Karla Does Christmas

The beautiful young lady in the photograph above is Karla Homolka's little sister, Tammy, who died tragically on Christmas Eve, 1990. An evening of holiday merriment at the Homolka home turned dark when Tammy  died as a result of being drugged and raped by older sister Karla and her fiance, Paul Bernardo. Although Tammy's death was initially ruled an accident, an unfortunate consequence of consuming too many holiday cocktails, the awful truth about what really happened that night was eventually revealed.

Years later, Karla testified against Bernardo (her estranged husband at that time) as he stood accused of two counts of first-degree murder in the sex-slayings of 14 year old Leslie Mahaffy and  15 year-old Kristen French. Behind closed doors with her lawyer and the police, and then again on the witness stand, Karla confessed that she helped Bernardo procure young victims to appease his desire for brutal sex with under age girls. She also confessed that one of those victims had been her own sister, Tammy.

In her 2005 interview with CBC Radio-Canada, Karla Homolka told reporter Joyce Napier that she has a particularly hard time coping with what she did around the holidays, presumably because of what she did to Tammy:

I think about it all the time. At every anniversary, every Christmas, all the time.

Teacher Homolka: Rumour or Reality?

"Schoolgirl Killer" now a teacher?

Surely, this cannot be...

In her $3 e-book Finding Karla, Paula Todd made a strong case for why she ventured to seek out 

Karla Homolka, the woman who had reportedly fled to Guadeloupe with her new husband and child after serving a controversial 12 year prison sentence for her role in the sex-slayings of three Ontario teenagers.

Bloggers were now reporting that Homolka was teaching schoolchildren in the Caribbean. Karla Homolka teaching children?

[...] If there was a chance she was teaching children, many Canadians would want to know. And the only way to know was to find her.

Indeed, they would. Presumably, concerned parents in her new country of residence would want to know, as well. An estimated 65000 - 70000 copies of the 38-page booklet were purchased online; clearly, the public was eager to learn what "Karly Curls" was up to. However, after speaking with Homolka in person, Todd seemed convinced that the Teacher Karla myth was as good as debunked.

Bye Bye, Bébé Douceur

Karla Homolka's online business, Bébé Douceur, has disappeared.

Apparently, now that her clientele knows she did 12 years in prison

for rape and murder sucked all the fun out of hocking diapers.

Note: Children's faces have been obscured for their protection.

The Fifth Estate: Hunting Magnotta

Poor Luka Magnotta; details relating to his case are being profiled by one of the most respected investigative news programs in Canada, but he won't be able to watch it because he is languishing in jail, awaiting trial for murder. 

CBC's The Fifth Estate is set to air "Hunting Magnotta" on Friday, November 30th. The following description was pulled from their web site:

"A year ago virtually no one knew anything about a young man named Luka Magnotta. Then came the horrifying discovery of the body of Jun Lin in Montreal, followed by a feverish international manhunt and then the arrest in Berlin. Luka Magnotta now stands charged with the murder of the young Concordia University student from China.

The name Luka Magnotta seemed to appear from nowhere in May of this year. But if he was unknown to the wider public, for 18 months before his arrest, he was being tracked... by a group of Internet users who were horrified over videos they believed he'd made, which depicted the killing of kittens and apparent threats to do worse. In an exclusive interview with Mark Kelley, the online investigators share for the first time the details their attempts to chase Magnotta down through the deep web and alert authorities as they tried to stop a man they considered dangerous.

The hundreds of cryptic online postings Luka Magnotta uploaded to the web paint an unsettling psychological portrait of a disturbed young man who shocked the world to its core, and reveal much about his life growing up as Eric Newman. But Magnotta would disclose much more to the few people who knew him personally, two of whom share their stories exclusively with the fifth estate. What became apparent to everyone who knew him is that Magnotta appeared to have an obsessive narcissistic need to be noticed, and exhibited increasingly erratic, possibly threatening behaviour online, ringing alarm bells for those who knew him and watched his chilling story unfold."

