The Tragic Fate of Sean Christopher Dubs: An Innocent Victim of the Lake-Ng Murders

On a warm July evening in 1984, the ordinary lives of a San Francisco family were forever shattered by an encounter with pure evil. Harvey R. Dubs, 30, Deborah Ann Dubs, 33, and Sean Christopher Dubs, 1, went missing on July 25, 1984, from their San Francisco home. Among the victims was 16-month-old Sean Christopher Dubs, an innocent baby who would become the youngest known victim of two of California's most notorious serial killers.

Sean's story is one that exemplifies the senseless brutality that can befall the most vulnerable members of our society. His case, intertwined with that of his parents, represents one of the darkest chapters in California's criminal history and serves as a stark reminder of the evil that can lurk in the shadows of everyday life.

A Family's Final Day

The Dubs family appeared to be living a typical middle-class life in their San Francisco apartment. Harvey was selling video equipment in July of that year and placed an advertisement in a local newspaper. It was this simple business transaction that would seal the fate of the entire family.

Deborah was speaking on the telephone to a friend on July 25 when the doorbell rang at their family's apartment. Deborah told her friend that she had to end the conversation, as two men who were interested in the items had arrived at their home. This phone call would be the last time anyone would hear from Deborah Dubs. The family's friend on the other end of that phone line had unknowingly witnessed the beginning of a nightmare.

The circumstances surrounding their disappearance became clearer as witness accounts emerged. One of the Dubs family's neighbors saw an Asian man leave their residence with a box later in the day. The same neighbor observed an unidentified vehicle drive away from the Dubs's apartment on July 26, the day after the family disappeared. Despite attempts to follow the suspicious vehicle, the neighbor lost it in traffic, and with it, any immediate leads to the family's whereabouts.

In what appeared to be an attempt to cover their tracks, a man identifying himself as Jim Bright called Harvey's employer shortly afterwards and claimed that the family moved to Washington. The unidentified man terminated the conversation when Harvey's employer became suspicious. This deceptive phone call was likely an early attempt by the perpetrators to buy time and throw investigators off their trail.

The Monsters Behind the Crime

Authorities believe that the Dubs family were victims of serial killers Charles Chitat (occasionally spelled "Chat") Ng and Leonard Lake. These two men would prove to be among the most sadistic killers in American criminal history, and their story reads like something from a horror novel.

The men reportedly met through an advertisement in a survivalist magazine in the early 1980s. Lake was a former United States Marine and a Vietnam War veteran. Leonard Lake had served in Vietnam and carried with him the psychological scars of war, but his problems ran much deeper than combat trauma. He was obsessed with survivalism and harbored deeply disturbed fantasies about enslaving women.

Ng was a citizen of Hong Kong and falsified American citizenship documents in order to enlist in the Marines. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and should have been deported to Hong Kong after completing his sentence, but a bureaucratic error allowed Ng to remain in the United States. This administrative failure would prove to have deadly consequences for numerous innocent victims.

He was released in 1984 and moved on to Lake's ranch in Wilseyville, California. Lake was a survivalist and the residence was stocked with weapons, explosives and provisions. The remote location provided the perfect setting for their horrific crimes.

Operation Miranda and the Torture Chamber

Ng and Lake began using the ranch as a veritable sex slave compound shortly thereafter. Lake had developed what he called "Operation Miranda," named after a character in the novel "The Collector" by John Fowles. This twisted fantasy involved kidnapping women and keeping them as sex slaves in a specially constructed bunker.

Next to the cabin he had built a structure described in his journals as a "dungeon." This underground chamber would become the site of unimaginable horrors, equipped with chains, restraints, and video equipment to record their victims' suffering.

According to court records, Lake and Ng killed the men and infants immediately, but subjected women to a period of enslavement, rape, and torture before killing them. The systematic nature of their crimes revealed a chilling methodology that prioritized the prolonged suffering of their female victims.

Sean's Tragic End

While the full details of what happened to Sean Christopher Dubs remain horrific to contemplate, evidence from the investigation provides a glimpse into his final moments. Defendant told Laberge that killing Sean Dubs, the baby, was "not easy, but it was just business, a part of the operation." This callous admission by Charles Ng reveals the cold-blooded nature of the crime and the killers' complete lack of humanity.

While in jail Ng said that the Dubs were strangled, but there is no way to know for certain what happened. The uncertainty surrounding Sean's death adds another layer of anguish for those seeking to understand this tragedy. What is certain is that this innocent baby became a victim of circumstances completely beyond his control.

The fact that Lake and Ng viewed the murder of a 16-month-old child as merely "business" speaks to the depths of their depravity. Sean Christopher Dubs never had a chance to experience life, to take his first steps independently, or to speak his first words. His life was cut short by two men who saw him as nothing more than an obstacle to their twisted desires.

