Ng Jurors Told of ‘Evil Bond’ Forged in Serial Killings

Accused serial murderer Charles Ng forged an “evil bond” with an accomplice as they meticulously planned a killing spree that claimed a dozen victims, a prosecutor told jurors Monday as one of the state’s longest and costliest homicide prosecutions drew to a close.

Deputy State Atty. Gen. Sharlene Honnaka focused on countering claims by Ng’s defense attorney that the murders were the work of Leonard Lake, a survivalist who killed himself after being arrested in 1985. Honnaka told the Orange County Superior Court jury the evidence shows that Ng and Lake were equally responsible for the string of murders at a remote Northern California cabin in 1984 and 1985.

Emphasizing the strongest evidence in the case, Honnaka asked the jurors in Santa Ana to again view chilling videotapes that show Ng and Lake allegedly threatening to kill two frightened women unless they became the men’s sex slaves.

The two women in the videotapes--identified as Kathleen Allen and Brenda O’Connor--disappeared shortly after the recordings were made, and they are presumed among the dead. The videotapes include both men making references to other people allegedly murdered at the cabin. Honnaka pointed to this as evidence of Ng’s active involvement in the slayings.

“Think of the trust that there must exist between two people to make a videotape that is capturing you and capturing your cohort with a victim, and a confession to having killed,” she told jurors.

Ng’s defense team may present its closing argument as early as today. Ng’s attorneys have said that Lake was solely responsible for the murders. The charred remains of at least a dozen bodies were found buried on his property in Wilseyville.

At the cabin in Calaveras County, investigators also found a bunker that prosecutors say Ng and Lake used as a cell to keep some of their victims captive. Most of the victims came from the San Francisco area, but they also included a former Garden Grove resident, Scott Stapley.

Ng, 38, a San Francisco man, fled to Canada after Lake’s arrest and was extradited in 1991. The trial was moved to Orange County because of extensive pretrial publicity in Northern California.

Ng, who faces the death penalty if convicted, observed attentively during Monday’s hearing, occasionally making notes on a pad.

The prosecutor portrayed Ng and Lake as clever plotters who lured victims to the cabin with offers of marijuana or a chance to shoot targets. After robbing and killing them, Honnaka said, the partners would try to cover their tracks by making it appear that the victims had moved from their homes.

But despite the elaborate efforts to conceal their crimes, Honnaka said, plenty of evidence existed that linked Ng to the murders, including several personal items belonging to victims that were later found buried near the cabin.

Honnaka also presented cartoon drawings she said were penned by Ng, calling them a confession in the defendant’s “own hand.” One shown to the jury contained sketches of the victims, with the phrase “No kill, no thrill. No gun, no fun,” scrawled along the side.

“This is an admission by this defendant that he killed those people,” she said.

Family members of several victims attended the hearing, occasionally crying or clutching hands for support when Honnaka described the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Lola Stapley of Garden Grove said afterward that the evidence was convincing.

“A picture tells a thousand words. There’s been plenty of pictures, and they’re damning,” she said.