Source: The Fifth Estate: Hunting Magnotta

Knowing what I know about this clown-turned-killer, it must be killing him to know that people are talking about him while he has absolutely no control over how his image is being affected by what's being said. To me, he will never be legendary, or even notorious; to me, he will always be little more than a socially inept misfit who ventured to make a name for himself by absorbing the essence of everything around him.

For all his primping, posturing, and manipulation, Magnotta was unable to achieve recognition based on his own merit; it took the death of an innocent to capture the attention this pathetic waste of human skin craved so profoundly.

I can't wait to see what The Fifth Estate has uncovered about the "hunt" for Magnotta, which began long before he ever came into contact with victim Jun Lin.

Document Library

I created this page in the hopes of making it easier to sift through the collection of important and/or official documents, transcripts, letters, and images amassed by Mascara and Murder.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Karly Curls 2.0

Karla Homolka honeymooning in Hawaii with Paul Bernardo

Like countless other teen queen's of yesteryear, Karla Homolka continues to evolve with the times. The woman who once dreamed of being showered with gifts and affection from "Big Bad Businessman" and serial rapist Paul Bernardo, now seems content in raising her three young children in relative anonymity. I use the term "relative" because I don't believe that it's possible for her to live completely under the radar, and not for the reasons that you might think.

Most who have followed the case know that Karla's unassuming life as a mother and teacher has received a lot of media attention following the release of Paula Todd's e-book Finding Karla. However, full credit for unearthing Homolka in Guadeloupe cannot be given to Todd, as she merely proved correct a number of long-standing theories that had been freely available online. Not even the savvy staff at the popular forum WatchingKarlaHomolka (now WKH2012), who first confirmed her new location, can lay exclusive claim to bragging rights concerning the scoop.

So who is really responsible for finding Karla? The answer is: Karla Homolka herself.

Lori Homolka: "It's so easy to con people."

Mascara & Murder has received hundreds of hits using the search terms "Lori Homolka." Given the fact that people seem rather curious about her, I wanted to provide some fuel for the discussion.

About two years ago, I came upon a small, Internet window through which to view the life that Lori has been living since her family was thrust into the spotlight in the most sensational criminal trial in Canadian history. Please note that Lori now goes by the name "Logan," presumably to escape some of the attention focused upon the now infamous Homolka family.

In most cases, the families of depraved individuals like Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka tend to feel victimized themselves, or struggle with issues of guilt by association. This being said, I always get a really bad taste in my mouth when I recall the way that Lori encouraged Karla to alter her appearance in order to come back and live with the family in St. Catharines after her release from prison.

In a letter to her imprisoned big sister, she wrote:

"People are so stupid, Kar. Even if they bumped into you, they'd never know it was you, especially since you're supposed to be spending all your time in jail. They would never know. Just like if you came back to St.Cath. That would be the last place people would expect you to be, especially when I tell everyone you'll never, ever come back here.

See, that's my plan. People wouldn't know if it was you... People wouldn't know if it was you if they even had a conversation with you. People really are dumb. It's so easy to con people."

The Smirnis Brothers: Where are they now?

The Smirnis brothers were childhood friends of Paul Bernardo who lived across the street, and later became an integral part of his eventual capture. It is widely known that Van Smirnis introduced Bernardo to the easy money lifestyle of smuggling alcohol and cigarettes across the U.S./Canadian border. 

Steve and Paul had a falling out in the early 80's after Steve became briefly involved with Paul's love interest at the time, Nadine B. The relationship between Paul and Steve was never fully repaired, although Paul travelled to Texas to attend Steve's wedding in 1987.

In the summer of 1990, Alex Smirnis and his wife provided information to police about their suspicions that Paul may have been the Scarborough rapist. However, their tip was ultimately dismissed by police after interviewing Bernardo.

Two years later, Van Smirnis contacted police about Bernardo much in the same way that his brother had, suspecting that he may be the Scarborough rapist. Paul was again questioned by police, who decided (again) that the bright, professional young man before them couldn't possibly be the monster they were looking for. Paul wasn't arrested until February 17, 1993, after forensic testing had confirmed his involvement in several of the rapes in Scarborough.

