1) Born in 1964, the result of a misfit family, paul witnessed episodes of aggression from his father, Kenneth bernard, against the mother. In 1975, the patriarch was accused of sexually abusing his own daughter. paul graduated from the University of Toronto (Canada) and was known for mistreating his girlfriend.
two) Between 1987 and 1990, a rape spree and attempted sexual assaults targeted girls between the ages of 15 and 22 in the Scarborough, Ontario area. All survived, but the episodes were of extreme violence and almost always the sexual assault was accompanied by beatings.
3) paul was considered a suspect by Ontario police among 130 other men. He was questioned and released. In 1990, he began dating the obsessive and submissive Karla Homolka. During courtship, paul showed a lot interested in sister-in-law Tammy Homolka, Karla’s younger sister.
4) Karla gave free access to Tammy’s (at the time 15 years old) room for her boyfriend to observe her. In 1990, the couple got Tammy drunk and used an anesthetic to knock her out of her mind. Karla wanted to offer her sister’s virginity as a Christmas present to paul. The aggression was filmed by Karla in the basement of the house.
5) Unconscious, Tammy choked to death on her own vomit. The couple cleaned up the girl and took her to her room before calling for help. The event was assessed as an accidental death and the couple walked free. Karla got married to paul in 1991. Even under aggression from her husband, she supported and participated in his sexual practices.
6) The couple kidnapped two more girls, aged 14 and 15. Both were held captive and sexually tortured by bernard while Karla filmed. The two victims were killed by the couple. One of the bodies was dismembered, cemented and dumped in a lake. The other was dumped in a ditch in the city of Burlington.
7) Beaten frequently by her husband, Karla made a deal with the police in exchange for statements. By this time, DNA samples were already paulthe prime suspect as the “Scarborough Rapist”. In 1993, after a trial full of mutual accusations, paul got life imprisonment and Karla was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
WHAT END DID IT TAKE?
paul remains imprisoned at Kingston Penitentiary, Ontario, and Karla was released in July 2005 on parole.
SOURCES Book Invisible Darkness: The Strange Case of paul bernard and Karla Homolka, by Stephen Williams; film Karla (2006) and website Canadian Criminal Law
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