THE CHAMBER
PAGE 7 OF 8

Further slowing matters was Ng himself, who apparently used his time well in Canada to bone up on American law.
harles Ng, Satan's Christmas present to the world, was born Dec. 24, 1961 in Hong Kong, the son of a wealthy businessman. Press reports say he was expelled from several schools before being sent to a boarding school where his uncle taught in Yorkshire, England. He was once again expelled, this time for shoplifting at a department store and stealing from another student. He was sent back to Hong Kong.
     At the age of 18 he came to the U.S. on a student visa to attend the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, Calif. He dropped out after a single semester.
     In October 1979 he was convicted for a hit-and-run, non-injury automobile accident and ordered to pay restitution. Instead, he decided to join the Marines. Somehow he was able to convince military authorities that he was an American citizen, listing his birthplace on the enlistment application as Bloomington, Ind.
     Ng had attained the rank of lance corporal in 1981 when he led three other soldiers on a raid of an armory at the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station in Hawaii. He and his accomplices stole three grenade launchers, two M-16 assault rifles, seven pistols and a night-vision scope. He was at large for a month, but was finally arrested and thrown into a Marine brig in Hawaii, from which he soon escaped.
     It was then that he made his way to California and his rendezvous with Lake. They were roommates until April 1992, when a team of FBI agents swept down on Lake's mobile home and seized a huge stash of guns and explosives. Ng was court-martialed, and Lake arrested on weapons charges. But while Ng was sent to military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Lake skipped bail and went into hiding at the Wilseyville cabin. Ng rejoined him there after his release from prison in June 1984. The killing spree started a month later.
     On July 11, 1984, a San Francisco disc jockey named Donald Giuletti and his roommate were shot by an Asian man who broke into their apartment and robbed them. Giuletti was killed, but his roommate, Richard Carrazza, survived. The pistol used in the murder was found buried near the Wilseyville cabin, according to police, and Carrazza has identified Ng as the man who shot him.
     After Charles Ng fled from the South San Francisco lumber yard on June 2, 1985, he went to the home of Balasz and asked her to give him a ride to his apartment. Just before committing suicide, Lake had told his interrogators the name of his accomplice, and shortly afterward a patrol unit arrived at Ng's apartment. By then he was gone.


The Wait for Justice

     Police found a number of weapons in the apartment and a cache of items allegedly stolen from Ng's victims. There was also a paycheck in the mailbox for Ng from the Dennis Moving Company, where he had worked.

     According to a report later released by the FBI, Ng was seen that day boarding an American Airlines jet bound for Chicago. After he arrived he checked into the Chateau Hotel under the name Mike Kimoto, and stayed there for four days. He then reportedly met a friend and went to Detroit, then crossed the border into Canada. His friend didn't follow, instead remaining in the U.S. and contacting the authorities.
     For 34 days, Ng managed to elude an international dragnet set up by Interpol, the FBI, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Scotland Yard. But while Ng may have been a successful fugitive and was allegedly a deadly killer, he was a miserable failure as a thief; one shoplifting attempt had already led to the capture of Leonard Lake, and another, this time in Canada, led to his own undoing.
     In a Hudson Bay Co. store in Calgary, a pair of security guards watched Ng trying to shoplift a soda. When one of the guards approached him, Ng pulled out a handgun, and a scuffle ensued during which Ng fired two shots. One of them struck the guard in the hand, but the other guard subdued and disarmed Ng. The hunt was over, but the long wait for justice by the families of Ng's alleged victims was just beginning. PAGE 8

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