Van Smirnis appeared on the Maury Povich Show after Paul was sentenced, along with a number of other folks associated with the case, including Karla Homolka's aunt, Patti Seger; the first person that Karla spoke to about the murders. The transcript of this interview is available through WKH2012.

At present, the Smirnis brothers are all alive and well, and can be found on Facebook.

Bernardo-Homolka tweet not trending

Paul & Karla pose for a holiday photo

next to an image of slain little sister, Tammy Lyn,
who died on Christmas Eve, 1990

Screen capture from Lena Dunham's Twitter
October 17, 2012

 Acclaimed actress and filmmaker Lena Dunham is currently under fire due to her not-so-funny idea for a Halloween costume to 380,000+ followers on Twitter. Dunham is best known for creating and starring in the HBO series Girls. On October 16, she wrote to fellow  actors/comedians Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak:

"You guys go as killer Canadian couple Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka. I’ll be her sister they murdered. Scariest! Luv U!"

Homolka Clone on TV's Dexter

Is Dexter's "Hannah McKay" based on Karla Homolka?

A new character appears in Season 7 of the wildly popular television series Dexter bears an eerie resemblance to convicted killer Karla Homolka. 

Although it has not been (and probably won't be) confirmed, this would make all the sense in the world given the attention Homolka and her case have received recently, in spite of her efforts to live life anonymously following her release from prison.

"Hannah was apparently involved with an older man named Wayne Randall while the duo went on a killing spree until caught. In order to avoid jail time herself, she turned state's evidence on her accomplice insuring that he was put away while she could start a new life."

Source: Dexterama

 "Here’s where the real parallel could be between the two parties: Hannah may have been much more involved in the killings with Randall than she initially told to police, and this is something Dexter is going to have to find out a little bit more of as the season progresses. Based on the video, we are starting to think that Dexter and Hannah could go down the relationship route here. Both parties clearly have some sort of dark passenger that they have dealt with for several years, but on the surface it does look like Hannah has found a way to get over it. Is this truly the case, though?"

Source: Carter

"I cried more hearing her tell what happened..."

Karla Homolka poses for a photograph in Joliette Institution.

Doesn't really look like prison, does it?

I am sure there are people who wonder why anyone would want to expend large amounts of their time and effort maintaining a blog like Mascara & Murder, which deals with some of the most gruesome and horrific subject matter imaginable. Hell, I've even contemplated it's value at times and have, on occasion, thought about throwing in the towel. Very recently, while perusing my blog stats, I came upon a discussion that bolstered my will to continue slugging it out in the darkest of places in the name of access to information.

The following is a snippet posted by a woman who was in contact with Karla Homolka through their shared interest in parenting-related sites and forums. I was so touched by what she said that I signed up for a BabyCenter account just so that I could tell her how much I appreciated her taking the time to share her feelings.

Runaway Devil: More Facebook Fodder

Senseless tragedy: a hearse accepts the Richardson family's remains

I realize that I am not merely beating a dead horse at this point, but rather clubbing it's zombie into a heightened state of un-death. Sifting through pages and pages worth of she was just a kid, she was brainwashed, and everybody deserves a second chance has brought my blood to a boil, and I guess I felt the need to share.

The ongoing commentary on the Keep J.R. in Jail Facebook Page makes for some interesting reading. If it weren't all about a profoundly tragic series of murders, I might even be tempted to call it entertainment, but it's really nothing of the sort. Clearly, the people of Medicine Hat still harbour a great deal of animosity toward J.R., which is understandable given the careless behaviour she exhibited and the brutal nature of her crimes.

I clipped out some of the more informative bits; including comments from people who claim to know (or have known) the youngest person convicted of murder in Canadian history. And, of course, I saved everything to PDF in case Facebook one day decides to pull the plug on this page -- as evidenced by the first snipped post in the document, the group has already been reported for publishing the name and presumed whereabouts of the poor girl whose only mistake was planning and watching her family's slaughter and laughing about it later.

Runaway Devil: Facebook Fodder (PDF)

Facebook Weighs in on Runaway Devil

There is an ongoing Facebook debate regarding whether or not J.R. (aka Runaway Devil) is entitled to the complete and total freedom she is soon to enjoy once her "Intensive Rehabilitation Custody" order expires.

