed to gain some other benefit like money. The second is expressive, meaning the kidnapping itself is the end goal because it gives the criminal a feeling of power over their victim. Expressive kidnappings usually pose more danger for the victim because there's no external motivation to keep them alive. In fact, harming or killing the victim may even be part of the expressive purpose of the kidnapping because it completes the kidnapper's sense of total control over the victim. Of the two men, it seems Lake, had dreams of carrying out an expressive kidnapping the longest.

But eventually, Ing also shared this fantasy, so much so that the two became partners in crime. It was a match made in hell. With most of the hard labor already done, all they needed now was a Miranda. And for that, they needed to head back to the city where they'd have more options. Fortunately for them, Lake grew up in San Francisco and knew the districts well. Hunting for a base, he settled on an apartment close to Golden Gate Park, around 150 miles southwest of the bunker. Ing sometimes crashed at Lake's apartment, but he didn't want to be too reliant on his friend, so he also stayed with an aunt. During this time, Ing also started going by the alias Mike Kimoto, using a stolen driver's license and social security card.

He may well have gotten this idea from Lake, who had a long hair. history of identity theft. If he did take his cue from the older man, it suggests that Ng was completely in Lake's thrall. Ing was 15 years Lake's junior and in a more vulnerable position, being both an undocumented immigrant and a felon. According to psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Grassian, Ing sought out strong authority figures. When he first came to the United States, he found it in the Marines. When that went south, he clung to Lake, who embodied the military mindset and dominant

personality, Ing craved. As far as we can tell, Lake certainly seems to have been the dominant force in their friendship. But days after Lake and Ing arrived in San Francisco, something happened to complicate this balance. Though reports have never been confirmed, and Ing was never convicted, it's believed that he committed his first murder in the summer of 1984. In early July, 36-year-old San Francisco DJ, Albert Joletti, placed a personal ad in the newspaper, offering or...

sexual sex for straight men. A man responded, and on the night of July 11th, he went to Gilletti's home. But instead of a night of fun, the man gunned Joletti down. His roommate, 31-year-old Richard Carraza was also shot, but survived. Joletti wasn't so lucky. In the aftermath of the murder, Karatza described the killer as a young, thin, Asian man, wearing prescription glasses, a description that matches Ing. More damningly, the bullet that killed Joletti matched those later found in Ing's gun, but at the time there was nothing that led investigators to suspect him, and the murder was never officially solved. If this was Ing's first kill, it's hard to see him simply as an easily led passive accomplice.

He took the initiative to answer Joletti's personal ad, figuring it would be an easy way in. Then again, it's possible that Lake was pulling the strings. Perhaps he instructed Ing to carry out the murder and validated him when he succeeded. It's also possible that Lake told Ing that in order to take part in Operation Miranda, he had to earn it. Whatever the case, there was no turning back. They were ready to put Operation Miranda into action. Shortly after Gilletti was murdered, Inc saw another newspaper ad from a local man offering audiovisual equipment.

29-year-old Harvey Dubs was a graphic designer who'd recently started his own business, offering professional video recordings of weddings and christenings as well as equipment for rent. When Ing responded to the ad, he asked if he could come by on July 25th. Harvey told him that while he wouldn't be home, his wife Deborah could show him the equipment. Ng happily agreed. According to authorities, when he arrived at the Dubbs apartment, Deborah led him inside.

At first, Inge pretended to be interested in the equipment, asking Deborah a few technical questions. Throughout all of this, Harvey and Deborah's 16-month-old son, Sean, was playing in the corner. When Deborah's back was turned, Ing grabbed the child. He told Deborah that unless she did exactly as he said, he'd kill her son. Terrified, she agreed and allowed Inge to tie her up. When Harvey arrived home, Ing also forced him into submission by threatening the toddler. He restrained and gagged both Harvey and Sean, then made Harvey take strong sleeping pills. Other than that, we don't know much about what happened inside the apartment.

