Serial Killers

Serial Killers Paul Kenneth Bernardo and Karla Homolka

Born on August 27, 1964 to a father who was a pedophile, peeping tom and known to have molested his own daughter, Paul Kenneth Bernardo committed his murders and rapes with the aid of his wife Karla Homolka.

In June 1991, Paul Bernardo kidnapped, raped and then murdered fourteen-year-old Leslie Mahaffy. Leslie Mahaffy was held for twenty-four hours where she was repeatedly raped. Homolka and Bernardo taped the assaults and one scene even shows Homolka making herself up in makeup to look pretty before she goes on to again rape Mahaffy. The two killed Mahaffy with a plan to dismember her body and dispose of it piece by piece after encasing the parts in cement. Two people canoeing in a local lake found her body. The very same day Mahaffy’s body was found, Homolka and Bernardo were married.

Shortly after in April 1992, with the aid of his wife Homolka, Bernardo kidnapped another teenager, Kristen French. French was also raped, and tortured over several days. They killed Kristen French just before leaving for Easter Sunday dinner with Homolka’s parents.

The videos made by Bernardo and Homolka’s murders of Mahaffy and French, were found by police, and these videos together with others depicting rape committed by the pair were used against them as evidence in court. The videos were instrumental in getting them convicted of their crimes. Due to the horrid nature of the videotapes, all six videos were later destroyed.

The Canadian press started calling the couple “The Ken and Barbie” murderers.

Homolka as a result of abuse at the hands of Bernardo had left him in January 1993. She would later come to a plea bargain with the prosecution in return for a lighter sentence. Karla Homolka testified against Paul Bernardo, including their part in the killing of Karla’s sister.

Bernardo, who claimed to be a fan of serial killer stories, would later change his name to Paul Teale as a result. Bernardo was convicted of three murders on September 1, 1995, and sentenced to life in prison at the Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario.

On good grounds it is suspected that Paul Bernardo was also the Scarborough Rapist. Shortly after his arrest for murder, Bernardo admitted to 15 separate rapes. It is thought he raped more women, including at least one on his own honeymoon in Hawaii.

Karla Homolka pled guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. She was released on parole in July 2005.

The following is an interview with Paul Bernardo with the second part of the interview immediately after.