On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we investigate a Canadian true crime and bring you the horrible tale of the Ken and Barbie Killers. Paul Bernardo and his wife Karla Homolka are household names in Canada, where the committed their crimes, but they may not be well known where you are. In short, Bernardo was a prolific rapist, and Homolka was fine with it once she became his bride. In fact, she helped scout victims, including her own sister, and eventually helped him graduate to murder.

Bernardo was born to an upper middle class family, but he had a father who abused his family and raped his daughter. His mother who retreated from family life and moved to the basement. Eventually, Bernardo learned he was an illegitimate son, and he started to hate his mother and call her a whore. Maybe this is where the schism started in his brain. Bernardo began to learn how to be a good salesperson, manipulate people, and pick up women. He studied American Psycho as his bible.

He went to college and eventually began a raping spree that dubbed him the Scarborough Rapist, with potentially as many as 30 victims according to some. In the middle of all this raping, he met Homolka, and she was down with his sickness. They were both blonde and lived what seemed a perfect life on the outside (hence the Ken and Barbie moniker). But they were both equally perverted and monstrous.

Eventually, raping random girls wasn’t enough, so Homolka met a teenaged friend who she worked with and brought her home as a wedding gift to Bernardo. They drugged her, raped her, filmed it all. Two times. The second time, she almost died, but they revived her, and she had no memories since she was so deeply drugged.

On Christmas, Homolka decided that Bernardo would get her younger sister Tammy (15 years old) as a Christmas Present. Bernardo used to sneak into her room and masturbate while she slept, so she was the perfect gift. This time, however, their drug cocktail was too strong, and Tammy died. The dressed her and put her back in bed and called the cops. It was December 23rd, just in time for family Christmas.

From there, the rapes kept going, and they kept taping it all. They added another victim to their list of abducted, raped, and murdered, a 14 year old girl named Leslie Mahaffy, followed by the 15 year old Kristen French. But hey, nothing’s perfect. Eventually, Bernardo beat Homolka with a flash light, and things went sideways.

Homolka told her family that the two of them were the killers, and just as police were getting close anyway, the arrests were made. Homolka famously made a plea deal that spared her 12 years of a sentence, though many argue it was a bogus deal because she didn’t really add anything and was so utterly unrepentant in the police videos So, what happened to them in jail? What type of love affair did Homolka have with two people in prison? What is her family life like now that she’s been released? Listen, laugh, learn.

 

Visit Our Sources:

https://allthatsinteresting.com/paul-bernardo-karla-homolka-ken-and-barbie-killers

https://www.thecrimemag.com/revisiting-shocking-murder-scenes-ken-barbie-killers/

https://murdersmysteriesandmissing.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/murders-the-ken-and-barbie-killers/

https://listverse.com/2017/06/22/10-little-known-facts-about-the-ken-and-barbie-killers/