The Disappearance of Hang Lee Free Essay Sample

Picture it: St Paul, 1993. You’re seventeen years old getting your life together, working, thinking about college, and for some reason, you're gone in a glimpse. Sadly in this case this was the life of Hang Lee. Hang was born on October 9, 1975, her parents were Hmong refugees from Laos. She and her family lived in St. Paul, Minnesota. Many of her friends and family described her as a shy, naive, and caring person. But at some point in her life she did hang out with “bad influences” from what her parents said but she later distanced herself and started having a goal on what to do in life. Hang had a job and was even thinking of going to college after high school to study writing.(McFadden)   In Saint Paul, Minnesota Hang Lee was leaving for an interview on January 12, 1993, with a friend and never came back. The friend was dropped home safely as Hang was left with this man Mark Steven Wallace who was the man interviewing Hang. Mark was never proven guilty for this because there was a “lack of evidence” but I believe the investigators had the answers right in front of their eyes and refused to believe it. 

Therefore, my theory is that Mark Steven Wallace kidnapped Hang after the interview and it could be because he didn’t like what she said something to him and He also was probably let go because they were going to just report her as a missing teen runaway due to the number of teen runaways in the area. Hang’s family reported her missing and the police didn’t care much about it until her family proved to them that she didn’t run away. She left a 100-dollar check, clothes, and everything she would usually bring all at home. (The Disappearance, 00:24:00-00:25:20) Hang was going to an interview and she was with her friend Niki Lee who has no relation to her, just the same last name. Niki Lee was with her before she disappeared and they both were with Mark Steven Wallace that night. Around two weeks later her family reported her missing and Niki was questioned by the police. She told them that Hang left with an unknown man that night and she was dropped off. But later she came back and told police that her boss Mark Steven Wallace was looking for new people to work with and she introduced Hang to him. (McFadden) Niki Lee worked as a receptionist for Wallace’s painting business from December 1992- to March 1993. She told police this too that Wallace had a private business on the side where he would bring young teenage boys into a room and the room would always be locked. She stated that there were no new customers except for the same teenage boys that would never buy anything and just go to that room. Prior to that night he was the driver and he dropped Niki off first and Hang was left with him in the car. Niki then stopped interacting with the police about Hang and got an attorney. 

In addition, Mark Steven Wallace, during this time had been out of prison for less than two years and he had been serving time for two sexual conduct offenses. In one of the offenses he lured a woman in by telling her she’ll get a job interview, then he tied her up and threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone what he had done. Police did ask him questions about that night and he claimed that he dropped her off near her workplace. Police also interviewed her boss Eileen Lee and she said that Hang had called her a while ago that she wasn’t going to be at work because she was going for an interview at another job place. 

Mark Wallace became the prime suspect but there was no physical evidence and he later refused to cooperate with the police after the last time he was questioned by them. He was a convicted rapist. In 1987 he committed two very violent crimes. On March 31, 1987, he promised a woman a job interview and he ended up kidnapping her and threatening to kill her. Also, he did the very same thing on April 9th but with another woman.( According to police on that day the woman was waiting for the bus when Mark was at the bus stop and offered her a ride. She told police that when they were walking away he pushed her to the ground and taped her mouth and eyes. He also used a knife to jab at her back. Another incident had happened on May 19, 1987, when a 22-year-old woman told police an unknown man had called her and offered her a job in the radio industry but she soon later got suspicious of him because personal records of her were taken in a theft from a vehicle. So an undercover female officer went to the meeting instead and the man she met was Mark Wallace. Later he was arrested by police and they found him carrying a bag that contained a knife and a roll of black tape. Later he was sent to prison in August 1988 and got out on supervised release in June 1991. 

Along with the evidence presented, His prison record did not add up in the podcast they mentioned “If you look up his prison record it’s really confusing. I’d looked up three different inmate websites and they all had different information, but I found his appeal documents. Even though he would have been eligible for release, the Minnesota district attorney filed to have him identified as a sexually dangerous person and a sexually psycho personality.”(The Disappearance, 00:50:27-00:51:07) He had a long history of doing terrible things to women. He’d always stayed in and out of jail for some of the crimes he committed. Police did keep a close eye on him. 

In addition, in 2009 police had a lead in the case but it fizzled out. (The disappearance, 00:39:45-00:40:17)Mark’s home where he grew up and where he still lived on and off at the time was in foreclosure and he had to move out. Police later got a search warrant and had permission to bring cadaver dogs to search the property. All three of the dogs showed interest in an area on the back wall of the garage. They got permission to dig the ground because the dogs smelled human remains and doing that allowed any odor to rise up through the ground. The dogs alerted the police that there was a presence of either human bone, human blood, or human flesh in the area. After they got to the soil of the garage the dogs could no longer get the scent of it in the exact spot they scented it. Around 2016 when he was arrested for stalking and kidnapping his daughter’s friend, the victim stated that Wallace bragged about killing a girl in Saint Paul and how he lured her into his business and she never came out after that. (Winter) 

There were many theories to Hang’s case but this one was a very interesting one. The theory was that it was a premeditated attack. We know that Wallace had lured other women in the past by promising them a job interview. Niki and Hang could’ve gotten into a heated argument and Niki could’ve have gotten jealous so she had told Hang about the interview and lured her into Wallace’s business. This could make Niki Lee look bad as she was an accomplice and helped him lure her friend Hang in. It would make sense why she kept changing her story. Also before Hang left her house she told her brother Koua “If I don’t come back, come find me.” It hinted that she knew something was going to happen to her when she was going to this interview. But Niki never mentioned anything about some argument and my theory shows that Mark Steven Wallace had lured her into his job. The victim in 2016, she stated he would brag about luring this woman in St. Paul into his business  and how he killed her. 

In the final analysis, this case is still unsolved today. Mark Steven Wallace remained in custody on charges of kidnapping and stalking until around 2017 when he was sentenced to 54 months in jail. On September 18, 2020, he would still remain in carceral, and even til this day he won’t mention Hang’s name or even the case. Before Hang’s father passed away in 2012 he wanted to have a spirit release ceremony for Hang even though her body was never found. He wanted her spirit to reincarnate into another life so she won’t suffer any longer.  The spirit release is upheld during the funeral and it releases the spirit to be free so they can move on to their next life. In 2017 they did a spirit release for Hang. Her brother Koua believes she is still out there somewhere and while her mother Chong Vang says she has forgiven whoever hurt her daughter and wants her body back to give her daughter a proper burial. I believe they could have investigated Mark Steven Wallace's business a little more and they could’ve asked Niki more information because it seemed like she had a lot more to say but it was like she was hiding the truth. As of now police still have this case open to the public and if anyone had any more information about Hang’s disappearance you could contact the police.