Paul Bernardo and Karla Holmolka
Background of Criminal
Paul Bernardo's childhood was not one like you would expect. He was not abused or ever mistreated by his family and everyone always had said he was a bright, loving and cute little boy who always had a smile on his face. His father, however, was a child molester – he molested his own daughter as well as another young girl, he was subsequently charged. After these actions Bernardo's mother became depressed causing her to withdraw from her family and move into their basement. When Bernardo was 16 his parents had a massive argument which revealed that he was not actually his father’s son and that she had cheated on his father during their marriage. This was the moment that caused him to hate and despise women which would eventually lead to him becoming a serial rapist. Paul was always charismatic and his natural good looks helped him in getting the affection of women as well, he worked for Amway which is among other things is a door-to-door sales company which taught him a variety of techniques on how to be convincing and seem trustful. When he was 23 Bernardo met Karla Homolka who would support and unleash all the twisted and dark sexual fantasies Paul had developed in the last 8 years. |
| Paul and Karla married in 1991 until 1994 |
Paul felt no connection to the name Bernardo since Kenneth Bernardo was not his real father. They chose the name Teale after the serial killer Martin Thiel in the movie 'Criminal Law'. Paul chose Jason for his new middle name, from the character in the 'Friday the 13th' movies. Their request for change was approved on Feb. 12, 1993, five days before he was arrested.
Crimes
The Scarborough Rapist
Paul Bernardo committed multiple sexual assaults, escalating in malevolence, around the area of Scarborough, Ontario, even one in Mississauga, Ontario. This was after he met Karla. Thus the name of "The Scarborough Rapist" was know as Paul's alias. Most of the assaults were on younger women, ranging from 15 to 22 years of age, whom he stalked after late in the evening.
The known incidents are:
- May 4, 1987, rape, 21 years old
- May 14, 1987, rape, 19 years old
- July 17, 1987, attempted rape (no age given)
- September 29, 1987, attempted rape, 15 years old
- December 16, 1987, rape, 15 years old
- December 23, 1987, rape, 17 years old
- April 18, 1988, rape, 17 years old
- May 30, 1988, rape, 18 years old
- October 4, 1988, attempted rape (no age given)
- November 16, 1988, rape, 18 years old
- December 27, 1988, attempted rape (no age given)
- June 20, 1989, attempted rape
- August 15, 1989, rape, 22 years old
- November 21, 1989, rape, 15 years old
- December 22, 1989, rape, 19 years old
- May 26, 1990, rape, 19 years old
Many of the assaults lasted from 30 minutes to 1 hour long, one of them even lasting for 2 hours. The attempted assaults left many of the women having to get stitches and being left with bruises. In May of 1988, Paul was nearly caught by a uniformed Metro Toronto investigator watching a bus shelter. The investigator noticed him hiding under a tree and pursued him on foot, but Paul escaped. Later in November, Metro Police formed a special task force dedicated to capturing the Scarborough Rapist. During his last assault, his victim's vivid recollection of her attacker permitted police to create a computer composite portrait, which was released two days later by police and published in Toronto and area newspapers.
Schoolgirl Killer
Tammy Homolka was Karla’s 15 year old sister. Paul had always had a fascination with her. He would sneak into her room at night and masturbate, Karla helped him do this by taking the binds off her windows so Paul could enter. In 1990 Paul revealed that Karla had drugged her sister with Valium so that Paul could then and did rape her. On December 23rd 1990, Karla drugged Tammy with 15 sleeping pills and once she was unconscious gave her Halothane which she had stolen from her work place at the the Martinedale Animal Clinic. Karla had wanted to give Paul Tammy’s virginity as a Christmas present because Paul was upset he had not been Karla’s first sexual partner. The pair began to tape Tammy as Paul raped her, they however had not anticipated that due to the heavy sedation Tammy was under that she could begin to vomit so badly that she would vomit and suffocate on it. They then dressed Tammy and moved her into the basement before calling the police. Tammy was later pronounced dead at the hospital without having regained consciousness.Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bernardo for full coverage on his attacks and other possible victims.
Police Mistakes
There were several big mistakes the police made as far as finding and stopping Paul Bernardo goes. These can be summed up to massive incompetence on the officers part. The first being that at the very beginning of the rapes before there ever was a “Scarborough rapist” was that Bernardo was called into the police station but was never interviewed. In 1990, 2 months after the police had confirmed that Paul Bernardo matched the sketch of the rapist they asked him to come in for an interview. He volunteered to give DNA because he admitted he looked like the sketch. Being the absolute joke of police officers that the interviewers were they concluded that such a nice young man couldn't possibly be the rapist. Following the death of Tammy Homolka the coroner and the family announced her death as accidental – this is despite the chemical burns from the Halothane on her face, somehow none of the police officers caught on to this blunder so Paul and Karla remained free for even longer.How were they Caught?
After the murders and rape of two young girls, a sketch was released of the suspect, and a work associate of Bernardo recognized this as Paul Bernardo, and contacted police. After bringing Bernardo in, it wasn't until 1993 that an exact forensic match was made after the police had obtained a saliva swab which was tested positive. Police soon learned that there was a second person involved, Karla Homolka, Paul Bernardo's wife who was soon brought in on the same charges as Bernardo.
Once she realized the pair were about to be caught, Karla confessed to her uncle that Bernardo was the actual rapist/serial killer, and that she was just a bystander. Homolka quickly got a lawyer, and soon made a please bargain. Karla would only get a 12 year sentence, and eligible for parole after serving 3 years with good behavior for her participation in the crimes, in exchange for her testimony against Paul Bernardo. Unfortunately, after all the evidence was in, it showed more of Karla's involvement in the rape murders then was let on.However it was too late to go back on the plea bargain, as she could not be retried for her crimes. The plea bargain was soon known as “The worst in the history of Canada”, and a “Deal with the devil”. In mid-February Bernardo was arrested and charged with the Scarborough rapes/murders of Leslie Mahaffry, and Kristen French. He was convicted of 2 first degree murders and 2 aggravated sexual assaults. Paul Bernardo was sentenced to life without parole for 25 years.
Confession
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| Paul Bernardo leaving the courthouse in Toronto |
Where are they now?
Paul Bernardo's is now 48 years old, and is “unlikely to ever see the light of day”. He is not eligible to apply for parole until July 2020. There has been talk about Paul being moved to a medium security prison, but officials ensure that this will not be happening anytime in the new future. He is still being incarcerated in the segregation unit in Millhaven Institution in Bath. While in prison, Paul charmed and manipulated a 30 year-old attractive university educated woman into planning to marry him. They originally met through correspondence, and are reported to be very in love. She has even gone as far as to getting a tattoo of “Paul’s Girl” on her ankle. Friends and Family of the woman are against this soon to be marriage, and are said to be constantly trying to talk her out of it. While Paul Bernardo is still in jail, with marriage on his mind, Karla Homolka has already been released and starting her life over again. Karla served a total of 12 years and was released on July 4 2005, from the St-Anne-des-Plaines prison. She is now living in Guadeloupe under the name, Leanne Bordelais. She married Thierry Bordelais and they have 1 girl and 2 boys together.Although she seems to have gotten away with murder, she does have some restrictions now that she is back into society. Some restrictions are:
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Provide police with home address and who she lives with
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Forbidden to be with people under 16
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No drugs
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Continue therapy and counselling
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Provide police with DNA sample
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Forbidden to contact Paul, families of Leslie Mahaffry and Kristen French
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