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Paul Bernardo and his wife and
accomplice Karla Homolka were tagged by media reports as Canada's "Ken and
Barbie killers." The grisly case, involving the 1990-92 rape and murder of
three Ontario teenage girls - one of whom was Karla's 15-year-old sister,
Tammy - galvanized the entire country of Canada, in addition to landing
coverage on tabloid television shows in the United States.
In 1993, as a result of blood analysis, Bernardo, already under
surveillance as a suspect in other rape cases in the Scarborough area, was
arrested for rape and murder of two of the girls. Tammy Homolka's death
would, in the beginning, be deemed an accident. Compelling evidence
through videotapes found in Bernardo's home, testimony from his wife, and
exhumation of Tammy's body, ensured his guilt in all three deaths. In
1995, he was sentenced to life with no parole for 25 years; he was later
declared a dangerous offender, and his appeal in 2000 was denied.
Karla Holmolka would be tried first, and in exchange for testimony against
her husband agreed to a much-criticized plea bargain in which she would
serve a sentence of 12 years. Eligible for parole in 2001, her application
was denied, and she remains in prison until 2005.
The case would spawn several true-crime books, including Invisible
Darkness by Stephen Williams, Deadly Innocence by Scott Burnside and Alan
Cairns, and Lethal Marriage by Nick Pron. Poet and novelist Lynn Crosbie
was also inspired by the events to write a work of fiction, Paul's Case:
The Kingston Letters.
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News and Current Events #18
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