In 1991, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka got married. They were glamourous, attractive. However, beneath this deceit was sickening, depraved sadism as the couple made their mark as two of the most notorious killers in Canadian history.
Between 1990 and 1992, Bernardo and Homolka — dubbed "the Ken and Barbie killers" by the Canadian press for their good looks and glamour despite their gruesome crimes — would participate in the rapes and murders of at least three schoolgirls; Leslie Mahaffy, Kristen French, and Karla's own 15 year old sister, Tammy Homolka.
To preface this, Bernardo actually had a history of abusing and raping women. His past relationships were tumultuous and violent, and he would threaten to kill his partners if they spoke out about the abuse. Between the years 1987 and 1990, Paul Bernardo would go on to partake in a series of vicious rapes throughout the district of Scarborough, to which he admitted to in 2006.
In 1987, he and Homolka met and just clicked. Karla would encourage his sadistic sexual behaviour and fantasies, which later led to the drugging, rape, and murder of Tammy Homolka and at least two other young girls.
On Christmas Eve, 1990, the pair drugged Tammy Homolka's drinks with a sedative, Halcion, causing her to go unconscious, as her sister had given Barnardo (who had shown sexual interest in Tammy, going so far as to get Karla to roleplay as her younger sister in bed) permission to rape her. The two proceeded to rape her and kept her unconscious with Halothane, an anaesthetic Karla took from the vet clinic she worked at, and filmed the entire ordeal. While unconscious, Tammy became sick and would soon choke to death on her own vomit. Paul and Karla attempted to unsuccessfully revive her before Karla called an ambulance, covering up any signs of the rape. Tammy's death was labelled as accidental.
3 weeks later, the couple filmed a video titled "The Fireside Chat" in which it involves Karla's admission that she enjoyed seeing her fiancé assault her sister, and says that she wanted to put a rose at Tammy's grave. Later in the tape, Karla wears Tammy's clothing and acts like her, and has sex with her fiancé on Tammy's bed. Sometime in 1991, the couple would marry.
The pair would go on to kidnap a girl 6 months later, 14 year old Leslie Mahaffy. Bernardo had seen Mahaffy alone after a wake she went to earlier on that day, and offered her a cigarette which was supposedly in his car. Once close enough, he forced Mahaffy into the car and drove her to the home he and Homolka shared, where the two proceeded to abuse and rape her repeatedly over the next 24 hours, which was also filmed in a now-destroyed tape. Homolka once again sedated the victim while Bernardo strangled her with a cord. Mahaffy later died, and Karla and Paul panicked, attempting unsuccessfully to revive her. They would then dismember Leslie into small pieces and encase her body parts in concrete. Her braces and dental records confirmed her identity.
The Ken and Barbie killers' final known victim was 15 year old Kristen French. She was walking home from her secondary school when she was approached by the killer couple, with Karla pretending to need directions. While French was helping her, Bernardo forced her into the car at gunpoint. The kidnapping was witnessed by several people, and her shoe was found in the parking lot. Held in captivity for the next 3 days, French was subjected to torture and sexual degradation, which was once again videotaped. Her cooperation with her abusers declined in the latter part of the 3 days, and she was soon strangled and dumped in a ditch 45 minutes away from St. Catharine's, her body washed and her hair cut to interfere with identification.
The two were questioned for Bernardo's Scarborough Rapist case, the death of Tammy Homolka, and other stalking cases. By this point, both Bernardo and Homolka have registered to change their name to Teale. An acquaintance of Bernardo's, John Motile, reported him as a potential suspect in May of 1992. On 27 December 1992, Bernardo beat Homolka severely with a flashlight, which Homolka passed off the bruising of as a car accident. Her coworkers contacted her parents, who took her to the hospital where she gave a statement that she was a battered spouse, which led to Bernardo's arrest in January of 1993. It is also within December of 1992 that the Centre of Forensic Sciences began testing DNA samples given by Bernardo two years prior, in 1990. When the DNA matched, he was put on 24-hour surveillance. Homolka is questioned again, initially focusing on his abuse of her, though later admits to family of their crimes — both Paul's individual crimes as the Scarborough Rapist and their crimes together as a couple. She was then also placed under 24-hour surveillance and contacted her lawyer, George Walker. On February 17, Bernardo was arrested and his house was searched. However, the warrant was limited due to weak evidence of his guilt, which meant that they could not destroy property or remove unexpected evidence from his property. Over the 71 days, they only found 1 tape involving Homolka giving oral sex to an unidentified girl.
Bernardo admitted to his lawyer, Ken Murray, where the tapes were, who then found and hid the tapes. However, when Murray resigned, Bernardo's new lawyer, John Rosen, handed the tapes over to law enforcement. They were then used as evidence during the trial. The government offered Homolka the infamous plea bargain of twelve years for cooperation and testifying against her husband. She accepted, and later divorced him in February of 1994.
Bernardo, being tried for the rapes and murders of Mahaffy and French in 1995, claimed that the actual deaths were accidental and that Karla Homolka was the real killer of the pair, despite Homolka's testimony against him and the videotaped rapes. He would go on to be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least twenty five years for multiple charges such as two first-degree murders and two aggravated sexual assaults, and he is designated as a dangerous offender, impairing his ability to eventually be released. He is still incarcerated, and is currently in the La Macaza Institution in Quebec as of 2024.
Meanwhile, Homolka was unconditionally released on July 4 2005 after 12 years imprisonment due to the controversial plea bargain, which was dubbed by Canadian press as "the Deal with the Devil". She currently lives in Quebec, got remarried to her lawyer's brother and has 3 children under the name Leanne Bordelais/Teale. At times, to much controversy and backlash, she would even volunteer at schools in her area. However, as of 2020, she has not been seen with her husband nor her children.
The couple's depraved crimes have haunted many for the past 3 decades, having left a lasting, disturbing impact and made a name for themselves as two of the most notoriously sadistic criminals in Canadian history.
