Ng and Lake, who met through a survivalist magazine, were a terrifying team. Lake was a Vietnam veteran, and Ng, originally from Hong Kong, illegally stayed in the US after a prison sentence for stealing military weapons.

They lived on a heavily armed ranch, turning it into a place where they kept and abused people as sex slaves. They picked victims at random; women were often filmed being sexually assaulted before being killed, while men and children were tortured.

Their crimes were discovered when they were caught shoplifting. Lake committed suicide by poisoning himself, but implicated Ng. A search of their ranch uncovered many dismembered and burned bodies, making identification difficult. Ng was eventually caught in Canada and, after a long trial, convicted of 11 murders in 1999. He blamed Lake and continues to deny responsibility. Several other people, including the Dubs family and Jeffrey Gerald and Paul Cosner, are also believed to be their victims, but their bodies have never been found.