The California Killing Fields
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Bill Kurtis
George Ameer
David Boodell
Sheila Brosnan
Roy Cohen
Roy Cohen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Documentary about the longest and most expensive prosecution in California's history. In June 1985, San Francisco police responded to a petty theft call. The suspect, an Asian man, had fled by the time they had arrived, leaving behind his friend, Leonard Lake. The plates on Lake's car were traced to a man who had been missing for weeks. During questioning, Lake swallowed two cyanide capsules, leaving police these dying words: "The man you are looking for is Charles Ng." Charles Ng, a 24-year-old Hong Kong native and former marine, fled to Canada to avoid arrest. At a cabin in Wilseyville, California, police found a field littered with mutilated corpses and over 40 pounds of charred bones. They also found a torture chamber, a video depicting two victims and a diary. Ng was apprehended by the Canadian Mounties, but managed to avoid going to trial for 13 years by cunning, luck and the exploitation of a multitude of legal loopholes. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to death.
