Charles Ng
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| Charles Ng | |
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 mugshot of Charles Ng |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name: | Charles Chi-Tat Ng |
| Born: | December 24, 1960 |
| Penalty: | Death |
| Killings | |
| Number of victims: | 12-25 |
| Span of killings: | early 1980's through 1985 |
| Country: | United States |
| State(s): | Calaveras County, California |
| Date apprehended: | July 6, 1985 |
Charles Chi-Tat Ng (Chinese: 吳志達, Cantonese IPA: [ŋ̩21 ʣ̥i33 d̥at̚22], pinyin: Wú Zhìdá; born December 24, 1960) is a Chinese-American serial killer who committed his crimes with Leonard Lake, in America.
He was born in Hong Kong and partly educated in England. As a child he was harshly disciplined by his father at every opportunity. Ng eventually moved to the United States and briefly served in the Marine Corps before he was dishonorably discharged for theft of heavy weaponary and machine guns at MCAS Kaneohe Bay. He was further charged with escape from confinement and attempt at desertion, although the charge for desertion was dropped. Ng was convicted on the remaining charges and ordered to spend 14 years in a military prison. He only served a fraction of that time before his sentence was commuted and he was released in the early 1980s. (Reference: United States vs Charles Ng)
Ng then met Leonard Lake and the pair are suspected of murdering up to 25 people at Lake's ranch in Calaveras County, California. They filmed themselves raping and torturing their victims.[1][2]
The crimes came to light in 1985 when Lake committed suicide after being arrested for a firearms offense, and police searched his ranch and found human remains. Charles Ng was identified as Lake's partner in the crimes. Ng fled to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where he was arrested by the Calgary Police Service on July 6, 1985 after resisting arrest for shoplifting at The Bay department store. Ng pulled a gun on two security officers, and after a brief struggle Ng shot one of them in the hand. However, the two officers did manage to overpower him and held him in custody. Ng was charged and subsequently convicted of shoplifting, assault, and possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to four and half years to a Canadian prison. After a long extradition battle (see Reference re Ng Extradition), Ng was finally handed over to the U.S. authorities. Ng stood trial on 12 counts of murder in 1998. He was convicted of 11 of the murders, those of six men, three women and two baby boys, and was sentenced to death. He is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
[edit] References
- ^ World: Americas Serial killer sentenced to die, BBC, Thursday, July 1, 1999 Published at 01:01 GMT 02:01 UK
- ^ Charles Ng and Leonard Lake, The Motherlode Murders, CyberSleuths True Crime, by Bill Kelly
