STATE : Canada Orders Torture-Murder Suspect Charles Ng Extradited

OTTAWA —  Charles Ng, wanted in California to face 13 murder charges in a string of grisly sex-torture slayings, has been ordered extradited by Justice Minister Doug Lewis.

But Ng, who lost one previous round of appeals in the courts, still has legal avenues open to challenge the ruling handed down today by the minister.

Ng, a former U.S. Marine, is accused in a series of torture murders that occurred in 1985 at a remote mountain home in Wilseyville, about 150 miles east of San Francisco, owned by the family of Leonard Lake, Ng’s companion.

Ng and Lake have been linked to two dozen slayings. The evidence includes at least one videotape of a murder victim.

Ng was captured by Canadian authorities in July, 1985, and imprisoned there for attempted murder, stemming from a shoplifting attempt at a downtown Calgary department store. Lake had committed suicide the previous month.