The Investigation and Discovery

A receipt in Harvey Dubs's name was discovered at Lake's compound, but the family's remains have never been recovered. This piece of evidence provided crucial proof linking the Dubs family to their killers, even though their bodies were never found. A receipt in Harvey's name, and video equipment from the Dubs' home were found at Lake's cabin. The presence of their personal belongings at the murder site painted a clear picture of what had transpired.

The investigation revealed the full scope of Lake and Ng's crimes when authorities searched the Wilseyville property. Investigators searched Lake's property and uncovered the remains of several victims. Many of the bodies had been dismembered and burned, making identifications of the victims difficult or impossible.

They also found a hand-drawn "treasure map", leading them to two buried five-gallon buckets. One contained an envelope with names and identifications, suggesting that the total number of victims might have been as high as 25. In the other bucket were Lake's handwritten journals for the years 1983 and 1984, and two videotapes documenting the torture of two of their victims.

Among the most disturbing evidence were videotapes that documented the torture and murder of several victims. In the other, Deborah Dubs is shown being assaulted so severely that she "could not have survived". While Sean himself does not appear to have been subjected to the prolonged torture inflicted on the female victims, the knowledge that his mother endured such suffering adds another dimension to this tragedy.

Justice and Legal Proceedings

The path to justice for Sean and the other victims was long and expensive. Leonard Lake took his own life shortly after his arrest, swallowing a cyanide capsule he taped to the collar of his shirt while in custody. He reportedly told authorities that Ng was his partner prior to his death several days later. Lake's suicide denied victims' families the satisfaction of seeing him face trial for his crimes.

Charles Ng, however, was eventually brought to justice. Ng was apprehended in Canada later in 1985. He was convicted of eleven murders in California in 1999 after 14 years of legal wrangling and stalling. Ng's trial was one of the most expensive in California history.

A jury convicted defendant, Charles Chitat Ng, of 11 counts of first degree murder against Sean Dubs, Deborah Dubs, Harvey Dubs, Clifford Peranteau, Jeffrey Gerald, Michael Carroll, Kathleen Allen, Lonnie Bond, Sr., Lonnie Bond, Jr., Robin Scott Stapley, and Brenda O'Connor. Sean Christopher Dubs was officially recognized as one of the murder victims, ensuring that his short life was acknowledged in the legal proceedings.

Ng's prosecution cost the State of California approximately $20 million, at the time the most expensive trial in the state's history. It was twice as expensive as the O.J. Simpson trial in 1994–1995, which cost $9 million. Despite the enormous cost and lengthy proceedings, justice was ultimately served.

The Lasting Impact

The case of Sean Christopher Dubs and his family represents one of the most heinous crimes in California history. The systematic nature of Lake and Ng's killing spree, combined with their deliberate targeting of entire families, created a terror that resonated throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

For the families of the victims, the pain continues decades later. Jeffrey Nourse testified that Deborah Dubs was his cousin, but they were very close and she was more like a sister to him. Deborah was very artistic and "always had a zest for life and [was] just a joy to be around." Harvey Dubs was a "very quiet, very loving, very caring human being." These personal testimonies remind us that behind every crime statistic are real people with hopes, dreams, and loved ones who miss them.

The fact that Sean's remains were never found adds an additional layer of grief for those who loved him. Without a body to bury or a grave to visit, the family has been denied the closure that comes with a proper burial. This absence of physical remains is a cruel final act by killers who took everything from their victims and their families.

Remembering Sean Christopher Dubs

Sean Christopher Dubs was just beginning his journey through life when it was so brutally cut short. At 16 months old, he was at an age of wonder and discovery, likely taking his first steps and beginning to explore the world around him. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and was wearing a t-shirt and tan corduroy pants when he disappeared with his parents.

His story serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerability of children and the responsibility society has to protect its most innocent members. While we cannot bring Sean back or undo the tragedy that befell his family, we can honor his memory by remembering that every victim of violent crime was a person with inherent worth and dignity.

The case also highlights the importance of thorough background checks and proper deportation procedures. The bureaucratic error that allowed Charles Ng to remain in the United States potentially cost multiple lives, including that of baby Sean. It serves as a cautionary tale about the real-world consequences of administrative failures in the criminal justice and immigration systems.

Today, Charles Ng remains on death row in California, though appeals and legal procedures continue to delay his execution. Meanwhile, the memory of Sean Christopher Dubs and the other victims serves as a testament to lives cut tragically short by human evil. Their stories remind us why we must remain vigilant against such predators and why justice, however long delayed, remains essential for a civilized society.

In remembering Sean Christopher Dubs, we acknowledge not just his tragic death, but the life he should have been allowed to live. His story stands as both a memorial to innocence lost and a call to action to protect the vulnerable members of our communities from those who would do them harm.

Sources

• The Charley Project - Sean Christopher Dubs
• Wikipedia - Leonard Lake
• California Supreme Court - People v. Ng
• Wikipedia - Charles Ng
• The Charley Project - Deborah Ann Dubs
• All That's Interesting - Leonard Lake
• Serial Killer Calendar - Leonard Lake and Charles Ng
• Killer Queens Podcast - Charles Ng and Leonard Lake