I saw a documentary last night on two Canadian serial killers dubbed The Ken & Barbie Killers (aka Paul Bernardo & Karla Homokka).
All serial murders are horrifying but this one takes the cake imo, largely because one of the victims was Karla’s own sister. Basically, she stole animal tranquilizers from the clinic where she worked to sedate her sister so that she and her boyfriend could rape the 15 year old as a “Christmas gift” for Paul. They videotaped the rape & the girl died from choking on her own vomit. It was somehow ruled an accident by the medical examiner’s office, in spite of the shocking chemical burn on the girl’s face (from a rag soaked with halothane that Karla held over her face to keep her sedated).
Many believe she killed her sister intentionally because she was jealous that her boyfriend had a crush on the girl. When her body was exhumed years later, a wedding invitation and letters written by Karla with sort of a “haha I won” tone were found in the coffin.
They went on to abduct, rape and murder 2 other Ontario teenagers and when the killers were apprehended the police thought that Bernardo was the killer & Karla was just a terrified wife who went along out of fear. So they make a plea bargain that she would get 12 years in exchange for her testimony.
But 17 months later, video tapes were discovered of all the rapes showing Karla as an enthusiastic participant in the torture & rapes of these terrified young girls. She even performed cunnilingus on her unconscious sister & in subsequent tapes play acted as her sister & surprised Paul with several pairs of her dead sister’s underwear that they used for sex play.
What I found interesting is that her parents and remaining sister stood by her side. I cannot imagine forgiving a child who did what she did to my other child. What about you?
Nope. Unfortunately I’m closer to such a case than I want to be (murder only). I understand how some parents feel but I’ve also seen cases where a parent just has to write off a child. I can’t forgive everything.
I don’t know the circumstances of the case you are close to Tripolar, but I *can *imagine cases where I could forgive a child for murder only. But RAPING your little sister & letting your boyfriend rape and sodomize her as a Christmas gift?? That’s a deal killer for me.
Homolka’s parents sat through the trial and the horrific tapes were played, so there was no uncertainty about the level of her involvement. It boggles my mind that they are able stand by her side. Truly one of the most disturbing cases I have ever heard of.
Well, what creates a person like that? A combination of genetics and environment. The parents and sister may not have been quite normal since they were exposed to both.
From all accounts, she was from a normal middle class family. From everything I have read, she is a true “bad seed”. A socio/psychopath. Here is an excerpt of a letter she wrote to a friend after the death of her sister, when her parents asked her to postpone the wedding so they could grieve.
I understand that parents don’t want to abandon their children under any circumstances, but if my kid raped & murdered a sibling, then copped that attitude afterwards, forgiveness or loyalty would be out the window.
I know a kid that tortured and killed the family pet. I am close friends with the father and he has told me that he hates his own kid. He feels guilty as hell about it but he has always hated this kid. The other kids are all normal kids but this one who is now an adult was just born a monster and stayed that way. He says the kid takes after one of his wife’s brothers who was always real bad news.
I can’t answer the OP’s question because I don’t know what the hell I’d do in such an awful situation.
But if one of my siblings raped and killed another sibling, I wouldn’t blame my parents at all for abandoning them. I don’t think unconditional love is a requirement to be a good, loving parent.
Short answer is no ------- but not having any kids its actually hard for me to say. If push came to shove and that was my only remaining child I may feel differently.
The long answer involves “didn’t I see something like this on Law & Order once” and “this happened in Canada?” I am not really shocked by much of anything we do to each other but this one comes close.
Ontario, Canada in the 1990s. The Bernardo/Homolka trial happened during the OJ Trial, which is why it got very little press in the US, since our news cycle was All OJ, All the Time.
Just to clarify, her parents did not learn of her involvement until the tapes surfaced, which showed her to be a violent & sadistic predator. Unbelievable, she served her sentence and is out living in Quebec with her 3 children.
She married her lawyer’s brother and disturbingly both she and Paul Bernardo (who got a life sentence) changed their surnames to Teale after a fictional serial killer in (American Psycho, was it?). Today his legal name is Paul Jason Teale and hers is Leanne Teale. Truly chilling.
She pled to manslaughter because the police and the Crown did not know about the videotapes. Once they surfaced, it was too late to back out of the deal.
She got a 12 year sentence for manslaughter and served it to the last day. There was no legal basis for holding her further, so she had to be released, just like any other prisoner who completes their sentence.
The perpetrator would probably be a corpse by the time the cops showed up. Worth it. And if I were in a jury judging someone who did the same, I can’t imagine that I would ever vote to convict them.
Given that Canada has no statute of limitations on sexual assault (Go Canada!), I wonder why they don’t press charges for the rape of “Jane Doe”, which Karla herself orchestrated. I thought the plea bargain only pertained to Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffey, & Tammy Holmolka.
This was a case of brother murdering brother. They were both adults, and the victim left a wife and daughter behind, both then dependent on the grandparents who stood by their murdering son. He was out of prison in six years after a plea deal requested by the parents, and after that he was included in all family affairs again. Yes, the wife should have left with her child to get out of that situation, but there’s too much more to the story to go into. I just can’t see myself being that forgiving. Add to that the circumstance of the Homolka case and I can’t imagine what those parents were doing. Yes, they thought she was a victim initially, but they learned the horrid truth. There is some idea that you’ve lost one child and you don’t want to lose another one, and maybe if I was in that position with my own children I’d think differently, but I doubt it.