Episode Details
Back to EpisodesLeonard Lake: The Wilseyville Horror, "Operation Miranda," and the Bunker of Nightmares
Description
This week on pplpod, we descend into the twisted world of Leonard Lake, a survivalist and former Marine who—along with his accomplice Charles Ng—orchestrated one of California’s most gruesome serial killing sprees. We examine Lake’s obsession with the novel The Collector, which inspired him to build a "dungeon" near his remote Wilseyville cabin to hold women captive as part of his "Operation Miranda" fantasy.
Join us as we discuss:
• The Partnership: How Lake, a doomsday prepper fearing nuclear holocaust, recruited Ng to assist in kidnapping, torture, and murder.
• The Betrayal: Lake’s cold-blooded murder of his own brother, Donald, and his best man to steal their identities.
• The Tapes: The discovery of the harrowing "M-Ladies" videotapes and buried human remains that linked the pair to an estimated 11 to 25 victims.
• The End: The shoplifting arrest that exposed their crimes and Lake’s shock suicide by cyanide pill inside a police interrogation room.
Listener discretion is advised.