Ng and Lake were the evil forces behind between 11 and 25 gruesome rapes, tortures and killings in the mid-1980s. Born in Hong Kong and educated briefly at a boarding school in London, Ng moved to America to study at Notre Dame de Namur university in California. After dropping out he briefly enlisted in the U.S. military with false documents. Within a year, he was discharged for theft. Lake was a native Californian, a survivalist obsessed with the idea of a nuclear holocaust. He planned to live in a remote cabin, but he had other plans for the remote area in Wilseyville, California, which involved a dungeon and a willing accomplice. In 1981, Lake placed a magazine advert to find just such an accomplice, and Ng quickly responded. Thus was born one of the most heinous killing duos in history. By the time Ng joined Lake at this cabin and custom dungeon, Lake may have already murdered his brother and his best friend. The two proceeded to kidnap, sexually assault and murder up to 25 victims including two young families. They filmed each instance of rape, torture and murder. It was a fortuitous incident in 1985 that brought a halt to the two men's homicidal rampage. Ng was shoplifting and was caught on camera; Lake tried to cover their tracks by returning to the hardware store from which Ng had stolen and offering to pay, but the police had arrived on the scene. The police checked out Lake's license plate and found them linked to another vehicle - they suspected Lake had used a fake ID - so they searched the vehicle and found a gun, at which point they arrested Lake. Lake consumed poison while in custody, first disclosing his own and Ng's identity to police. Law enforcement officials were consequently led to the cabin and torture chamber. Videos showing the tortures and one of Ng telling a victim that her crying would do no good as he and Lake were 'pretty cold hearted, so to speak', clearly demonstrated Ng's involvement in up to 25 murders. Ng had fled to Canada, but it was again his shoplifting which led to his being found in Calgary. He was extradited to the U.S. and stood trial. Ng is currently on death row.
