Charles Ng's real name is Ng Chi-tat. Born in British Hong Kong, Ng was the youngest of three children, and the only son. He lived a lavish life with a lavish family, but he was severely abused by his father; a wealthy Hong Kong executive.
Stemming from the childhood abuse, Ng was described as a "troubled loner". Constantly getting expelled from the school we would be enrolled in, Ng had a reputation of not being able to stay in one place. His dad, continuingly trying to discipline his son, sent him to a school in England to set him straight. Not much information is provided as to what went on at that school, but he ended up coming back to Hong Kong after shoplifting again during his time in England.
With his frequent tendency to shoplift, its no surprise that he got arrested for the first time at fifteen for that very reason.
image of Charles Ng as a child: taken from https://allthatsinteresting.com/charles-ng]
At 18 years old, Ng obtained a student visa and moved to the Belmont, California, United States for university. He attended a semester at the University of Notre Dame before dropping out.
Its speculated that this was around when Charles Ng met Leonard Lake through a "wargamer advertisement".
Soon, Ng got involved with a hit run accident, but to avoid prosecution he joined the US Marine Corps.
As this was going to be a short-time endeavor for him as well, as he was later arrested for joining the Marine Corps with false documents. He ended up escaping custody, which is when he made his way to Northern California--- where the horror begins to unfold.
[It is also known that Leonard Lake had also been in the Marine Corps, but not during the same time frame. ]
