Calaveras County crypt opened in the hopes of shedding light on ‘80s’ serial killing duo
In the ’80s in Calaveras County, sexually sadistic serial-killing, ex-marine duo Leonard Lake and Charles Ng were raising all kinds of unspeakable hell.
The duo’s dynamic was a bizarre one. Lake was the psychotic alpha recruiting the submissive Ng to live with him in a mountainous region of Calaveras County, near a makeshift dungeon/torture chamber Lake had built from (of all places) a literary inspiration: English author John Fowles’ 1963 novel “The Collector”. In it, a disturbed young man kidnaps an art student and keeps her secluded in the basement of his country estate.
From their rural abode in Calaveras County, Lake and Ng slaughtered victims from as far away as San Francisco and the Bay Area to even the neighboring property to their dungeon.
To quote Calaveras County Sheriff Lt. Greg Stark, “I was about 12 years old when this happened. I’ve heard many stories living in this community. This obviously touched a lot of members of our community.”
The serial killings continued through the 1980s until Lake took the coward’s way out via cyanide capsule in June of ’85. Ng was later captured and remains on death row in San Quentin. The final total of dead: 11 victims accounted for, 25 suspected.