The discussion is essentially splitting hairs; regardless of what anyone says, thinks, or does, she will be released back into the herd very soon, and her criminal record will vanish within five years on the condition that she stays out of trouble. However, as intangible as public opinion seems to be concerning the systems which govern us, it is clear that a good many people are still reeling from the unthinkable crimes perpetrated against an innocent Mother, Father, and little boy.

With the community of Medicine Hat, Alberta still expressing such strong emotions about the Richardson family murders, how can there be any reasonable expectations that one of the two people responsible for the killings -- the young woman we have come to know as Runaway Devil -- has come through the process fully healed and ready to re-integrate? The most frequently-used argument against J.R.'s release is that it seems like an impossible mission to "fix" or "correct" someone who thought it was okay to murder her family in the name of forbidden love. The rational mind can't help but think: if any crime deserves a life sentence, it's this one.

But there is no life sentence for J.R., beyond the fact that her Mother, Father, and little brother are no longer alive as a direct result of her thoughts and actions. Once her criminal record is expunged, the only stain she will carry with her is her memory of that awful night. Given the fact that she was seen giggling and making out with her then-boyfriend at a party only hours after her family was butchered, I'm not banking on those memories causing her to feel the grief that she failed to express in the days that followed the murders. 

Because of the gender bias that exists within our social systems, J.R. never had to own up to the crimes she committed; she simply sat back and waited for the blame to fall upon a more conventional target: Jeremy Allan Steinke.

In my not always humble opinion, if anyone could have benefited from Intensive Rehabilitation Custody, it was Jeremy. His life story is a tragic one, and it stands in stark comparison to the life of privilege into which his young amour was born. Hers was like a shiny, red apple while Jeremy's was like the worm one sometimes finds after taking a bite. Based solely on his background, it is easier to see why Jeremy may have thought at one time that killing J.R.'s family was a good idea. 

In the case of Runaway Devil, no obvious links can be made between her development and her behaviour.  Ultimately, she stood behind the readily available excuse that she was just an impressionable, young girl who didn't know the difference between fantasy and reality.

I'm providing the links to two opposing Facebook groups, as well as PDF versions of each in case the site administrators remove them from the server. Also, I decided not to redact the names and avatars of posters because both of these discussions are publicly accessible.

• Keep J.R. in Jail (Web)
• Keep J.R. in Jail (PDF)

• Keep J.R. Out of Jail (Web)
• Keep J.R. Out of Jail (PDF)

Kowtowing to Karla?

(Image: badgifs)

During my ritualistic daily examination of incoming traffic, I came upon a passage that I wanted to share on this blog:

"Perhaps she thinks it’s pointless to try to make up for her crimes when her crimes can’t be undone, and perhaps she just thinks of herself as a being who has done bad things, and has now moved on, and why can’t the world realize that and leave her alone. What she doesn’t get is what the world would be like for her and her children if everyone on Earth acted just like Karla Homolka."

Devil in the Flesh

The post referenced above appears to have been inspired by Paula Todd's e-book which -- like it or not -- has successfully re-introduced this fiercely unknowable creature to the masses at a time when the blonde kill-bot may have thought she was home free.

While some people have voiced the opinion that Karla Homolka should be left alone now that she has children of her own, I am unable to fully give myself to this moral undertaking.

To assume that her children are in danger's path now that the whole world knows where (and who) she is is to assume that the world is full of people like her, and it's not. Mercifully, the utter lack of respect for human life she exhibited is exceedingly rare. Moreover, is it wise that we continue kowtowing to a woman who is effectively using three innocent children as human shields?

Perhaps the reason why a dedicated group of observers have remained vigilant all these many years can best be described using the words of grieving mother Debbie Mahaffy:

"I can't imagine that she could walk out of prison and find anywhere to live in Canada where she doesn't look over her shoulder, or wonder... and I think that's a good thing."

"Will You Die For Me?" by Charles 'Tex' Watson

I came upon the text from Charles "Tex" Watson's memoirs while (unsuccessfully) hunting for a PDF of Susan Atkins' jailhouse epic: Child of Satan, Child of God.