What we do know is that by the following evening, the Dubbs' friends were already worried. The trio were often seen out and about, so word of their disappearance spread fast. When their downstairs neighbor Barbara Speaker heard footsteps in the apartment on Friday morning, she immediately opened her door to see what was going on. But instead of the Dubbs, she saw Ing leaving the apartment with two heavy duffel bags in his hands. He seemed to be in a hurry and ignored her attempts to speak to him. Barbara followed the intruder out to the curb, desperate for answers, but within seconds a Volkswagen screeched up and whisked in away.

The driver was Leonard Lake. Considering how concerned she'd been for her neighbors, it's not clear why Barbara didn't immediately contact the police, but in all likelihood she felt that she was overreacting and tried to put the incident from her mind. But around 12 hours later, as she was returning to the apartment after dinner, her concerns returned with a vengeance. For the second time that day,

she heard movement coming from the upstairs apartment. And this time around, she saw Lake carrying another bundle of possessions out of the apartment. Unnerved, Barbara alerted her husband, and they reported both sightings to the San Francisco police. Barbara also provided a sketch of Ing. But it was already too late. At some point, Lake and Ing had hurted the dubses into a van

and driven them to the cabin in Wilsieville. But as Lake and Ng were solely interested in Deborah, they had no use for either Harvey and Sean. As such, either on route or possibly back at the bunker, Lake and In strangled both the father and son to death. Afterwards, they marched Deborah to their bunker, pushed her into the hidden prison cell, and locked the door.

Up next, Operation Miranda takes a deadly turn. 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 Stefania Hakeman, host of the new podcast series, Deathbed 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 confessed 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 DeathBet Confessions for free on Spotify.

Now back to the story. In July of 1984, 38-year-old Leonard Lake and 23-year-old Charles Ng finally had what they'd longed for, a female prisoner they could use as their sex slave. After murdering Deborah Dubbs' husband Harvey and her son Sean. Lake and Inge forced her into their Northern California bunker. There, the two men repeatedly tortured and raped her. For how long, we don't know. But eventually,

they strangled her to death. Afterwards, the pair buried the three bodies nearby. Back in San Francisco, the Dubs' relatives and friends were frantically searching for the missing family. Harvey's father filed a missing persons report with the San Francisco police, and the case was assigned to a team of experienced detectives. Meanwhile, Lake Ant Ing bided their time, laying low for the remainder of the summer. Or at least, that's how they made it seem. There's no concrete evidence to prove it, but authorities believe that the duo may have continued to hunt down more women,

more Miranda's, throughout the summer. Unfortunately, it's hard for us to know for sure. At some point, the men switched from bearing their victims to burning their bodies into ash. As such, many of their kills have never been confirmed or identified. Interestingly, it's Lake's own admissions that suggest their ghastly activity. That September, he went back to writing journal entries after an uncharacteristic two-month silence. In one entry, he wrote jubilantly about he and Ing's success at bringing Project Miranda to fruition. He also explained that this period of time was, quote, best left unrecorded.

In the same entry, he wrote, the perfect woman is one who is totally controlled, a woman who does exactly what she is told and nothing else. There are no sexual problems with a totally submissive woman. There are no frustrations. There is only pleasure and contentment. In other words, he wanted a woman who would never, could never reject him, which speaks to his intense insecurity. According to Professor Sherry Hamby of the University of the South in Tennessee, insecurity can drive men to seek total control over women. Speaking to the Guardian about the psychology of captors,

Hamby explained that controlling other people is a way of giving these perpetrators a sense of mastery over their environment. It also gives them a sense of protection. They cannot be victimized themselves if they have complete control. By enslaving a woman, Lake likely believed he could eliminate any risk of rejection or humiliation, something it appears he was very much concerned with. In another journal entry, he wrote bitterly about how life was a beauty contest, in which good-looking men and women got whatever they wanted, while not-so-great-looking types like him got a raw deal,

but in the mountains he could change all that. Upset by the cards they've been handed, Lakin Eng were determined to turn the tables. In the confines of their isolated bunker, the pair forced the women they enslaved. to treat them like gods. But out in the real world, both men were struggling to get by. By the fall of 1984, they were broke, so they hit pause on Operation Miranda and returned to the city to find work.

