Paul Bernardo

Passions

Notable

Family

Canadian homicide; a story of degradation, sadism and terror. A clean-cut, boyish looking accountant, he was engaged to pretty blonde Karla Homolka, a picture-perfect couple of wholesome good looks. He and Karla had met in late June 1990 when he was 23 and she, 17, and fell in love. In December 1990, he had Karla cop some sleeping pills from the animal clinic where she worked and they drugged Karla's 15-year-old sister two days before Christmas. Upstairs in the Homolka home, he raped and had anal sex with Tammy and had Karla perform oral sex on her sister. Tammy choked to death on her own vomit the next morning and it was deemed an accident. On June 15, 1991, Paul picked up 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in Burlington, Ontario and took her home. He abused, humiliated and terrified the teenager, sexually torturing her for two days while Karla videotaped the episode. After he strangled the girl with an electric cord, he and Karla dragged the body to the basement. The following day they had Karla's folks over to a Father's Day dinner as the body waited for disposal. On June 18, he cut the body in eight pieces with an electric saw and put the pieces in cement in the lake. Paul and Karla were married less than two weeks later. In April 1992, Paul picked up another 15-year-old, Kristen French with whom he repeated his pattern of three days of sex and torture before strangling her. It was not until 1993 that Karla left Paul, afraid that she would be the next victim. He had beaten and brain-washed her and their sex had always been perverted. Paul was arrested in February 1993 and charged with sexual attacks on 19 women as well as the murder of the teenagers. The sensational trial began the third week in May 1995, Toronto. Karla divorced Paul in 1994 and testified at his 1995 trial in return for a relatively light sentence. Link to Wikipedia biography