Sex Killings Suspect Admits Helping Dispose of Body

Charles Ng confessed that he helped Leonard Lake dispose of a murder victim’s body, according to court documents entered as evidence during his extradition hearing.

San Francisco police inspector Edward Erdelatz said in an affidavit released Thursday that the admission came when he interviewed Ng in 1986 in Calgary about the murder of Paul Cosner, a 39-year-old San Francisco car salesman.

Lake, who committed suicide after being taken into custody in 1985, was also suspected in the slaying and others.

“Ng stated that Lake said he (Lake) had just shot Cosner, whose body was in (Cosner’s) car,” Erdelatz said. “Ng stated he then helped Lake dispose of Cosner’s body.”

Ng, a Hong Kong native, also is accused in the slayings of 12 people between June, 1984, and January, 1985. The homicide charges involve 11 sex-torture killings at a rural cabin in Calaveras County, about 150 east of San Francisco, and the death of a San Francisco disc jockey.

Justice Marguerite Trussler of Alberta Court of the Queen’s Bench must decide whether there is enough evidence to send Ng, 27, to California to face 25 felony charges.

Ng was captured in Calgary after shooting a security guard. He is now serving a 4 1/2-year sentence at a maximum-security prison in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.