Shownotes Transcript
If you're fascinated by the darker sides of humanity, join us every week on our podcast, Serial Killers, where we go deep into notorious true crime cases. With significant research and careful analysis, we examine the psyche of a killer, their motives and targets, and law enforcement's pursuit to stop their spree. Follow Serial Killers wherever you get your podcasts and get new episodes every Monday.
It was around 2:00 AM on June 15th, 1991. Leslie Mahaffey was out beyond her curfew. The 14-year-old, brace-faced ninth grader from Burlington, Ontario was going through a rough time in her life. Her friend and classmate had just died in a horrible car accident. On the evening of June 14th, Leslie and company gathered at a funeral home to pay their respects. From there, they ventured into the nearby woods to drink and share stories.
The party broke up after midnight, and some of her friends walked Leslie home. Her parents would kill her if they caught her coming home this late, so she snuck around back to see if the side door was unlocked. It wasn't. Leslie accepted her fate. She assumed the front door would be open and that her father would be waiting with the scowl on his face. She told her friends to leave and that everything would be alright. She walked up, grabbed the knob, and turned. Nothing.
Leslie was locked out and had no means of getting inside. It was late, dark, and cold. At that moment, all she wanted was a cigarette. That's when a handsome young man named Paul Bernardo stepped out of the darkness. His eyes and charming smile disarmed her. His mysterious bad boy aura drew her close. He said he had some cigarettes in his car. Leslie agreed to go with him.
Leslie thought Paul was being a gentleman when he took his sweatshirt and motioned to wrap it around her. But "gentleman" is the last word anyone would use to describe Paul Bernardo. He wrapped the shirt tightly around her head and forced her into the back of his car. He pulled a knife and told her not to scream. She wouldn't like what would happen if she did. Paul took the girl home, where his wife, Carla, was fast asleep. He stripped Leslie and blindfolded her,
He plied her with champagne, then proceeded to rape and torture her. The noise woke Carla, and she caught her husband in the act. Her eyes filled with rage, but not because Paul was raping a 14-year-old girl in their home. She was more upset that he used the good champagne flutes to entertain their new toy. Carla joined, and for the next 24 hours, they took turns videotaping each other as they sexually assaulted Leslie.
Pop music blasted over the radio, loud enough to muffle the teenager's painful moans. At one point, Paul leaned into her ear and said, "You're doing a good job, Leslie. A damned good job. The next two hours will determine what I do to you. Right now, you're scoring perfect." That's when things went sour. Leslie told Paul that her blindfold was slipping. If it slipped any further, she might be able to see, and thus identify, her attackers.
Unfortunately, that slip cost Leslie her life. Paul and Carla killed her the following day and left her body in the basement while they hosted Carla's family for a Father's Day dinner. Roughly two weeks later, on June 29th, 1991, a man and his wife set out for a late-night canoe ride on Lake Gibson in Niagara, Ontario. They spotted a concrete slab near the shoreline, but it was too dark to investigate.
Later, the men returned to the spot with a friend and dragged the slab from the water. That's when they discovered a woman's calf and foot sticking out. Police arrived and searched the lake, soon finding 10 more concrete slabs containing human body parts. Finally, they found the head. Leslie Mahaffey's braces helped identify her.
She was one of three murder victims claimed by Paul Bernardo and Carla Homolka, also known as the Ken and Barbie Killers. They were a good-looking young couple with bright smiles and friendly faces. But those faces were the last their victims ever saw. Behind their eyes were the twisted minds of two sadomasochists. Both of them had sick sexual fantasies despite Carla claiming Paul was the puppet master.
They made snuff films for their own enjoyment. They targeted young girls, virgins specifically, and subjected them to hours of torture and abuse. The sad part is that police could have prevented it all had they run a simple blood test. Instead, incompetence led to three murders and upwards of 18 rapes. Ken and Barbie were officially out of the box, and nobody was putting them back in.
Part 1: A Match Made in Hell Paul Bernardo and Carla Homolka were married on June 29th, 1991, the same day Leslie Mahaffey's dismembered body was found in a concrete slab. It was a lavish event from start to finish. It began at the historic church in Niagara-on-the-Lake. From there, Paul and Carla rode in a horse-drawn carriage to a sit-down dinner for 150 guests.
