Karla Homolka is a Canadian serial killer who raped and murdered minors along with Paul Bernardo, her husband. She became infamous when she was found guilty of manslaughter; this was after entering a plea bargain for the rape and murder of her sister and two other teen girls.
When their crimes were eventually discovered, Bernardo received a life sentence and was registered as a dangerous offender, while Karla received a reduced 12-year sentence because she testified against him. During the investigation in 1993, Karla alleged that Bernardo frequently abused her so she was constantly terrified by him, and this fear forced her to become an unwilling accomplice to the heinous acts.
After they were sentenced, videotapes were uncovered showing scenes of the women being raped, abused, and strangled. It became clear from the footage that Karla was not the unwilling participant she claimed to be, but rather took depraved pleasure in them and had lied about the extent of her involvement. The media began calling the plea bargain she struck with the prosecution as the “Deal with the Devil”, causing renewed public outrage.
Who is Karla Homolka?
Karla was born on May 4, 1970, to working-class parents in Port Credit, Ontario. She had a troubled childhood, and this greatly influenced her formative years and the behaviors she displayed as an adult. As a child, she loved drawing and animals. Karla was considered an intelligent student with a sunny disposition, although she had a bossy attitude. Her love for animals led her to take a part-time job at a pet store.
She became interested in crime after reading the Nancy Drew books when she was 12. As she grew up, she became obsessed with the occult, scaring her friends with her antics. One time, she threw a pet hamster belonging to her friend out of the window. She was not afraid to experiment with sex and drugs.
Karla Homolka met Bernardo when she was 17, while she was attending a pet convention. He was 23 at the time. They had sex shortly after meeting, and soon realized they shared the same sadomasochistic desires. Bernardo confessed that he wanted to rape women, and Karla agreed that she would be okay with that. That was the beginning of Bernardo’s reign of terror as the Scarborough Rapist.
While they were dating, Bernardo became infatuated with Karla’s younger sister, Tammy. He always resented Karla for not being a virgin when he met her, so she decided to gift her sister’s virginity to him. They spiked the little girl’s dinner with valium and then Bernardo raped her unconscious body.
Shortly before they got married in 1991, Karla drugged Tammy again with animal tranquilizers she stole from work, and they raped her again. Unfortunately, Tammy choked on her vomit in the process and died. They called 911 after removing every trace of their crime. The drugs in her system weren’t discovered and Tammy’s death was pronounced an accident.
In June 1991, the sadistic couple kidnapped, raped, and tortured Leslie Mahaffy, a 14-year-old schoolgirl. They gave her an overdose that caused her death in order to prevent their crime from being discovered. Afterward, they dismembered her body and sealed the parts in cement which they then dumped in a lake.
The following year, Karla and Bernardo abducted another young girl, Kristen French on her way home from school. They recorded themselves as they tortured the girl, forcing her to drink alcohol and be submissive. They raped, sodomized, and strangled her before dumping her body in a ditch with her hair shaved off.
The duo from hell would abduct another girl referred to as Jane Doe, who survived their masochistic acts. Soon, Bernardo turned his brutality and abuse towards Karla and things began to sour between them. DNA evidence pointed to Bernardo as the Scarborough Rapist, and he and Karla were arrested for their crimes in 1993. The trial lasted two years and drew a lot of media attention even after they were sent off to serve their respective sentences in prison.
While in jail, Karla Homolka had to undergo psychiatric evaluation and treatment. The general consensus was that although she seemed like a sane person, her actions were that of a psychopath. She was diagnosed with hybristophilia, a condition that causes a person to become aroused watching their partner perform violent sexual acts.
Family – Parents, Sister
Karla was born to Dorothy (mother) and Karel Homolka. Her father was from Czechoslovakia; he immigrated to Canada. The man found work as a traveling salesman which meant he had to be away from home for extended periods of time. However, whenever he was home, he was often drunk and violent. He would beat, fight, and curse Karla’s mother while the children huddled together in a corner to comfort each other and hide from his roaring rage.
There were a few things about Karla’s childhood that are worth admiring. She was the first of three children and has two siblings named Logan Valentini and Tammy Homolka. Her family stopped speaking to her after they discovered the role she played in the murder and rape of little Tammy, her sister.
Husband and Children
After doing her time, Karla was released in 2005 and she settled down in Montreal. She fell in love with Thierry Bordelais, her lawyer’s brother, and married him in a quiet ceremony in 2006. The couple relocated to Guadeloupe, a town on the outskirts, where her reputation was not so popular, and her neighbors didn’t all hate her guts.
She also changed her legal name to Leanne Take. The couple shares their quiet life with their beautiful children – two sons and a daughter. Karla loves to volunteer at her children’s school even though some of the parents do not approve of this because of her past.
Where Is Karla Homolka Now?
After her release from prison, Karla Homolka moved around a couple of times to escape the ugly remnants of her past that seemed to follow her everywhere. At the moment, she and her family have made a home in Châteauguay, Quebec, where she tries to avoid running into cameras or pesky reporters looking for a scoop.