In got a job at a moving company in San Francisco, and Lake went back to dealing drugs. He became a fixture at several apartment buildings where residents knew him as Alan Dre, an eccentric character with a reliably cheap product. One such resident was Randy Jacobson, a 34-year-old army veteran who regularly bought weed from Lake. Disillusioned and haunted by what he'd experienced in Vietnam, Jacobson now lived on Social Security disability checks. As we discussed in the previous episode, Lake hated people who received welfare checks,

so much so that he murdered both his brother and his best friend because they were, quote, leeches who lived off disability money. So when he met Jacobson, Lake likely saw him as a perfect target. He needed money, and Jacobson's stolen checks would tide him over for a while. He had to go. To get Jacobson alone, it's believed that Lake offered him a job in his marijuana operation. And that October, the two men left for San Jose, likely on a run. Jacobson was never seen again. Exactly what happened next remains a mystery.

However, we do know that Jacobson's remains, ended up buried in a shallow grave near Lake's bunker. Then, later that month, Lake and Ing teamed up for another joint murder. Just as they'd done with the Dub family, the duo answered a newspaper ad from 39-year-old Paul Costner, who was selling his Honda. On Halloween night, 1984, Costner buzzed Lake and Ing into his apartment,

expecting to hand over the title to his car in exchange for cash. Instead, he opened the door to find a gun in his face. The pair forced Costner out of his apartment and drove him to an ATM on the outskirts of the city. There they ordered him to withdraw money. But for the first time, Lake and Ing met resistance. Costner refused to give him any money. Frustrated and furious, they shot him dead. And just as they'd done with their previous victims,

they drove his body to the Sierra Nevada bunker and buried him in a grave. It's difficult to track a throughline in Lake and Inns' crimes. Despite their dramatic predictions about a nuclear apocalypse and Lake's self-important planning, the pair were inept and disorganized. They killed for short-term gains, money or goods, and made little progress toward their supposed master plan, one in which they kept a sex slave hostage for a long period of time. Unfortunately, by the winter of 1984, things only got worse. After spending Christmas with Lake's family in San Bruno, California, Lake and Ing drove back down to San Francisco,

Francisco for New Year's. Though he seemed relaxed throughout the festivities, Ing was hiding a simmering anger. Since starting his job at the moving company four months earlier, Ing had alienated most of his colleagues, who found his behavior particularly unsettling. Ing had poor boundaries and reportedly chanted disturbing phrases to himself, including, no gun, no fun, and no kill, no thrill.

24-year-old Clifford Peranto was particularly annoyed, with Ing and often clashed with his co-worker. But on January 18, 1985, it appears they finally found some common ground. You see, the 49ers won the Super Bowl that night, and Peranto was more than thrilled. So much so that a bartender reported that he saw Peranto leaving the bar to celebrate with Ing. As far as we know, Peranto was never seen again. Two weeks later, his boss at the moving company received a typed resignation letter,

supposedly from Parentho. The letter asked that Parentho's final check be sent to his new address in Wilseville, California. The same area Lake in Inns bunker was located. Soon after that, on February 23rd, another one of Ing's colleagues went missing. That day, 25-year-old Jeff Gerald told his roommate that he was going out to meet Ing

to do a private moving job together. He promised he'd be back that evening, but he never returned. Though the specifics were never, confirmed, it's likely that Ing drove his victims out to the cabin where he and Lake shot them dead. Then they burned their bodies' cremation style. Having murdered two colleagues in such a short span, Ing was clearly getting a taste for the hunt. Soon enough, he began to wonder who else from his life he could lure into a trap.

