Leonard Lake & Charles Ng Snuff Tapes

"Following the June 1985 suicide of Leonard Lake, police found pits filled with human remains at his ex-wife's parents rural home in northern California. Investigators found videocassettes depicting the humiliation, torture, rape, and death of several female victims. The interior of the house on the property contained numerous bullet holes and bloodstains. Also noted was that there were eyebolts anchored to the bedroom floor at all four corners of the bed, and a powerful 250W floodlight mounted to the wall directly over the bed. Investigators quickly deduced that the room might have been used as a snuff film studio. Persistent rumors suggest that Lake may have financed his paramilitary arsenal by selling copies of the tapes. The bunker on the property contained a vast array of military and police equipment, including boots, fatigues, canteens, bayonets, gun belts, rifles, shotguns, assault rifles, machine guns, manacles, handcuffs, hunting knives, a starlight scope, tripods, pistols, butcher knives, and switchblade knives. Incorporated into the design of the building was a secret, soundproof cell outfitted with a one-way viewing window, hidden cameras, and a list of rules for prisoners. Also found were numerous photographs of children in various stages of undress that had been taken at the South City Juvenile Hall, where Claralyn Balazs (Lake's ex-wife) worked. Lake's ex-wife, who sometimes modeled for the hardcore S&M videos that Leonard produced and sold, admitted that her former spouse had a longstanding affiliation with a San Francisco ''witches coven'' and neighbors in San Francisco report Lake describing himself as a member of a 'death cult'. Early on in the investigation, the local chief of police issued a telling statement: ''This may be a case of mass murder or a cult situation...A cult case is a possibility we're not going to exclude at this time.'' In his free time, Leonard worked with kids at the local 4-H Club. According to one report, that club was later the target of allegations of ritual abuse. Lake -- a former Marine who had served in Vietnam -- considered himself a pagan, worshipper of Odin, and was involved creating the famous ''unicorn'' exhibit at the Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1984. Lake used Sir Lancelot, a one-horned goat, to lure young women into posing nude for his camera.