2 More Bodies Discovered at Lake’s Cabin

A pair of rotting corpses pulled from a shallow grave spurred renewed digging Wednesday near Leonard Lake’s remote hillside house, and his former wife appeared before a grand jury to answer questions about the case.

The decomposing but intact bodies, buried in sleeping bags, brought to at least 11 the number of dead found near the remote Calaveras County cabin used by the self-styled survivalist and his companion, Charles C. Ng. The victims, both unidentified adults, died in the last three to six months, coroner’s officials estimated.

“The feet of both victims were bound together with tape,” Calaveras County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Stenquist said Wednesday. “One victim was lying on top of the other. There was no dirt between them. They were both buried at the same time.”

In San Francisco, Lake’s former wife, Claralyn Balazs, appeared Wednesday before a criminal grand jury. Her attorney, Stan Rozanski, said she had been subpoenaed, as had a 1985 personal calendar and some letters from Lake, who died June 6 in police custody, a suicide by poisoning.

Authorities have linked at least 22 dead or missing people to the investigation, which includes a search within a five-mile radius of the remote cabin--an area that covers about 80 square miles of rugged, isolated terrain.

Ng Blames Lake

Ng, 24, charged in Calgary, Alberta, with attempted murder in the shooting of a department store security guard, has told investigators that Lake was responsible for the deaths of at least six of those people at the rural hillside compound where searchers have found charred bone fragments, bloody tools and videotapes.

Police say Ng appears on some of the videotapes, including one in which he threatens a terrified woman with a knife.

The latest grave was discovered Monday, and the two bodies were sent to San Francisco on Tuesday for further analysis.