Unfortunately for 23-year-old Michael Carroll, Ing settled on him. That April, Inc contacted his former cellmate from his time at Leavenworth Prison. It's not clear exactly what Inge said to Carol, but on April 12th, Carol told a friend that he was going to San Francisco to see a friend about purchasing some video equipment. Two days later, Carol's girlfriend, 18-year-old Kathleen Allen, got a call during her shift at a supermarket. When she answered the phone, a man introduced himself as a friend of mics. He told her that her boyfriend had been shot and wounded and was asking for her.

Panic-stricken, Kathleen told her boss that she needed to take the rest of the day off and headed out into the parking lot. There, witnesses saw her get into a Honda driven by a man in his 40s. As far as we know, the man on the phone and the man behind the wheel was 39-year-old Leonard Lake. To make matters worse, Lake was telling Kathleen the truth, partly. Mike really had been shot, but he wasn't wounded. He was dead. And though Kathleen thought she was going to his aid, she was really walking right into a trap.

Lake drove Kathleen to the cabin where Ing was waiting. The two men quickly overpowered her, put her in handcuffs, and took her to the hidden room deep inside the bunker. Then they started recording. On camera, Lake alternately threatened and cajoled Kathleen. He told her that if she didn't cooperate, they'd shoot her in the head and bury her with Mike. But the very next moment he told Kathleen that he liked her. He admitted that both Ing and himself were scared and nervous. They'd never done this before, he claimed.

He promised that if Kathleen agreed to have sex with them, they'd be nice to her. And perhaps hoping that cooperation would save her life, Kathleen said she'd do whatever the men wanted. In some stories, people who do their best to cooperate with their attackers managed to escape or are set free, even by experienced killers. It's possible that if a killer sees their victim as a human, even a friend,

they feel guilt they otherwise might not. Unfortunately, Kathleen was contending with monsters who had little interest in her friendship or humanity. Lakin Ng held her prisoner for several days, sexually assaulted her, and forced her to strip on camera. Then, eventually, they grew tired of her. The exact date of Kathleen's murder is unlawful. unknown, but soon after they brought her to the bunker, Lake and Ing shot and killed her

and buried her beside her boyfriend, Mike. The twisted killers were on a roll and nothing was going to stop them. Well, not unless they made a stupid mistake. Coming up, Lake and Ing's spree comes to a chilling end. Now back to the story. In the spring of 1985, 39-year-old Lenton Leonard Lake and 24-year-old Charles Ing lured Kathleen Allen to their hillside compound. For days, they raped and tortured the 18-year-old, but eventually they killed her. For whatever reason, Kathleen hadn't panned out as a long-term captive, but the pair were undeterred. They were determined to find their Miranda, and to make things easier, they targeted victims far closer to home.

Of course, this didn't leave them with many options. The Willsy's The L'Evil cabin didn't have a lot of neighbors. In fact, Lake had chosen it precisely for its isolation. But there were a few other houses dotted around the same hillside. The closest thing Lake and In had to next-door neighbors was the Bond family. 27-year-old Lonnie Bond, his 19-year-old girlfriend Brenda O'Connor, and their two-year-old son, Lonnie Jr. They also had a housemate, 26-year-old Robin Stapley. The Bonds lived just up the hill from the cabin.

They had a tense history with Lake, who they knew. as Charles Gunner. Some of the friction could be dismissed as ordinary neighborly disagreements. Lake made a noise complaint against the bonds, while they found it irritating that Lake and Ing left a communal driveway gate unlocked. But other incidents were more sinister. Once, Lake asked Brenda to pose nude for a photo shoot. When Lonnie found out, he wasn't happy, but he didn't want to confront his neighbor.