Will You Die For Me? is notable primarily because, in this book, Watson admits that it was he who stabbed to death actress Sharon Tate, who was married to acclaimed Hollywood film-maker Roman Polanski. 

Prior to Watson's admission, there had been a great deal of confusion surrounding which of the "Family" members had actually wielded the knife on that fateful night in the summer of 1968. Not surprisingly, none among them wanted to take responsibility for brutally murdering Tate, who was more than eight months pregnant and revered the world over for her unmatched beauty. 

The book's text is available for free through Watson's web site, Unbounding Love Ministries.

Will You Die For Me? (PDF, 102 pgs)

Stephen Williams on "Finding Karla"

Magazine cover featuring Stephen Williams

For those who are unaware of who Stephen Williams is, or why anyone should care what he thinks about Finding Karla, he authored two books on the crimes of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. His first book, Invisible Darkness, is considered to be the most accurate account of the husband and wife's rape and murder spree. In fact, it was argued (in court) that Williams' description of the crimes were so accurate that he was accused of having viewed the banned videotapes that Bernardo had made of the attacks on Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. 

Williams follow-up book was more about Karla Homolka herself than it was about the crimes that she admitted to. Homolka exchanged a series of letters with Williams during her incarceration, which became the foundation for Karla: A Pact with the Devil. In those letters, she discussed everything from her frustrations with the justice system to her daily beauty routine. 

If I were to name any one person as the foremost authority on this case, it would be Stephen Williams. This is what he had to say about Paula Todd's $3 e-book, Finding Karla:

FINDING KARLA: FRAUD, FICTION OR BOTH? (Link will open in a new window)

Karla Homolka makes appearance in Deadlight game

Gaming forums are abuzz with talk of the strange "collectibles" featured in Deadlight, a survival horror platform game released on August 1, 2012. 

The story follows Canadian Mountie hero Randall Wayne as he slashes through zombies on his way from Vancouver, British Columbia to Seattle, Washington in search of his kidnapped wife and daughter. Along the way, the hero encounters a number of corpses with I.D. cards bearing the names of notorious serial killers. Among the 15 cards (which can be collected by the player) is #9: Karla L. Homolka.

It's possible that Homolka's appearance in the game is due to increased awareness about her life and crimes resulting from the recent e-book, Finding Karla, by Paula Todd. However, anyone who has managed a web site, blog, or forum featuring information about Homolka can tell you that public interest in her never really went away; it simply went underground, just as she did.

If anybody has a screen grab of Homolka's I.D. in Deadlight, I would love to post it here.

Outside Links

Ex-convicted killer Karla Homolka starring in Deadlight?

giantbomb.com

Deadlight serial killer IDs

xbox360achievements.org

BabyCenter users weigh in on Homolka

News clipping prior to Homolka's release from prison in 2005

Those who have been following the movements of convicted serial killer Karla Homolka know that she has been avid user of a number of Internet parenting forums. One of her favourite hangouts was the popular online community, BabyCenter. Although Homolka, who posted there under the name love.you.forever, had been "outed" on the site a number of times, many of the posts and threads related to her ongoing presence there were locked or deleted by forum administrators who were presumably not too keen on the decidedly dark flavour of the discussions.

Recently, I happened upon yet another discussion about the woman who served only 12 years of soft time for her participation in the rape and murder of 3 Ontario teenagers -- one of them her own sister, Tammy Lyn. This time, I had the foresight to save the discussion before community moderators made it disappear. The discussion was posted on July 22, and was "locked for review" by a moderator later that same day.

The concerned mothers of BabyCenter filled 20 comment pages with their thoughts and reactions to the shocking news that they had been posting alongside a convicted killer:

August 1, 2012: I have replaced the PDF below with a new file; this version has been edited to hide all personal avatars that included pictures of children. Although the discussion was public, I didn't feel comfortable displaying those types of photos here. I did not receive any complaints; this was simply a change that I deemed appropriate for this blog.  

BabyCenter Debate Team: Karla Homolka Being Hunted and Photographed (PDF)

"What do people in Guadeloupe think of Karla Homolka living there?"