They enjoyed veal stuffed pheasant and multiple champagne toasts. Carla looked stunning in her $2,000 dress. During the after party, a friend of Carla's stopped for a quick interview with the wedding videographer. She looked into the camera and said, "Paul is the best thing that could ever happen to Carla." In reality, Carla was the best thing that could ever happen to him, and the worst thing imaginable for everybody else.
Paul Bernardo was born into a dysfunctional family in August 1964. His mother, Marilyn, was the adopted daughter of a wealthy Canadian lawyer and his wife. They wanted the best for Marilyn and objected when her first boyfriend, an uneducated blue-collar worker, asked for her hand in marriage. Instead, she married Kenneth Bernardo, whose father made his living in the marble and tile business.
Unfortunately, Bernardo Sr. was abusive to his wife and children, a trait that passed on to Kenneth very early in life. Marilyn and Kenneth settled in a middle-class neighborhood in the Scarborough region of Toronto, Canada. Their marriage was unhealthy from the start. After two children and several years of abuse, Marilyn ran back to her first boyfriend's arms. They had an affair, out of which Paul was conceived.
Kenneth knew, but maintained an open mind. He had his own skeletons in the closet. Everybody knew him as the local Peeping Tom. In 1975, he was arrested and charged with child molestation. There were also rumors that he'd been sexually assaulting his youngest daughter. Regarding Marilyn's affair, Kenneth didn't have a moral leg to stand on.
When the illegitimate baby was born, his name was listed as Paul Bernardo on the birth certificate. Kenneth accepted him as his own. Marilyn put on weight as the family dynamic crumbled. According to some sources, she became grotesquely obese and withdrew to the basement of the family home. But, despite the dysfunction, Paul seemed to escape unscathed.
In his book, Lethal Marriage, author Nick Prawn describes Paul as a cute young boy who smiled a lot. He was always happy, and his dimpled cheeks were the kind any mother would love to pinch. He did well in school and looked adorable in his Boy Scout uniform. He was popular among his classmates and worked summers as a scout counselor. All the girls loved him. He was like a walking Ken doll. Then, when Paul was 16, his world came crashing down.
An argument with his basement-dwelling mother revealed the truth about Paul's birth. He resented her afterward, calling her names like "whore" and "slob". He also hated Kenneth, as Paul was well aware of his so-called dad's sexual perversions. From that day forward, Paul's attitude toward women changed drastically, and for the worse. In college, Paul began working for Amway Corp, short for American Way.
Amway was an American multi-level marketing company that sold health, beauty, and home care products. Their predatory practices saw them pay tens of millions in settlement fees. In the early 80s, they admitted to defrauding the Canadian government by undervaluing goods that crossed the border. Some Amway distributor groups have been accused of using cult-like practices to attract new members and keep others involved. These tactics rubbed off on Paul and his friends.
They saw themselves as elite and above everyone else. They also admired televangelists like Jim Baker. He and his college buddies bar hopped each night, selling fake stories about themselves to pick up young, naive women. Sadly, the technique paid off. Paul's sexual fantasies ballooned with his self-confidence. Horseful anal sex became his go-to.
He enjoyed humiliating his girlfriends in public and beating them behind closed doors. Thankfully, all of them dumped Paul once they couldn't take anymore. Then, in October of 1987, he met the girl of his dreams at a pet convention in Scarborough. Carla Homolka was born into a loving, stable family in May of 1970. She was pretty, popular, and loved animals more than anything. She dreamed of being a vet one day.
When she was 17, she began working at a local vet's office. This led her to the pet convention, where she ultimately met Paul. In "Lethal Marriage," author Nick Prawn helps paint the evening of their fateful meeting. Carla attended the pet convention with a friend. While they were both interested in meeting like-minded animal lovers, they were also interested in partying, drinking, and meeting men. The girls met two suitors at a dance club and invited them back to their hotel room.
