18 Facts About Leonard Lake

Leonard Thomas Lake, known as Leonard Hill and a variety of other aliases, was an American survivalist and serial killer.

Leonard Lake's parents divorced when he was 6, and her second marriage produced two half-sisters.

Leonard Lake was reportedly a bright child, but developed an obsession with pornography after habitually photographing his sisters nude, which his grandmother apparently encouraged.

Leonard Lake allegedly killed mice by dissolving them in chemicals, in the same manner he would later dispose of his human victims' corpses, and became fascinated with the idea of holding women captive after reading the John Fowles novel The Collector in his teens.

Leonard Lake served two tours of duty during the Vietnam War as a radar electronics technician.

Leonard Lake settled in San Jose and enrolled at San Jose State University, but dropped out after one semester upon becoming enamored of San Francisco's hippie community.

Leonard Lake moved to a commune in San Francisco and married briefly in 1969.

Leonard Lake's growing fear of impending nuclear holocaust prompted him to begin construction of a "bunker" on the settlement grounds until the owner of the property became aware of the project and ordered it halted.

Leonard Lake met Charles Ng, a fellow former Marine who was originally from Hong Kong, in 1980 or 1981.

Leonard Lake jumped bail and began life as a fugitive, using various aliases and disguises in an attempt to hide his identity.

Leonard Lake first stayed in an apartment rented by one of Lake's sisters before moving into an apartment on Lenox Ave in San Francisco that autumn.

Meanwhile, Leonard Lake moved into a remote cabin near Wilseyville owned by his in-laws.

Leonard Lake is known to have committed several murders without the assistance of Ng, and wrote in his journal that Ng was initially "very hesitant to get involved with my plan".

Leonard Lake attempted to pay for the vise, but by then police had arrived.

Leonard Lake was arrested after a gun equipped with a prohibited silencer was found in the trunk of his vehicle, a 1980 Honda Prelude, and was later positively identified via a fingerprint search.

At the station, Leonard Lake was placed in an interrogation room where he was given a pen, paper, and a glass of water.

The license plate on Leonard Lake's vehicle was registered to Lonnie Bond, but the VIN on the Honda itself was registered to Paul Cosner, who had disappeared from San Francisco in November 1984.

Leonard Lake was called as a key witness in Ng's trial in 1999.