ST. PAUL, Minn. — For six months in 1993, St. Paul investigators believed 17-year-old Hang Lee was a runaway.
In the days after she vanished, Nikki Lee, a classmate and close friend, told law enforcement she dropped Hang Lee off on the evening of Jan. 15, 1993 with a group of friends – and assumed she ran away.
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By that summer, Nikki Lee came forward with a different story.
She told investigators she last saw Hang Lee driving away with Mark Steven Wallace, a man with a storied criminal background of sexual assault and violence.
Wallace, who employed Nikki Lee at his paint store, had requested she set him up with potential employees. She introduced him to Hang Lee.
The two girls were initially together with Wallace in his vehicle on the evening of Jan. 15, 1993, yet Wallace dropped Nikki Lee off first – and drove away with Hang Lee in the passenger’s seat of his vehicle.
Hang Lee never made it home.
Wallace is considered a suspect in Hang Lee’s disappearance, according to the St. Paul Police Department. Yet concrete evidence has not surfaced to warrant charges related to Hang Lee’s disappearance.
Wallace is no longer a free man, though.
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He was involuntarily committed to the secure Moose Lake Sex Offender Program facility in 2019 after he held a 20-year-old woman captive in a St. Paul hotel room in 2016 and allowed men to repeatedly sexually assault her.
He was convicted for kidnapping to commit great bodily harm and terrorize.
The state argued the 2016 kidnapping demonstrated a pattern of violent sexual criminal behavior, dating back to the 1980s. It was successfully argued that he was a danger to society. His confinement at the secured facility is indefinite.
Even with a suspect locked away from society, the St. Paul Police Department continues to pursue Hang Lee’s case – and they’re keeping their options open.
“We keep an open mind in the sense that we’re always willing to hear from anyone who has any information about this case,” St. Paul Police Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Mike Ernster told Forum News Service.”Whether it be about Wallace, or whether it be about anybody.”
Finding Hang Lee
Hang Lee was the daughter of immigrants from Laos.
She was described by her peers and brother as a bright young woman with ambitions of attending the University of Minnesota and becoming a writer, according to a 2022 Kare11 report.
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She liked heavy metal and was stylish – and sweet.
These memories of Hang Lee, passed on by her friends and family members, are held close by St. Paul Police Department investigators who have dedicated years – and decades – of their careers trying to find answers.
“These are the types of cases where investigators retire and never forget,” Ernster said. “So there are a lot of people who are heavily invested emotionally in trying to solve this case and getting closure for the family.”
It is likely that the last person seen with Hang Lee will spend the rest of his life locked away. The process for release from the Moose Lake Sex Offender Program facility is lengthy and somewhat rare.
As of 2023, 21 of the 946 people committed to the Moose Lake Facility had been fully discharged, according to the Sex Offense Civil Commitment Report released by Hamline University.
As of 2023, 94 people have died while committed at the facility.
Officials with the St. Paul Police Department do not consider his indefinite detention as a form of justice in Hang Lee’s case.
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Investigators are instead focused on one thing: finding her.
“Our number one goal is finding out where Hang Lee is and getting that closure for her family,” Ernster said. “As far as identifying who was responsible for her disappearance and holding them accountable, that would be the secondary part. Our main focus is finding answers for the family.”
A look at Wallace’s history
Wallace’s criminal history is diverse.
He’s been convicted for crimes related to drug use, assault, theft and domestic abuse. His lengthy criminal history also includes convictions for violent sexual crimes targeted at young females.
In 1988, he as convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree for the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl. That same year, he was convicted on one count of first degree criminal sexual conduct for the rape of a 23-year-old woman.
In 2017, Wallace pleaded guilty to felony kidnapping after imprisoning a 20-year-old woman in a hotel room, where he assaulted her and coordinated arrangements for other men to sexually assault her.
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His domestic abuse convictions resulted from violence against women.
His criminal history also shows a pattern of violent behavior, in general.
While serving his sentence for the 2016 kidnapping, Wallace was charged with third degree assault for throwing hot water and repeatedly hitting another inmate, causing second-degree burns and injuries to the face, neck and ear, according to the order for detention.
“The Defendant herein was seen by correctional officers throwing a glass of scalding hot water in the face of the victim and then began to punch the victim repeating about his head and upper body,” court documents state. “Witnesses noted that the victim did not return any punches and was covering himself in an attempt to deflect the blows.”
The entirety of Wallace’s criminal history was taken into account when the state made its argument that he is a danger to society and should be civilly committed. The argument that Wallace is a dangerous sexual recidivist with a psychopathic personality, backed by two psychiatrists, was accepted by the court. As a result, he was involuntarily committed.
Wallace appealed the decision, but lost.
“The district court addressed these factors in its order and found that, based upon the record, Wallace verbally, physically and sexually assaulted young women and held young women against their will,” the opinion states.
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The question now for the St. Paul Police Department is whether Hang Lee was one of those young women. And, if so, where is she?
“The biggest thing is trying to find closure for Hang Lee’s family and friends who have missed her all these years,” Ernster said.
Anyone with information related to the disappearance of Hang Lee is asked to contact the St. Paul Police Department’s missing persons unit at 651-266-5763.
The Trust Project