However, they later regretted that decision and had difficulty getting the men to leave. It took some convincing, and likely some screaming. But both men finally left around midnight. Carla and her friend were hungry, so they popped into the hotel's all-night restaurant for grilled cheese sandwiches. That's when Paul Bernardo and a friend approached their table. Paul focused on Carla, teasing her about still being in her pajamas.
He pulled out all the stops, instantly wooing Carla with his charm and bright smile. Later, she would tell her friend that she'd never met a man with such magnetism. They had sex that night and never looked back.
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Part 2: The Predator Paul and Carla's relationship moved quickly. Soon, he was spending weekends at her parents' house. When they weren't out to dinner, they were in Carla's room, having sex. But soon, normal intercourse wasn't enough for Paul.
He wanted Carla to be more aggressive. He demanded bondage and prolonged oral sex. Carla was happy to oblige. After their sessions, Paul would return to the living room couch, where he'd sleep so as not to upset Carla's parents. Carla had two little sisters. Mom and dad didn't want her setting a poor example. But one night, after Paul couldn't climax, he crept outside, climbed a tree, and peered into the bedroom of Carla's 12-year-old sister, Tammy.
Paul had seen her son bathing by the pool that summer. He couldn't get the thought out of his mind. He couldn't get sex out of his mind in general. If he wasn't having it, he was thinking about it. After leaving Carla's house in the morning, he'd sometimes park at the nearby shopping mall and stalk young women as they walked in and out. Other times, Paul would park near the bus stop and observe the women getting on and off. He realized that, at some points in the day, they would only be the driver and a lone female.
Paul wondered what it'd be like to follow them, attack them, and rape them. But at least a small piece of him felt committed to Carla. He broached the question one day: "What would you think if I were a rapist?" She said it'd be cool. Their love deepened, and Paul was free to attack whomever he pleased. Between 1987 and 1990, Paul Bernarda raped upwards of 18 women. His pattern was the same in every case.
He'd stalk them at night, typically waiting for them to get off a bus. Then, he'd attack from behind and force his victims to the ground. He'd threaten them, saying, "Don't look at me or you're dead." Then, he'd force them to perform anal and oral sex. When he finished, he'd let his victims go while he slipped quietly into the night. All the while, Carla encouraged the activity. One victim claimed to see a woman watching and recording the attack.
Sadly, Toronto police discounted her story, chalking it up to hysteria and PTSD. Paul attacked enough women for the police to collect a great deal of physical evidence. They also assembled a rough composite that looked an awful lot like Paul Bernardo. However, they decided to keep this sketch private, hoping to use it as leverage should they arrest someone. His name had crossed their desks before, yet nobody linked him to the Scarborough cases.
one of his old flames, Jennifer, went to the police to complain about Paul raping and abusing her. They admitted that several coincidences linked Paul to the Scarborough rapes, but his involvement just didn't make sense. He was too damn handsome. It wasn't until 1990 that police finally published the composite sketch of the Scarborough rapist. The image, plus a $150,000 reward, generated a massive influx of tips.
By then, Paul had quit his day job to run a lucrative cigarette smuggling scam. When the composite photo came out, his old co-workers immediately recognized the picture as Paul. One of them called Toronto PD to tell them about Paul. Unfortunately, the tip was lost in a sea of similar phone calls. There simply weren't enough officers to keep up with everything.
As for the physical evidence, primarily semen recovered from the rape victims, lab testing confirmed that the Scarborough rapist was a non-secreter. Non-secreters are people who don't leak blood antigens into their bodily fluids. This means you can't determine their blood type via tears, sweat, or saliva. According to the Toronto Lab, this narrowed their suspect pool to 12.8% of the male population.
In other words, they were still on square one. Soon, more of Paul's old girlfriends and acquaintances came forward to report his likeness to the composite sketch. Eventually, police visited Paul to take blood, saliva, and hair samples. Of the 230 samples they collected from possible suspects, only five matched the profile of the Scarborough rapist. Paul was among those five, and yet, nobody ever moved on him.
