By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-26 18:52:17 | Updated at 2024-11-28 21:41:16
2 days ago
One of Canada's most notorious serial killers is set to appear before a parole board today to learn his fate.
Paul Bernardo was convicted of sexual assault, kidnapping and murder in the early 1990s in one of the most 'sensational and sinister cases in Canadian history.'
The 60-year-old convict, who has been denied parole twice before, is currently serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in Ontario.
Bernardo was also convicted of manslaughter following the death of his then-wife Karla Homolka's sister, Tammy, in December 1990.
The Tuesday hearing will take place before the Parole Board of Canada at the La Macaza Institution in Quebec.
Bernardo was transferred to the medium-security La Macaza institution following a stint in a maximum-security facility in Ontario, a move that garnered public outcry last year.
The parole hearing will feature victim impact statements, though only Leslie Mahaffy's mother was set appear in-person before the board.
Others will deliver their statements virtually.
Paul Bernardo, who was convicted of sexual assault, kidnapping and murder in the early 1990s
The 60-year-old convict , who has been denied parole twice before, is currently serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French (left) and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy (right)
Bernardo was transferred to the medium-security La Macaza institution following a stint in a maximum-security facility in Ontario, a move that garnered public outcry last year
The board is seeking to asses Bernardo's risk to the public if he is to be released on parole.
Bernardo, who has been behind bars for more than 30 years, will speak last, before the commissioners deliberate.
By law, commissioners have 15 days to render a decision.
However it is possible they make a decision on the spot.
Bernardo's now-infamous killing spree began back in 1987 when in just 13 months he allegedly sexually assaulted several women before joining forces with his then-fiancée, Karla Homolka, in 1990.
Together, the 'young and beautiful' couple, who came to be known as the 'Barbie and Ken' killers, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered two young women.
The pair met when Homolka, originally from St. Catharine's, Ontario, was just 17 years old and Bernardo, from the Scarborough area of Toronto, was 23.
The two quickly fell in love - but while their romance was blossoming, Bernardo was secretly attacking women across southern Ontario.
According to a 2022 documentary, Bernardo had a difficult childhood; his mother was verbally abusive and at age 16, he found out that his father wasn't actually his biological dad - something that's been said to have greatly affected him.
As a teen, it was reported that he started looking through his female neighbors' windows while they undressed. But despite his inappropriate behavior behind closed doors, he was able to keep it a secret from everyone around him.
During his high school and college years, he had several girlfriends who all later accused him of becoming 'abusive.'
Bernardo's now-infamous killing spree began back in 1987 when in just 13 months he allegedly sexually assaulted several women before joining forces with his then-fiancée, Karla Homolka, in 1990
Together, 'young and beautiful' couple Bernardo and Homolka (right), known as the 'Barbie and Ken' killers, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered multiple young women - including Karla's own sister - in one of the most 'sensational and sinister cases in Canadian history.'
The pair met when Homolka, originally from St. Catharine's, Ontario, was just 17 years old and Bernardo, from the Scarborough area of Toronto, was 23. They later married in 1991
Throughout late 1987 and early 1988, 11 different women across the Scarborough-area were attacked by a man who had become known as the Scarborough Rapist.
The attacker would grab the women at night, and sexually assault them from behind so they couldn't see his face.
'This was a very dangerous sub-type of rapist. He was very anger-based, perhaps even sadistic in nature,' Gregg McCrary, former FBI profiler who worked on the case, revealed.
Eventually, one of the women was able to get a look at her attacker's face and she helped the police create a composite sketch that was later released to the public.
Immediately, many of Bernardo's friends noticed a resemblance between him and the sketch - and they contacted authorities, who brought him in for questioning.
The police then took some of his DNA and sent it away for testing - but the sample mysteriously disappeared.
Homolka soon started to learn about her then-fiancé's sadistic sexual deviations, and according to the documentary, two days before Christmas in 1990, she agreed to help him drug her then-15-year-old sister, Tammy, so that he could have sex with her.
