Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos

Paul Steven Cosner







Cosner, date, approximate 1984; Charles Ng; Leonard Lake, date, approximate 1985; Cosner's car
Date Missing 11/02/1984
Missing From
San Francisco, California
Missing Classification Endangered Missing
Sex Male
Race
White
Date of Birth 06/10/1945 (77)
Age 39 years old
Height and Weight 5'10, 145 pounds
Clothing/Jewelry Description A lavender polo shirt, beige khaki pants and beige sneakers with black trim.
Associated Vehicle(s) Gold or orange 1980 Honda Prelude
Markings and/or Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, hazel eyes. Cosner has a birthmark in the middle of his back. He has a mustache and full beard.
Details of Disappearance Cosner was last seen in San Francisco, California on November 2, 1984. He was employed as a used car dealer at the time of his disappearance. His gold or orange 1980 Honda Prelude disappeared with him; a photo of of it is posted with this summary.
Cosner had advertised the vehicle for sale in the newspaper and told his fiancee he'd found a potential buyer, whom he described as "weird." He said he was leaving his apartment at 7:30 p.m. to meet the buyer and would return at 8:00 p.m. to watch a television show with her. He has never been heard from again.
Police initially believed Cosner left of his own accord and refused to investigate his disappearance. His sister, whom he was close to, never believe he left on his own, however. He had just dissolved a partnership in a used car dealership and expected to receive $35,000 in the deal; he also owned real estate in the area.
Authorities believe that Cosner was a victim of serial killers Charles Chitat (occasionally spelled "Chat") Ng and Leonard Lake. Photos of Ng and Lake are posted with this summary. 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. Ng was a citizen of Hong Kong and falsified American citizenship documents in order to enlist in the Marines.
Ng was charged with stealing weapons from the military in 1982 and was apprehended on Lake's property in California later that year. 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. 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. Ng and Lake began using the ranch as a veritable sex slave compound shortly thereafter.
Authorities believe that the men found their victims at random. The female victims were often videotaped and forced to perform sexual acts for Ng and Lake prior to their murders. The male victims and children were usually tortured before their deaths.
Investigators apprehended Lake after he and Ng were caught shoplifting from a San Francisco hardware store in 1985. Ng fled from officers, but Lake was taken into custody. The men were driving a vehicle owned by a missing person, who was later determined to have been one of their victims. A pistol and a silencer were discovered inside the car.
Lake swallowed 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. Investigators searched Lake's property and uncovered the remains of several victims, as well as Cosner's eyeglasses, driver's license and car title buried in a plastic drum. Many of the bodies had been dismembered and burned, making identifications of the victims difficult or impossible. Lake's diary made references to Cosner.
Ng was apprehended in Canada later in 1985. He was convicted of eleven murders in California in 1999 after 14 years of wrangling and stalling. Ng's trial was one of the most expensive in California history. He claimed Lake was the actual murderer and has never accepted responsibility for the murders. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in Cosner's presumed death, but in 2001 a judge officially ruled that Cosner was one of the victims.
Cosner graduated from Reynoldsburg High School in 1963 and Ohio State University in 1967. He moved to California in 1969. His body has never been located, but foul play is suspected in his due to the circumstances involved.
Ng and Lake are also believed to be responsible for the 1985 disappearances of Jeffrey Gerald, Clifford Peranteau, and the Dubs family, Deborah, Harvey and their son Sean. All of them vanished from San Francisco and have never been located.
Investigating Agency
San Francisco Police Department
415-553-1071
Other
California Attorney General's Office
The Crime Library
APB News
Canoe
The San Jose Mercury News
The San Francisco Chronicle
The Sacramento Bee
The Columbus Dispatch

Missing Person Photos

A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, death in a location where they cannot be found (such as at sea), or many other reasons. In most parts of the world, a missing person will usually be found quickly. While criminal abductions are some of the most widely reported missing person cases, these account for only 2 to 5 percent of missing children in Europe. By contrast, some missing person cases remain unresolved for many years. Laws related to these cases are often complex since, in many jurisdictions, relatives and third parties may not deal with a person's assets until their death is considered proven by law and a formal death certificate issued. The situation, uncertainties, and lack of closure or a funeral resulting when a person goes missing may be extremely painful with long-lasting effects on family and friends. A number of organizations seek to connect, share best practices, and disseminate information and images of missing children to improve the effectiveness of missing children investigations, including the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), as well as national organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in the US, Missing People in the UK, Child Focus in Belgium, and The Smile of the Child in Greece.

Resources for Missing Persons

According to current statistics, 4,000 people in the United States go missing every day. Sometimes a child suddenly vanishes from the bus stop or the local park or even from their own yard or bedroom. Or a teenager doesn�t return home after a walk to the neighborhood grocery store or a bike ride or a party with friends. Other times, an adult is mysteriously absent from their job or neighbors haven�t seen them for several days, and family and friends haven�t heard from them either.

Missing Person Photos