It wasn't until 1992 that his blood was resubmitted for additional testing. By then, the rapes had stopped, and Paul and Carla had already killed three teenage girls. Their first victim was somebody near and dear to their hearts: Carla's little sister, Tammy. Part 3: A Sister's Love It was December 1990. Carla Homolka was engaged to the man of her dreams. She would do anything for Paul.
anything at all. Unfortunately, some demands are simply impossible to meet. Carla wasn't a virgin when Paul met her. It was a fact about their relationship that always bothered him. From his twisted point of view, the only way to make it right was to have sex with Carla's now 15-year-old sister, Tammy. Once Carla agreed to go along, the rest came easy. They would videotape the ordeal, and Carla would even participate herself.
The only hurdle was finding a way to knock Tammy unconscious. At the time, Carla worked at a vet's office. She began as a receptionist, but her duty soon expanded to prepping animals for surgery. This required her to work with an ether-like substance known as halothane. Halothane is a general anesthetic
It's on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines. However, its use in developed countries has dwindled due to newer drugs. Carla knew how to use it and could easily steal it. The trick was figuring out the correct dose. They needed to knock Tammy out so Paul could rape her, but they didn't want her to OD. Everything had to be perfect. This was Paul's Christmas present, after all.
The gears began turning on December 23, 1990. Carla and Paul told Tammy they wanted to stay up late and have a few drinks. For the 15-going-on-16-year-old girl, drinking with Carla and her cute boyfriend was a massive leap toward adulthood. Paul fixed their beverages, and the trio settled into the living room to watch 1990's Lisa, a thriller about a teenage girl's infatuation with an older man who turns out to be a serial killer.
How ironic. Tammy's drink was obviously spiked, and the drugs acted quickly. Carla and Paul couldn't take their eyes off her as she squirmed and readjusted on the opposite couch. Frustrated, Paul got up and fixed Tammy another halothane cocktail. This one worked, and Tammy passed out cold. "Go poke her and see if she'll wake up," Paul told Carla, who crawled over to inspect her baby sister. "She's out," Carla said.
Paul grinned like the Grinch who stole Christmas. They dragged Tammy into the downstairs bedroom, and Carla went to get some more sedative from her room. The trick was keeping Tammy under while ensuring she could still breathe. With proper medical equipment, this is easy. Unfortunately, all Carla had was a halothane-soaked rag. Paul kept the camera on Tammy as he raped her.
Meanwhile, Carla begged him to hurry, fearing that her parents or youngest sister might walk downstairs. When Paul was done, he forced Carla to perform sexual acts on Tammy's body. "Do you love me?" Paul asked in the middle of it. "Yes," Carla said. Then, Tammy lurched and vomited. Carla should have known it would happen. There are strict warnings about mixing halothane with food and beverages, especially alcohol.
Her face went blue. Her breathing stopped. Carla defaulted to her lessons from the vet's office. She held Tammy upside down, hoping to clear her throat. But Tammy was already dead. She choked to death on her own vomit while face down on the floor. Paul and Carla never noticed. They dressed her and cleaned up the mess. They hid all the drugs and then called 911. Carla's parents only learned about their dying daughter when they heard sirens on their street.
"What happened?" Carla's mom asked. "It's Tammy," Carla said. "She's not breathing." When police and paramedics arrived, the killers claimed they were watching a movie in the basement of the Homolka home when Tammy complained about blurred vision. They figured it was the alcohol and didn't think anything of it. Carla and Paul said they fell asleep in each other's arms, only waking to the sound of Tammy gagging on the couch. Paul said he tried CPR, but by then, it was too late.
As paramedics took Tammy away on a stretcher, a burn mark around her mouth caught one officer's attention. It looked like soot burns commonly seen around someone's mouth and nose after they fled a burning building. When police asked Paul about the red mark, he claimed it was a rug burn. When they saw Tammy choking, Paul said he dragged her off the couch and into a bedroom with better lighting.
Police also theorized that the three were freebasing crack cocaine, and the burn was due to a flash fire that singed the outside of Tammy's mouth. They also suggested that acid from her stomach could have bubbled up and caused the burns. In reality, the red marks were due to the holothane rag Carla kept pressed against her sister's nose and mouth.
