What were the most likely ways through which Leonard Lake got cyanide? Did he likely make it himself?
Executive summary
The public record shows Leonard Lake died after swallowing cyanide pills he had sewn into his clothing, but contemporary reporting and the available archives do not document how he obtained the cyanide itself [1]. Given what is known about industrial sources, common commercial cyanide forms, and typical chemistry, the most plausible routes are acquisition of commercial cyanide salts or pills from industrial suppliers or secondary markets, or less likely, on‑site conversion of readily available cyanide salts to hydrogen cyanide—while true industrial synthesis of cyanide compounds would have been impractical for an individual [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. The undeniable fact: Lake ingested cyanide pills but the provenance is undocumented
Records cited in public summaries and biographical entries state that Lake swallowed cyanide pills hidden in his clothing after arrest and that he died in custody, but those same sources do not record where he obtained the pills or the cyanide substance used to make them [1] [5].
2. What forms of cyanide are commonly available and therefore most likely to have been used
Commercial cyanide is most commonly encountered as sodium or potassium cyanide salts or as solutions used in mining and electroplating, and the mining industry in particular moves large quantities of sodium and calcium cyanide for gold and silver extraction [2] [6]. Industrial cyanide reagents are transported in bulk by tanker or rail and quoted by molar strength, making salts the typical form an end user would encounter [2].
3. How cyanide is made at industrial scale—and why that makes DIY manufacture unlikely
Primary industrial production of hydrogen cyanide uses large‑scale processes such as the Andrussow process (direct synthesis from methane and ammonia over a catalyst) or as byproduct routes in acrylonitrile manufacture, and conversion of hydrogen cyanide to sodium or potassium cyanide likewise involves sizeable chemical infrastructure—methods not suited to a private individual in a rural cabin [4] [7]. Those references show the dominant commercial pathways and the scale they imply, undercutting any claim that Lake likely manufactured cyanide from raw feedstocks himself [4] [7].
4. Short, practical routes an individual could have used—plausible but not proven
A more plausible scenario is that Lake acquired cyanide in a ready form—either purchased, stolen, or otherwise diverted—from industrial suppliers, mining operations, or suppliers to electroplating and metal‑recovery businesses that commonly handle cyanide compounds [2] [8]. Another technically feasible-but-risky method would be to carry and use cyanide salts (KCN/NaCN) or to generate hydrogen cyanide by reacting those salts with strong acid, a reaction known to produce toxic HCN gas; this chemistry is documented in descriptions of cyanide generation and historical uses [3]. However, the sources do not document Lake performing such conversion, only that he swallowed cyanide pills [1].
5. Alternative explanations, evidentiary limits, and the responsible conclusion
Sources document cyanide’s industrial ubiquity and the chemical routes to hydrogen cyanide and cyanide salts, but none link Lake to a supplier or to a DIY cyanide synthesis operation; therefore the responsible conclusion is probabilistic rather than definitive: the likeliest means are acquisition of commercial cyanide salts or pills (through purchase or diversion from industrial stocks) or assembling pills from salts, whereas full industrial synthesis from raw feedstocks would have been highly unlikely for an individual [2] [4] [7] [3] [1]. Without direct evidence in the public record about Lake’s supply chain, any claim beyond that range of probability exceeds what reporting supports.