On the few occasions he'd seen the inside of Lake's house, Lonnie was unsettled by Lake's collection of guns, grenades, and amateur erotic movies. Sensing danger, Lonnie warned his family to steer clear of Charles Gunner. But on April 19th, tensions came to a head. That day, Robin was driving the Bond family north from San Diego to spend a few days at their cabin. Somewhere along a quiet stretch of the I-5 Freeway close to Bakersfield, California, their semi was forced off the road by another vehicle. Based on partial reports, it's assumed that the driver was none other than 25-year-old Charles Ng. But Ing wasn't alone.

As far as we can tell, both Ing and Lake emerged from a pickup truck, brandishing loaded guns. They forced the family to get into their vehicle, then drove them to the Wilseville compound. There, they shot Lonnie and Robin in the head, bound their bodies together with tape, and stuffed them into a sleeping bag, before bearing them in the yard. Meanwhile, Brenda was locked deep inside the bunker's prison cell, scared and alone. Lake and Ing relished her despair and videotaped themselves taunting her. In the video, Inge tells her, You can cry in stuff like the rest of them, but it won't do any good.

Like Kathleen, Brenda had no choice but to cooperate with her captors. She had no idea what the men had done to her child and begged for his safety. Unfortunately, Lake and her. and Ing had no interest in her pleas. At some point, they killed Brenda's toddler, and after holding her prisoner for an unknown number of days, they killed her too. Interestingly, the pair initially wanted to kidnap a woman and keep her as a sex slave for a long period of time. But ultimately, all three Miranda victims that we know of were murdered within days. Needless to say, for all their months of planning, Lake and Inge

lacked the patience and expertise to actually carry out their master plan. And soon, their sloppiness cost them everything. On June 2nd, 1985, Lake and Ing drove into town to get supplies. Among the many instruments they'd used to torture victims was a vice, a metal tool with movable jaws. At some point, they'd broken their vice and needed a replacement. But because they were so short on cash, they couldn't afford to buy one. So Ing and Lake improvised and made their way into a hardware store. As lay covered nearby, Ng swiped a vice and hid it underneath his oversized parka.

Then, trying to look nonchalant, he walked out of the store. Unfortunately, Inge didn't hide his contraband fast enough, and a police officer caught him in the act. Feeling the heat, Inge tossed the vice in the back of his car and fled the scene on foot. While Ing made his escape, the officer approached the vehicle and began a routine search. He quickly discovered that the trunk was a jar and came across a handgun and silencer. Using his radio, the officer called in the report and established that the weapons were registered

to 26-year-old Robin Stapley. But just as he finished giving his report, Lake emerged from the store. He introduced himself to the officer as Stapley and explained that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. He said that he'd even paid for the vice for his friend. But the officer wasn't buying any of his friend. it. He felt certain that he'd stumbled onto something much bigger than a simple misunderstanding.

As such, he placed Lake under arrest and continued searching the rest of the car. Inside, police found photographs of the Bond family, a stun gun, and a vehicle identification number belonging to Paul Costner, who'd been missing for nine months. With evidence mounting against him, Lake was taken into custody and interrogated. Interestingly, it didn't take long for him to cave under. the pressure. He gave the police his real name, as well as Ings. He also agreed to cooperate. But it was a ruse. With the police nearby, Lake did what many killers do when faced with their crimes. He found a way to end his own life. Lake's dramatic suicide made it clear that

the stakes of this case were much higher and darker than the authorities had ever imagined. The police brought Clarolin in for questioning, hoping she could shed some light on the mysteries her ex-husband left behind. They also searched her parents' house, seizing a car, a truck, and several bags of evidence tied to Lake. Unfortunately, we're not exactly sure what Clarolin knew, and she was never named as a suspect. Even still, she clearly feared for her own future.