Medical experts believe a chemical reaction occurred between the halothane and whatever was on the rag before Carla grabbed it. Ultimately, Tammy's death was ruled an accident. She was buried in a cemetery near the family home. A soccer ball was carved into her headstone. Beneath were the words, "You were loved so very much, and now you've gone away. Memories will keep you near."
For Tammy's parents, those memories involve grass-stained soccer uniforms and her high-pitched laughs. For Paul and Carla, those memories were forever burned onto a VHS snuff film. Part 4: Wedding Bells Paul always blamed Carla for Tammy's death. She ruined his Christmas present, and Carla felt like she needed to make it up to him. If Paul couldn't have Tammy anymore, then Carla would find a replacement.
She needed someone young and pretty. Most importantly, she needed a virgin. And she knew the perfect candidate. Carla had befriended a 15-year-old girl at a pet shop two years prior. In articles, books, and court records, she simply referred to as "Jane Doe." Jane looked like Tammy and idolized Carla's beauty and sophistication. She happily agreed when Carla invited her to the new home she and Paul were renting.
The girls ate dinner while Paul was out. Carla plied Jane with halothane-laced drinks until she fell into a deep, unwakeable sleep. When Paul came home, he found Jane laid out like an early wedding gift. Carla assured him that she had everything under control this time. They wouldn't have another Tammy situation on their hands. They undressed Jane, and Paul videotaped as Carla sexually assaulted the girl. Then, Paul took the girl's virginity
He flipped her over and engaged in his favorite pastime: brutal anal sex. When it was over, Carla cleaned the blood off the girl and put her to bed for the night. Jane woke to the rising sun. Her body was sore and she was sick to her stomach. That's when she met Paul for what she believed was the first time. Despite everything Carla did for him, Paul still had second thoughts about their wedding. Carla had just turned 21.
In Paul's eyes, she was getting old. Carla became more submissive. She'd do anything under the sun to satisfy him. When Paul went hunting for a virgin to bring home, Carla waited with the drugs and cameras ready. On June 14th, 1991, Paul was on the prowl for two things: a virgin and license plates to steal for his cigarette smuggling operation. Around 2 AM, Paul slipped into Dan and Deborah Mahaffey's backyard.
That's when he spotted 14-year-old Leslie standing alone, having been locked out of her parents' home. The following 24 hours were the worst of Leslie's young life. She was subjected to endless rape and torture at the hands of Paul and Carla. In between sessions, they gave her a stuffed teddy bear to cuddle. The sex got rougher and rougher. At one point, Leslie screamed in pain. It quickly became too much, and the young girl passed out and died.
How she died is up for debate. Paul and Carla point the finger at each other. Carla claims that Paul strangled her to death with an electrical rod. Paul says he left the room to prep his car. He planned on driving Leslie into town and releasing her. However, when he returned, he found her dead by Carla's hand. They both agree that, on June 16th, they moved her body from the upstairs bedroom to the basement.
That afternoon and evening, they hosted Carla's family for a Father's Day party. When everyone left, Paul and Carla used a circular saw to cut Leslie's body into pieces. They bought quick-dry cement and encased her body parts in ten small blocks. They drove to Lake Gibson and tossed the tiny tombs into the water. The following weeks were full of wedding planning. Paul controlled every facet, from Carla's dress to how the priest would pronounce them.
Instead of husband and wife, they were man and wife. Ball saw his wedding as a money-making opportunity. The grander the scale, the more people would be expected to give gifts. "If I spend $50 a plate, I expect to get $100 a person." His goal was to make about $50,000 off his wedding. As they exchanged vows and drank the night away, police in Toronto were pulling the remains of Leslie Mahaffey out of Lake Gibson.
Recall the words of their blissfully ignorant wedding guest: "Paul is the best thing that could ever happen to Carla." Part 5: Murder on my mind The Ken and Barbie killers had already claimed two victims. Their third was right around the corner. After the wedding, they called upon the services of Jane Doe once more.
