Léonard Lake

In July 2026, the task force arranged for Frisby's remains to be returned to his family after forty years of uncertainty and indicated that further major updates on the case were being prepared.

State of the evidence

Documented

The task force used genetic genealogy to identify Reginald “Reggie” Frisby, who had never been reported missing and had not previously been associated with the case. Authorities believe he was probably a homicide victim.

State of the evidence

Documented

Fragments exhumed in 2021 were identified as belonging to Brenda Sue O’Connor through DNA analysis and genetic genealogy, then returned to her family for burial.

State of the evidence

Documented

The Calaveras Cold Case Task Force obtained a court order allowing unidentified remains held in a crypt to be exhumed and examined using modern DNA technology and genetic genealogy.

State of the evidence

Documented

Fourteen years after Lake's death, a jury found Charles Ng guilty of eleven murders connected to the Wilseyville site. The proceedings examined the videos, the victims' belongings and the role attributed to Lake in the criminal operation.

Person targeted by the proceedings

Charles Ng

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Investigators recovered Lake's journal, videos and a bunker equipped with a cell and a one-way mirror. His journal described 'Operation Miranda', a plan to hold women captive as sexual slaves.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Paul Cosner disappeared after leaving to show his Honda Prelude to a prospective buyer. In June 1985, Lake was driving this car when arrested. Prosecutors maintained that Cosner had been killed for his vehicle.

State of the evidence

Documented

Clifford Peranteau and Jeffrey Gerald, colleagues of Ng at a removals company, disappeared a few weeks apart. Both subsequently featured among the victims central to the Wilseyville case.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Charles Ng

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Kathleen Allen appears in a video recovered at the property, and her partner Michael Carroll disappeared around the same time; his driving licence and other belongings were discovered there.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Charles Ng

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

Lonnie Bond, Brenda O’Connor, their son Lonnie Jr. and Scott Stapley disappeared near Lake's property. A video showed O’Connor being held captive; the remains of Bond and Stapley were identified in 1985.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Charles Ng

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted

The theft of a vice from a lumberyard in South San Francisco prompted police to question Lake. The car belonged to the missing Paul Cosner; its boot contained, among other items, a .22-calibre firearm and an illegal silencer, and Lake was using a false identity.

Attribution

Directly implicated

Following his arrest, Lake swallowed cyanide, fell into a coma and died on 6 June 1985 without regaining consciousness.

State of the evidence

Documented

Attribution

Directly implicated

Excavations at Wilseyville uncovered the remains of at least eleven people, approximately 45 pounds of burnt or dismembered bone fragments, children's teeth, bloodstained tools, videos and the bunker cell.

Investigators progressively identified several victims, including Randy Jacobson, Lonnie Bond and Scott Stapley, and linked a long list of missing persons to the property through their belongings, vehicles or documents.

The Dubs family — Harvey, Deborah and their son Sean — disappeared from their San Francisco home. Video equipment belonging to them was subsequently recovered at the property linked to Lake.

State of the evidence

Established by a court

Attribution

Directly implicated

Person targeted by the proceedings

Charles Ng

Role of the person profiled

Protagonist not prosecuted