One of Canada's most infamous female convicts, Karla Homolka, was released from prison after serving a short 12-year sentence for her involvement in drugging, raping, torturing and killing young girls over a decade ago. The dead teens included her own young sister whose innocence was offered by Homolka to her boyfriend as a gift.
Karla Homolka was born on May 4, 1970 to Dorothy and Karel Homolka in Port Credit, Ontario. She was the oldest child of three, well adjusted, pretty, smart, popular and received ample love and attention by friends and family. Karla developed a passion for animals and after high school she went to work at a veterinary clinic. On outside appearances, everything about Karla seemed normal. No one suspected that she was hiding deep psychotic desires that had yet to be unleashed.
Homolka and Bernardo Meet:
At age 17 Homolka attended a pet convention in Toronto and met 23-year-old, Paul Bernardo. Like Homolka, Bernardo was an attractive blonde, appeared to be smart and charmingly persuasive. The two had sex on the day that they first met. They quickly discovered that they shared the same sado-masochistic desires, with Paul moving quickly into the position of master, and Homolka willingly taking the role as slave, obsessed with fulfilling Bernardo's every fantasy.
Scarborough Rapist:
Over the next few years the relationship between Homolka and Bernardo intensified and they shared and encouraged each other's psychotic behavior. It was during this time that Bernardo was involved in raping women with the approval of Homolka. The uncaught Bernardo was dubbed as the Scarborough Rapist by the police and the media. His specialty was to attack women getting off of busses, making them endure violent anal rape and different levels of humiliation.
A Surrogate Virgin:
One of Bernardo's constant complaints with Homolka was that she was not a virgin when they met. Homolka, devoted to pleasing Bernardo every way possible, knew of his attraction to her 15-year-old sister, Tammy, whose virginity was intact. The two decided that they would force Tammy into being a surrogate virgin for her older sister. To help accomplish this, Homolka stole the animal anesthetic, Halothane from the vet clinic where she worked.
Death In Exchange for Pleasure:
On December 23, 1990, at a Christmas party at the Homolka family home, Bernardo and Homolka served Tammy alcoholic drinks spiked with halcyon. After family members retired, the two took Tammy to the basement and Homolka held a cloth soaked in Halothane to Tammy's mouth. Once Tammy was unconscious the couple raped her. During the rape Tammy began choking on her own vomit and ultimately died. The drugs in Tammy's system went undetected and her death was officially ruled an accident.
Replacing Tammy:
Homolka and Bernardo, unscathed by the death of Tammy, moved in together. Bernardo blamed Homolka for Tammy's death and complained that she was no longer around for Bernardo to enjoy sexually. Homolka decided a teenager named Jane would make a good replacement. She was young and virginal and seemed to idolize the attractive and older Homolka. Homolka invited the unsuspecting teen out to dinner, and like with Tammy, she spiked the girl's drinks then invited the intoxicated teen to her home.
Another Present for Bernardo:
Once there, Homolka administered the Halothane, and presented her present, the young pretty Jane, to Bernardo. The couple then engaged in brutal sexual attacks of the unconscious teen, capturing the events on videotape. The next day when the teenager awoke, she was sick and sore but had no idea of the violation her body had endured. Jane, unlike others, was one victim that managed to survive the encounter with the couple.
Leslie Mahaffy :
The thirst for Bernardo to share his rapist activities with his lover Homolka increased. On June 15, 1991 Bernardo kidnapped Leslie Mahaffy and brought her to the couple's home. Bernardo and Homolka repeatedly raped Mahaffy over a course of several days, videotaping many of the assaults. They eventually killed Mahaffy and cut her body into pieces, encased the pieces in cement, and threw the cement in a lake. On June 29 Mahaffy's remains were found by a couple canoeing on the lake.
Bernardo and Homolka Marry:
June 29 was also the day that Bernardo and Homolka were married in an elaborate wedding held at the Niagara-on-the-Lake church. Bernardo had been in control of the wedding plans which included the two riding in a white horse-drawn carriage with the bride dressed in an expensive white gown. The wedding guests were served a lavish sit-down meal after the couple exchanged their vows which included, at Bernardo's insistence Homolka vowing to "love, honor, and obey' her new husband.Kristen French On April 16, 1992, the couple kidnapped 15-year-old Kristen French from a church parking lot after Homolka lured her to their car, pretending to need directions. The couple brought French to their home and for several days videotaped their acts of humiliating, torturing and sexually abusing the teen. French tried hard to survive the attack but right before the couple left for Easter Sunday dinner with Homolka's family, they killed her. Her body was found on April 30 in a ditch in Burlington.
A witness to the kidnapping of Kristen French contacted police with a description of the car suspected as being used during the assault. The witness, unable to identify the car make, selected a white Camaro as the closest looking to the car she saw. As a result, the billboard was put up by the police with a Camaro pictured as the car make used during the kidnapping. Bernardo actually drove a Nissan, which looked nothing like the Camaro.