Jane believed she was still a virgin, as she had no idea that Paul had raped her while she was unconscious. She would only agree to oral sex, which upset Paul beyond belief. They resorted to drugging her again, but things got out of hand. Jane stopped breathing, forcing Carla and Paul to call 911. They lucked out when Paul successfully resuscitated her. The ambulance was called off. Nobody ever knew that Jane almost died.
The near miss scared Ken and Barbie. Paul was frustrated with his new wife and began questioning her competence with halothane. Not wanting to upset him, Carla became the huntress, bringing Paul young girls to satisfy his needs. On November 30th, 1991, 14-year-old Terri Anderson went missing near her school. Six months later, police found her waterlogged body in a pond near Lake Ontario.
The medical examiner ruled that she likely drowned after drinking and taking LSD. They said there were no signs of foul play, though they acknowledged that six months in the water likely destroyed any such evidence. Her death was always linked to Paul and Carla, though never proven. Technically, she was not their third victim. That distinction goes to 15-year-old Kristen French, whom Paul and Carla abducted on her way home from school.
It was April 16th, 1992. Kristen French was walking home from Holy Cross Secondary School in St. Catharines, Ontario. When Carla approached with the map, she pretended she was lost and asked French for directions. While the teenager was distracted, Paul snuck up and threatened her at knife point. He forced her into the car, and the duo drove away with their third and final victim. Both of them knew Kristen would have to die. Kristen knew it too.
She saw both their faces and likely believed she could fight them. She was a decorated ice skater and physically larger than Carla. If she could overtake Barbie, she might have a fighter's chance against Ken. Kristen was also smart. She knew cooperating gave her the best chance of survival. Unfortunately, her cooperation only made Paul more sadistic. "I'm going to piss on you, okay? Then I'm going to shit on you." He can be heard saying on one of their videotapes.
According to the medical examiner's report, Kristen was held in captivity for three days over Easter weekend. During that time, she was subjected to endless rape and humiliation. She likely died on April 19th, 1992. However, her cause of death is disputed by Paul and Carla. Carla claims Paul strangled Kristen to death while she watched. Paul says Carla beat the girl with a rubber mallet when she tried to escape.
He claims Carla strangled Kristen with a noose and then left to fix her hair. According to Paul and Carla's tapes, Kristen ultimately became a defiant fighter. She told Paul, "Some things are worth dying for." Regarding Carla, she said, "I don't know how your wife can stand being around you.
On April 30th, 1992, Kristen French's remains were found in a ditch along Route 1, roughly 45 minutes outside of St. Catharines. She was naked, her body was washed, and her head was shaved. The pathologist ultimately ruled that Kristen died via strangulation, because she wasn't dismembered like Leslie Mahaffey. Police erroneously concluded that both murders were not related. Part 6: The Green Ribbon Task Force
Paul and Carla weren't necessarily careful when they grabbed Kristen French. Several people witnessed the kidnapping, and one woman recalled seeing a struggle inside a car. She identified the car as a Camaro, which sent police on a wild goose chase of all the Camaros in the Toronto area. At the time, Paul drove a Nissan. His name did resurface among the many tips police received. To investigate these tips, Canadian authorities established the Green Ribbon Task Force.
They, along with forensic experts from the FBI, worked in tandem to solve the murders of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffey. Two task force members were dispatched to interview Paul at his home. During their conversation, Paul admitted that he was once a suspect in the Scarborough rape cases. Police noted Paul's good looks, clean-cut appearance, and tidy home. While they didn't suspect Paul, they couldn't rule him out either.
They called around about the Scarborough rapist and learned that final testing on Paul Bernardo's blood and saliva samples had never been completed. Technically, Paul had never been cleared as a suspect, even after the rapes stopped in 1990. It wasn't until February 1993 that the forensics lab in Toronto got around to testing Paul's samples. They proved that Paul had raped at least three of the Scarborough victims.
Had they simply checked back in 1990, Tammy, Leslie, and Kristen might still be alive. Police immediately turned their attention back to Paul. They learned he'd just been charged with assault after beating a woman with a flashlight. That woman was none other than Carla. Carla tried to downplay the bruises, claiming she was in a car accident. Her friends and coworkers saw through the lie and convinced her to file charges against Paul.
