Paul Cosner, a 39-year-old Caucasian male, disappeared on November 2, 1984, in San Francisco, California. His sudden disappearance was linked to the notorious serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, who were responsible for a series of gruesome murders in the mid-1980s. Cosner, an auto broker, had left his home that evening to meet a potential buyer for his gold 1980 Honda Prelude, a man he had described as "weird" to his girlfriend.
He never returned home, and his car vanished along with him.
The breakthrough in the case came in 1985, when police detained Leonard Lake for petty theft in South San Francisco. Authorities discovered that Lake was driving Cosner’s stolen car and had some of his personal belongings in the trunk. This discovery led investigators to uncover a horrifying crime spree. Lake and his accomplice, Charles Ng, had been luring victims to a remote cabin in Wilseyville, California, where they tortured and murdered them. The duo primarily targeted men and children for execution, while women were held captive in a bunker before being killed.
Shortly after his arrest, Leonard Lake committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide pill he had hidden in his clothing. Charles Ng, on the other hand, fled to Canada, where he was later arrested for shoplifting and shooting a security guard. After a lengthy legal battle, Ng was extradited to the United States and convicted of 11 murders in 1999. He was sentenced to death.
Despite the conviction of Ng, Paul Cosner’s body was never found. His family, particularly his sister Sharon Sellitto, fought for years to get closure. In 2001, a San Francisco Superior Court judge officially ruled that Cosner had been a victim of homicide at the hands of Lake and Ng. This ruling allowed his family to finally hold a memorial service, even though his remains were never recovered.
Cosner’s disappearance was pivotal in exposing the crimes of Lake and Ng. His stolen car was the first major clue that led authorities to the killers, ultimately bringing their reign of terror to an end.