'He talked about how he really liked her and how she was getting really cute,' she told police of Bernardo's fascination with Tammy.
'He kept on pushing and pushing and pushing. Finally I said, "OK," thinking it would just be one time, that's it, it would shut him up,' she added of her decision to help him rape her sister. 'I figured he'd stop bothering me and hurting me.'
Together, the pair laced Tammy's drink with sleeping pills.
Bernardo allegedly raped the teenager while Homolka held her down, and he then ordered his then-fiancée to rape her too - while videotaping the entire thing.
Afterwards, Tammy began to vomit and she tragically choked on her own throw up, resulting in her suffocating to death.
Homolka soon started to learn about her fiancé's sadistic sexual deviations, and according to the documentary, two days before Christmas in 1990, she agreed to help him drug her then-15-year-old sister, Tammy (pictured), so that he could have sex with her
The alleged rapist would grab the women at night, and sexually assault them from behind so they couldn't see his face. Eventually, one of the women was able to get a look at her attacker's face and she helped the police create a composite sketch - which was released to the public
On June 15, 1991, just days before their wedding, Bernardo woke Homolka up in the middle of the night with a present - a young girl he had kidnapped.
He had taken 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy from the backyard of her home in Burlington, Canada, and had planned to keep her as his sex slave.
He, with with Homolka's knowledge, held her captive for hours, repeatedly assaulting her and recording the attacks on video - and less than 24 hours later, she was strangled to death.
It's unclear which of them killed Leslie, but Homolka told police that she never touched the young girl, just watched while her husband did.
Two weeks later, on the day of their wedding, Leslie's body was found chopped up into small pieces by fishermen at Lake Gibson.
On April 16, 1992, the newlyweds abducted 15-year-old Kristen French while she was walking home from school.
According to eyewitnesses, Homolka asked the teen to come over to their car because they needed help with directions, when Bernardo grabbed her and forced her into the vehicle.
Karla admitted to 'holding Kristen's head down' during the car ride, as well as unplugging their phones, closing their blinds, and locking their doors once they got to their house, police footage revealed.
The couple kept Kristen in their home for days, where she was raped, sodomized, beaten, and eventually strangled to death. Her body was discovered in a ditch on the side of the road days later.
Again, Homolka claimed that she didn't touch Kristen during that time - but that she was present as her husband committed the terrible crimes.
She also told police that she helped guard the teenager, who was bound with electrical cord, by watching over her with a rubber mallet when he would go on errands.
In January of 1993, she decided to leave her husband after he allegedly beat her with a flashlight, leaving her with two black eyes and a broken rib
After they got caught, Homolka claimed that 'physically and verbally abusive' Bernardo made her commit the gruesome crimes with him, and that she too was a victim
Around the time Homolka left him, Paul's DNA sample - which had been collected two years earlier while police were investigating the Scarborough Rapist - was finally processed
She said she grew close to the victim during their time together, since they would have 'girl talk,' which made it 'hurt more' when he killed her.
Homolka recalled Paul 'anally raping' Kristen in front of her before 'strangling' her to death.
'Her feet were tied with electrical chord, and there was electrical chord around her neck,' she told police.
'He anally raped her and then he strangled her after he was done. It stands out really clear in my head because the night before I left him he did the exact same thing to me only he didn't kill me.'
In January of 1993, she decided to leave her husband after he allegedly beat her with a flashlight, leaving her with two black eyes and a broken rib.
Around the same time, Bernardo's DNA sample - which had been collected two years earlier while police were investigating the Scarborough Rapist - was finally processed.
After they got caught, Homolka claimed that a 'physically and verbally abusive' Bernardo made her commit the gruesome crimes with him, and that she too was a victim.
She was offered a plea deal from prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against her then-husband.
Karla was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and received a 12-year sentence.
However, it wasn't until after she had been sentenced that police found the video tapes the couple had taken while committing the crimes, which showed her not only helping Paul in his acts, but also participating in some of them herself.
The case, and Homolka's sentence, swept the nation, becoming one of the most controversial rulings Canada has ever seen.