Those charges opened the door to questioning. For five hours, police grilled Carla on the Scarborough rapes and the St. Catherine murders. Under immense pressure, Carla cracked and pinned everything on Paul. He killed Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffey. She wasn't ready to talk about Tammy yet. Carla's veterinary work paid off when George Walker agreed to defend her.
He was a powerful defense attorney and the proud owner of a cancer-riddled Dalmatian that Carla had taken special care of. Throughout several interviews, George realized that Carla wasn't an innocent victim. He assumed she was complicit. He just didn't know how complicit. Still, she was the only person who could testify against Paul and wouldn't do so without immunity. Paul was finally arrested on February 17th, 1993.
Police obtained a search warrant for their home, but because Paul's links to the murders were weak, the warrant handcuffed officers regarding what they could take. For example, any videotapes had to be viewed on the property, damage was to be minimal, and police couldn't tear down walls or fixtures in search of evidence. In other words, Paul and Carla's rape tapes had to be out in the open or easy to find.
Lucky for them, Paul had stashed their tapes behind a ceiling light fixture in the upstairs bathroom. From jail, Paul called his lawyer, Ken Murray, and told him where to find the recordings. Ken went to the home, unscrewed the light, and left with the snuff films. He hid them from investigators for 17 months. A handwritten note from Paul informed Murray that the tapes depicted the rape and torture of two teenage girls.
While he'd have to watch them eventually, Paul told Murray not to view the tapes until he gave explicit permission. Murray believed the tapes would be crucial to Paul's defense, and thus never turned them over to police or prosecutors. This, in hindsight, was the best thing he could have done for Carla Homolka. Part 7: Deal with the Devil At first, Carla Homolka wanted blanket immunity to testify against Paul.
George Walker was a good lawyer, a great lawyer even. But even he knew that was impossible. Instead, he struck a deal that would see Carla plead guilty to two counts of manslaughter. At the most, she'd only spend 12 years in prison. From there, Carla was placed in a psychiatric hospital for assessment. During her stay, she worked up the courage to write a confession letter to her parents and surviving sister. "Dear Mom, Dad, and Lori," the letter began.
"This is the hardest letter I've ever had to write, and you'll probably all hate me once you read it." The letter goes on to explain what happened to Tammy that night. She said Paul was in love with Tammy and wanted to have sex with her. She claims Paul forced her to steal drugs from the vet's office and use them to sedate Tammy while he raped her. "I tried so hard to save her," her letter concluded. "I am so sorry. I would gladly give my life for hers."
I don't expect you to forgive me, for I will never forgive myself. Carla's plea deal required her to tell the complete and honest truth regarding Paul's involvement in the deaths of Leslie, Kristen, and Tammy. She wasn't allowed to give public interviews or profit in any way from the crimes. Her summer trial was a media circus. A psychiatric report helped some people digest her plea agreement, as it painted Carla as helpless and paralyzed.
She was a battered woman and utterly subservient to Paul. Knowing much of the public would not be happy about Carla's plea deal, Crown Prosecutor Murray Siegel said, "Without her, the true state of affairs might never be known. Her age, her lack of criminal record, the abuse and the influence of her husband, and her somewhat secondary role were factors she's unlikely to reoffend."
While all this was true, Siegel and those agreed to the plea terms had never seen Carla and Paul's videotapes. They were still hidden in Ken Murray's office. Pressure mounted as police wiretapped Murray's phone. They knew the tapes existed and couldn't bring Paul to trial without them. Eventually, enough pressure mounted and Murray decided to turn everything over. He found himself in legal trouble when the courts brought obstruction of justice charges against him.
He successfully argued that he only hid the tapes because he believed it was in his client's best interest. The court agreed, and the charges against him were dropped. Paul's trial began in May of 1995. It opened with Crown prosecutors laying out a day on the tortured life of Carla Homolka. They described her as a brainwashed, frightened accomplice to the most degrading criminal acts.
