'Ken and Barbie Killers' Tortured Teenagers During Deadly Games (FPD CASE VAULT)
Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka on their wedding day.; The Canadian killers' tiny house of horrors.
Dec. 1 2023, Published 9:03 a.m. ET
They were the "Ken and Barbie Killers," a blonde, blue-eyed beauty and her hunky hubby. They looked perfect on the outside, but had hearts as black as coal.
Twisted Canadians Karla Homolka and her spouse Paul Bernardo kidnapped, raped and tortured two 14-year-old girls in a killing spree that made worldwide headlines in the early '90s.
VIRGIN SACRIFICE
Victims Tammy Homolka, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French (left to right) never stood a chance. Karla and her monstrous mate subjected them to unspeakable horrors - and caught everything on videotape.
Evil Karla was also accused in court of offering her 15-year-old sister Tammy as a virgin sacrifice to her then-fiance Bernardo on Christmas Eve 1990. Tammy choked to death on her own vomit after being drugged by Karla, then raped by Bernardo. Tammy's death was initially ruled an accident — though evidence would later show she was murdered.
Having gotten away with Tammy's killing, the brazen duo, who lived in St. Catharines, Ontario, kidnapped and murdered Leslie Mahaffy, 14. The innocent teen died only 15 days before Karla wed her perverted Prince Charming in a lavish ceremony.
In 1992, the predators were at it again, abducting Kristen French, also 14.
The cruel couple toyed with both Leslie and Kristen for days. Heartless Karla even showed the girls how to apply makeup and collaborated with her husband to make sadistic videos of their attacks on the girls, who were snatched in the Toronto area.
But no matter how hard the girls begged for their lives, the gruesome pair strangled the girls, hacked up their bodies and dumped them like trash.
Desperate to save her own skin, kinky wife Karla turned on her accountant husband, insisting the vicious killings were all his idea. She claimed he forced her to go along with his depraved antics - but videos they made of their crimes showed a different story.
Bernardo, an accountant, was linked to the victims by his DNA, obtained earlier when he was being investigated as a serial rapist. He was arrested and Karla testified against him.
In 1995, Bernardo, then 31, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Karla Homolka wearing sex lingerie, make-up, jewelry and a smile, is seen lying on a bed in a prison.
At her trial in July 1993, coldblooded Karla saved her skin by claiming to be a battered wife — and produced chilling photos that showed her wounds after Bernardo pounded her with a large flashlight. She insisted she only went along with her husband's killing spree because he terrified her.
But the tapes showed her to be a willing participant in the sex games — even directing scenes and sexually assaulting the victims, including her own sister!
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Free after only 12 years in prison, Homolka now lives in an island paradise.
She received a 12-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea to manslaughter. Outraged Canadians dubbed it the "Deal with the Devil." Karla's release in July 2005 triggered a public uproar. Her former father-in-law publicly stated she got away with murder. But Karla's own parents have forgiven her role in her sister's death.
In 2006, her life was turned into a movie, Karla, starring Laura Prepon.
Karla later moved to live on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe under the name of Leanne Bordelais. She married her prison lawyer's brother and has three children. But insiders insist she still has no remorse.
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