Karla Homolka in Montreal
(Photo: CTV News)

I read this article a while back, but tossed it into a rarely-used bookmarks folder and didn't see it again until just now:

What do people in Guadeloupe think of Karla Homolka living there?

June 22, 2012
Reported by Mylène Colmar in Guadeloupe and Benjamin Shingler in Montreal


Residents of Guadeloupe expressed confusion, shock and anxiety as word spread Friday that notorious Canadian killer Karla Homolka has been quietly living as their neighbour.

Hours after details of Homolka’s post-prison life surfaced in a new book by journalist Paula Todd, locals were busy reading up about the past life of the ex-convict, now 42 years old and a mother of three.

As the news spread online and through friends, the reaction in Guadeloupe, a set of islands in the Caribbean with a population 400,000, was a mixture of surprise and worry.

Several people interviewed by OpenFile in one of the country’s larger towns, Abymes, said they had never heard the name before Friday, though they were concerned after learning about her past.

“I found out Karla Homolka was in Guadeloupe from a friend of mine who’s a Canadian journalist,” said Axelle Kaulanjan-Diamant, a local journalist and philosophy professor.

“She sent me a link to an article and said, ‘I think you should know about this.’”

Kaulanjan-Diamant said she still doesn’t know much about Homolka’s case but that “it seems problematic that, given her criminal past, she can be around children.”

Residents in Guadeloupe wondered whether local police were aware of Homolka’s presence and had been monitoring her activity.

"I am very surprised that she’s in Guadeloupe and I wonder why she decided to come here,” said Fabrice, 30, who asked that his last name not be used. “This is worrisome.”

Some appeared ready to let Homolka move on, suggesting that even the woman who was involved in the torture and murder of three teenagers – including her own sister – deserves a second chance.

"This woman has already served her sentence,” said Clémence, 66, a retired member of the civil service.

“She has rebuilt her life, she has young children. I think of them – they did nothing wrong – and I wonder if we should just leave her alone. If she’s not bothering anyone anymore, not doing anything wrong, I don’t see why we need to go into all of this again.”

The book, “Finding Karla,” confirms earlier reports that Homolka married her lawyer’s brother, had a child and moved to the French Caribbean to avoid the public eye. It does not reveal exactly where in Guadeloupe Homolka is now living.

Following up on a number of online rumours, Todd tracked her down in a small apartment, living a quiet life in a small village under the name Leanne Bordelais with her spouse, Thierry Bordelais, and her children.

Nearly twenty years ago, Homolka and then-husband Paul Bernardo made headlines around the world for the sex killings of Ontario schoolgirls Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, and the drug induced death of Homolka’s sister Tammy.

In what was termed a “deal with the devil,” Homolka struck a bargain with prosecutors to help them convict Bernardo, who was also found guilty of rapes he committed in Scarborough.

Homolka was given a 12-year sentence, while Bernardo was sentenced to life in prison.

After her release in 2005, Homolka moved to Quebec, where she attempted to live a quiet life away from the spotlight. She granted a single interview to Radio-Canada in the hopes of putting the issue to rest.

“It was a very difficult decision to take because I am a very private person and I don't like to talk about my feelings,” she said at the time. “I want to keep things to myself but it is not possible.”

In Guadeloupe, Todd spoke to Homolka for an hour inside her apartment. What she found was a woman trying to leave her past behind, whom she describes as a “housewife trapped with her kids in a cage that she built herself.”

“If this were anyone else, I’d say she was lonely and slightly bored,” Todd writes.

Photographing Karla Homolka: Zoran Milich's Story

Karla Homolka by Zoran Milich

Globe trotting photographer Zoran Milich was enlisted by Paula Todd to capture the image of the blonde beast living in the sweltering jungle that is Guadeloupe. Driven by the desire to assure himself, as a father, that convicted serial killer Karla Homolka's days of murdering children are well behind her, the acclaimed photog spent four days suffering the cruel environmental conditions before he was able to capture this partially obscured image of Homolka with her child.

Milich has just published his own account of the experience on Reuters; a must-read for anyone who is interested in the medium and/or the case: 

Photographing elusive killer Karla Homolka