Next, they played a segment from one tape that showed Carla naked on the bed, pleasuring herself as the camera zoomed into her vagina. In the two years leading up to Paul's trial, Carla's face had been printed in every Canadian newspaper from Vancouver to St. John's. For some, she was more recognizable than the Prime Minister. Those in the courtroom got a unique, triple-X rated look at Canada's most famous Barbie doll.
With each video, the prosecution painted their bedroom as Paul's film set. The dialogue was scripted, and the way he'd made Carla do and repeat sexual acts felt directorial. All his defense team could do was attack Carla's credibility. It was clear to everyone watching those tapes that she was culpable, if not a willing participant, in Paul's crimes. But she had already accepted her plea deal. It was etched in stone and couldn't be changed.
Once news of the tapes spread, the Canadian public called Carla's agreement a deal with the devil. Had those tapes come to light initially, prosecutors would have never agreed to such a light sentence. Twelve years was a slap on the wrist for what she did. Paul testified on his own behalf, claiming that Carla was the real killer.
He said he'd turn his back for two seconds, and then Carla would kill their victims in a fit of jealous rage. Despite his best efforts, Paul was found guilty on all counts regarding the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Leslie Mahaffey and Kristen French. He still faced upcoming trials for the death of Tammy Homolka and all the Scarborough rapes.
At this point, none of that mattered. He was labeled a dangerous offender, meaning he'd likely spend the rest of his life in prison. Part 8: Unhappily Ever After After Paul's trial, Carla was officially incarcerated at Kingston's Prison for Women in Ontario. Back home, her mother suffered severe mental breakdowns around the holidays, sometimes requiring months of hospitalization.
In the summer of 1997, Carla was transferred to the Joliet Institution, a medium security facility in Quebec. There, Carla enjoyed certain freedoms that nobody felt she deserved. A Montreal newspaper obtained several photos from a prison birthday party. The pictures showed Carla and other inmates modeling black dresses and having a good time. One inmate said, "Joliet was more like an adult daycare center."
This, understandably, didn't sit well with the Canadian public, especially the Mahaffey and French families. The bad publicity forced Joliet to transfer Carla to the Regional Psychiatric Centre at Saskatchewan Penitentiary, a maximum security prison. Instead of cocktail dresses and parties, she enjoyed a seven-square-meter cell with a bed, window, and stainless steel toilet.
Meanwhile, Paul Bernardo was held in one of Canada's toughest max-security prisons. He was locked up 23 hours per day, with only one hour allowed for outdoor time. The prison in question is the Kingston Penitentiary, Canada's oldest and largest max-security facility. Picture those creepy, turn-of-the-century insane asylums you only see in horror movies. Isolation is their favorite form of punishment.
According to some, you can hear the distant echoes of prisoners desperate for human contact. Some peer through the slits in their doors just to catch a glimpse of another person. Since 2013, Paul has bounced between several Canadian prisons. As of 2025, he's locked up at the La Macaza Institution, a medium security facility in Quebec.
As for Carla, her saga continued well into the mid-2000s. She was slated for release in 2005, but feared what people might do once she was a free woman. In 2001, her lawyer discovered an internet death pool that allegedly took bets as to when Carla would be killed. The pool had two crucial rules: players couldn't kill Carla themselves, nor could they hire someone to kill her. Other websites promoted similar death threats against her.
on July 4th, 2005. Carla Homolka left prison as a free woman. A Quebec judge, believing that she was likely to re-offend, ordered that Carla obey several strict release conditions. In short, she was to tell police everything about her life: where she lived, who she lived with, and if she planned on moving. She couldn't contact Paul or her victims' families, nor could she interact with any known criminals.
She couldn't work any job that granted her access to so-called "date rape drugs". Nor could she work or volunteer with anyone under the age of 16. Every day since her release, Carla's life has been a media blitz. Cameras hound her like a celebrity, and tabloids print whatever sensational stories they can cook up. Between 2007 and 2016, she got married and had two children.
Unfortunately, those kids will likely spend their entire lives paying for their mother's crimes. She should have known that enrolling them in school wouldn't be easy. According to some reports, many parents were on edge when they learned Carla was among them. They didn't want their kids anywhere near Canada's most recognizable female psychopath. At the end of the day, can you really blame them?
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