After two weeks, she stopped cooperating with the police and lawyered up. Unless she received full immunity, she wouldn't say another word. Meanwhile, the police struggled to locate Ing. However, in his absence, they searched the Wilseville cabin and quickly uncovered Lake's nightmarish bunker. With its one-way glass and its built-in prison cell, the space was incriminating enough, but once the officers started digging, both literally and figuratively, they uncovered

a grisly collection of clues. They found candid photographs of young women in various states of undress, lakes' journals detailing his Miranda plans and videotapes, labeled M-Ladies, which showed Brenda and Kathleen being tortured. They also found several partially decomposed corpses in the yard, along with burned and shattered bone fragments. Throughout several weeks of grim excavation, the authorities unearthed six corpses, several organs, and a total of 45 pounds of bone fragments. In all, they estimated that the remains came from at least 20. As the Californian authorities carried out this horrifying search, the FBI joined the effort to hunt Ing down.

They knew he had relatives in Hong Kong, Canada, and England, as well as military friends in Hawaii. As such, he could be almost anywhere. The FBI even alerted Scotland Yard in England and Interpol across Europe, casting as wide of a net as possible. But Ing had only made it as far as Canada. For more than a month, he laid low at the United. in Calgary, living in a park in the southern part of the city. And then, after 34 days, he made a lapse in judgment so bizarre that it's tempting to think he wanted to be caught.

After narrowly avoiding arrest for shoplifting in California, you'd imagine Ing would know better than to risk it again. But in July of 1985, the 25-year-old walked out of a grocery store with several items tucked inside his bag. Two security guards noticed what he was doing and stopped him from leaving. When they did, Inge pulled out a gun and a struggle ensued. In the chaos, one of the security guards was shot through the hand. After that, Inge was eventually overpowered and taken into custody. He was convicted of felonious assault and possession of a concealed weapon

and sentenced to four years in a Canadian prison. Meanwhile, back in California, prosecutors filed nine murder charges against Ing. Clarolin's request for immunity had also been granted, and she agreed to testify for the state. Knowing their client would likely face the death penalty in America, Ing's lawyers fought to prevent him from leaving Canada. But after a lengthy fight, he was extradited to the U.S. in 1991. And still, that was only the beginning.

Once he was returned to California to await trial, Ing and his lawyers fought the charges at every turn. Over the next eight years, his trial became the most drawn-out an expensive criminal proceeding in U.S. criminal history. But his string of lawyers could only delay the inevitable for so long. In October of 1998, 13 years after his arrest, Ing's trial finally began. The 37-year-old based 12 counts of murder.

Ing's defense strategy hinged on proving that Lake was the ringleader, while Ing was simply a reluctant sidekick. Lake hadn't hesitated to throw Ing under the bus when the police arrested him in 19. And now it seems Ing wanted to do the same. Over the course of the four-month trial, Ing's defense team portrayed him as an abused child, who was never encouraged to be assertive or stand up for himself.

The result was that he grew up into someone who would latch onto authority figures and do anything for their approval. Psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Grassian supported this theory and testified in court that Ing was, quote, the type of person that would have ended up in South America drinking Kool-Aid. This was a reference to the Jonestown massacre, in which cult members completed suicide and mass. While on the stand, Grassian added, quote,

I don't think he was predestined in terms of violence or sadism. While some of these statements may have been true, the prosecution's case was far too damning. In addition to Clareland's statements and all the evidence gathered from the cabin, the state also had testimony from Ing's former cellmate, Joseph Laburge. In the 1988, in the 1988, deposition, LaBerge swore that Ing had confessed to the killings in graphic and gleeful detail. Needless to say, it was clear to all that Ing was far from an innocent bystander. He was just as much of a sadistic murderer as Lake. And in February of 1999, 39-year-old Charles Ing was convicted on 11 counts of murder and

sentenced to death. As of this recording, the 60-year-old remains on death row in San Quentin's state prison. Due to a 2019 moratorium on executions in California, Ing will likely never be executed. Perhaps that's only fitting. Thanks to his partnership with Lake, Ing stripped countless women of their power before they met their end. Now he will most likely die in the same way.

Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with another episode. 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 Ng serial murders, extremely helpful in 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.

Cereal Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Billy Pace, with production assistants, by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Joshua Kern. This episode of serial killers was written by Emma Dibdin, with writing assistance 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.

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