There, he met and eventually married Claralyn Balazs - nicknamed "Cricket" - who became involved in Lake's fantasies and appeared in many of his pornographic films.
: 92įor the next eight years, Lake lived at the Greenfield Ranch, a 5,600 acre back-to-the-land settlement near Calpella, north of Ukiah, California.
The marriage dissolved after his wife discovered that he was making and appearing in amateur pornographic movies, usually involving bondage or sadomasochism. He moved to a commune there, and married briefly in 1975. Lake settled in San Jose and enrolled at San Jose State University, but dropped out after one semester upon becoming enamored of the hippie lifestyle in San Francisco. After what was termed a "delusional breakdown" in Da Nang, he received psychotherapy and, in 1971, a medical discharge. During this period, Lake was first diagnosed with schizoid personality disorder. He served two tours of duty in the Vietnam War as a radar electronics technician. : 91Īfter attending Balboa High School, Lake enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1964. : 159 Lake also collected mice and killed them by dissolving them in chemicals, in the same manner he would later dispose of his human victims' corpses. : 134 He then reportedly extorted his sisters to perform sexual acts. : 91 Lake was reportedly a bright child, but after habitually photographing his sisters nude, which his grandmother apparently encouraged, he became obsessed with pornography.
When he was six years old, his parents separated, whereupon he and his siblings moved in with their maternal grandmother. Leonard Lake was born in San Francisco, California.