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10 Most Notorious Serial Killers Series

Part 2

By Antonia MariePublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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10 Most Notorious Serial Killers Series
Photo by Peter Scherbatykh on Unsplash

When people hear the names of the most notorious criminals, they cringe a little. Well, what about the criminals that not too many people have heard about? What will they do when they hear those names?

The Scarborough Rapist/ The school girl Killer. Paul Kenneth Bernardo was a serial killer and rapist who murdered 3+ people from December 1990 to April 1992.

Bernardo was born into a wealthy but sometimes dysfunctional, family to his mother Marilyn and his father Kenneth. They were wealthy, yes, but no where near happy. His father, Kenneth Bernardo was very abusive to his wife and family. His mother, had a son and a daughter and then started seeing an ex boyfriend and had become pregnant with Paul. Kenneth tolerated his wife's affair and listed Paul as his own. Following an argument between his parents when Bernardo was 16, his mother told him that Kenneth wasn't his actual father and Paul, repulsed at his mother, started calling her a "slob" and a "whore".

Bernardo graduated from Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute and went to work with Amway. By they time Bernardo attended University of Toronto Scarborough, he had developed dark sexual fantasies, enjoyed humiliating women in public and beat up the women he dated. In October 1987, he met Karla Homolka. They became sexually interested in each other almost immediately. Unlike the other girls he knew, she encouraged his sadistic sexual behaviour, also encouraging his acts as the "Scarborough Rapist".

In May of 1987, Paul Bernardo committed his first two sexual assaults'. On May 4th 1987, he committed his first rape in Scarborough against a 21 year old female in front of her parents house after following her home. The attack lasted more than half an hour. On May 14th, just 10 days after his first, he committed the second against a 19 year old in the backyard of her parents house. This one lasted over an hour. The third rape he did not succeed, he was able to beat the young woman but she escaped in time for him to fail. On December 16th, Bernardo committed his third rape, against a 15 year old girl that lasted an hour. The following day, the Toronto police issued a warning to woman in Scarborough travelling alone at night, especially those taking buses. From December 23rd 1987 to to May 26th 1990, he committed 8 more.

On May 26th 1990, Bernardo committed his 11th rape. This one lasted over an hour. However, his 19 year old victims vivid recollection of her attacker permitted police to make a computer composite photograph, which was released two days later by police and published in Toronto and surrounding areas newspapers. In July 1990, two months after receiving tips that Bernardo fit the Scarborough Rapist composite, he was interviewed by police detectives.

Twenty-six months after Bernardo submitted a DNA sample, Toronto police were informed that it matched that of the Scarborough Rapist and immediately placed him under 24-hour surveillance. Metro Toronto Sexual Assault Squad investigators interviewed Homolka on February 9, 1993. Despite hearing their suspicions about Bernardo, Homolka focused on his abuse of her. Later that night she told her aunt and uncle that Bernardo was the Scarborough Rapist, that she and Bernardo were involved in the rape and murder of Mahaffy and French and that the rapes were recorded on videotape. The NRP reopened its investigation of Tammy Homolka's death. Two days later Homolka met with Niagara Falls lawyer George Walker, who sought legal immunity from Houlihan in exchange for her cooperation. She was also placed under 24-hour surveillance.

The couple's name change was approved on February 13, 1993. The next day, Walker met with Crown Criminal Law Office director Murray Segal. After Walker told Segal about the videotapes of the rapes, Segal advised him that, due to Homolka's involvement in the crimes, full immunity was not a possibility.

On February 17, Metro Sexual Assault Squad and Green Ribbon Task Force detectives arrested Bernardo on several charges and obtained a search warrant. Because his link to the murders was weak, the warrant was limited; no evidence which was not expected and documented in the warrant could be removed from the premises, and all videotapes found by police had to be viewed in the house. Damage had to be kept to a minimum; police could not tear down walls looking for the videotapes. The search of the house (including updated warrants) lasted 71 days, and the only tape found by police had a brief segment of Homolka performing oral sex on "Jane Doe".

On May 5, Walker was informed that the government was offering Homolka a plea bargain of 12 years which she had one week to accept. If she declined, the government would charge her with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder and other crimes. Walker accepted the offer, and Homolka later agreed to it. On May 14 Homolka's plea bargain was finalized, and she began giving statements to police investigators. She told police that Bernardo boasted that he had raped as many as 30 women (twice as many as the police suspected), calling him "the happy rapist".

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