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.

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

Bernardo's First Love

Paul Bernardo's relationship with high school sweetheart Nadine B. was explored to a certain extent by Scott Burnside and Alan Cairns in Deadly Innocence.

It's actually quite startling to compare his first serious relationship to the one which ultimately produced three dead teenagers. The crucial difference between Nadine and Karla Homolka is the fact that Nadine knew enough to walk away from the serial rapist in the making while Homolka did everything she could to keep him by her side -- including offering up her sister for the Christmas Eve rape that ended her life.

Finding Karla... for profit

Paula Todd

(Image: CTV News)

Is it possible to profit from a decades-old criminal case about a series of brutal sex-killings, and the woman who (essentially) got away with murder? Sure it is; just ask Paula Todd.

According to a recent article in the Hamilton Spectator, Todd's e-book Finding Karla is enjoying brisk sales. The piece has sold between 65-70,000 copies, for an estimated $200,000 in gross sales revenue -- not bad for a 14,000 word e-book that contains (mostly) information which has been available online, for free, for quite some time.

Todd explained why she ultimately settled on the online "e-book" format:

"I didn’t have the luxury of waiting a year for it to see print as a real book or two or three months for publication in a magazine. And I’d spent a lot of my own money tracking her down. I couldn’t make it back on the kind of money magazines pay."

Personally, I have my own suspicions concerning why Finding Karla turned up as a Kobo Single rather than in a conventional book or magazine. Todd's e-book was released just in time to exploit a spike in renewed interest in Karla Homolka following an unfortunate re-telling of a long-standing rumour that the ex Mrs. Paul Bernardo had been romantically linked to Luka Magnotta. At the time, Magnotta was at the center of an international manhunt for the murder of Concordia University student Jun Lin, which was videotaped and subsequently broadcast online. It is widely believed that the rumours concerning Homolka and Magnotta was started and perpetuated by Magnotta himself in a desperate attempt to drum up publicity for his flailing career as a male model and porn star. By the time Montreal Police corrected the error, it was too late -- the ridiculous rumour was already back in circulation.

What better time to publish a book about Homolka than when public interest in her case was at its highest point since her release from prison? I suspect that, had she waited any longer, she would have missed out on the opportunity to ride the coat-tails of another horrific violent crime.

Todd's interview with the "schoolgirl killer" has been called "the scoop of the century" by drama llama Christie Blatchford, but in my own opinion it is nothing of the sort. In the hour that she spent in her home with Todd, Homolka simply recited her familiar refrain; refusing to discuss her crimes, her life, or anything other than what had led the freelance journalist to her doorstep.

While Paula Todd may well have "found" Karla, it's not as though she accomplished some great feat of investigative reporting. The hard-working staff at WatchingKarlaHomolka pinpointed Homolka's location in Guadeloupe several years ago, and have been discussing it online, free-of-charge, ever since.  Paula Todd is hardly a crack gumshoe, she is merely the first person to have considered Killer Karla worthy of the hefty airfare.

For the record, Homolka also maintains an address in Montreal, where she resides for part of the year. For reasons unknown, you won't find any mention of this in Todd's e-book. Either she is not the investigative whiz she proclaims herself to be, or perhaps a blitzkreig on Canadian soil simply lacked the  excitement of a self-funded foray into the domesticated jungle?

"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)

Susan Atkins: The Shattered Myth of 'Helter Skelter'

Perhaps the most well-known of the Manson Girls, Susan Atkins died in prison on September 24, 2009 at the age of 60. Her last words before succumbing to brain cancer were: "My God is an amazing God."

God must have been on vacation when Atkins and other Manson cronies brutally murdered actress Sharon Tate and her unborn son Paul Polanski, along with Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Voityck Frykowsky, Steven Parent, Leno LaBianca, Rosemary LaBianca, and Gary Hinman.

Born on May 7, 1948 in Los Angeles, the runaway teenager met Charles Manson while living in a commune in the Haight Ashbury district. Manson re-named her Sadie Mae Glutz, and helped deliver her baby after she became pregnant by one of the other "family" members. He named the child (a boy) Zezozose Zadfrack. To date, the child's whereabouts are unknown.

Sadie Mae Glutz, as she was known within the psycho circle that was the Manson Family, claimed to have found redemption through Christianity. She wrote a book: Child of Satan, Child of God which chronicled her personal tale of spiritual re-birth. A man by the name of James Whitehouse claims to have read Susan's book during a time of struggle in his own life, and felt compelled to get to know the woman who wrote it.

While incarcerated, Atkins married twice: once to an eccentric Texas millionaire, and then to Whitehouse, who later graduated from the prestigious Harvard Law School and went on to represent her in legal matters.

Atkins-Whitehouse recited religious verse at her final parole hearing. In spite of her best efforts to prove to both the parole board and society that she was remorseful, reformed, Atkins remained one of the world's most hated women until the time of her death. At a hearing to request that she be paroled in order to die in a home setting with her husband at her side, she stated: 

"I don't have to just make amends to the victims and families, I have to make amends to society. I sinned against God and everything this country stands for."

Susan's final plea for merciful freedom was denied. After her death, Whitehouse published what was to be considered Susan's explanation of what really happened in the summer of 1969 and the ensuing trial, beyond what she called "the myth of Helter Skelter." 

The Shattered Myth of Helter Skelter (PDF, 107 pgs)

Susan Atkins with husband James Whitehouse

at her final parole hearing in 2009 (she was denied)

More Information...

susanatkins.org

"Her life, her accomplishments, her work with the Church, the community, and the needy, and her art."

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)

"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

More Thoughts on "Finding Karla"

Photograph of Homolka on her balcony,

from the e-book Finding Karla

In response to the comments I received on my last post, I decided to charge the lousy $3 to my PayPal account, and downloaded a copy of Paula Todd's controversial e-book, Finding Karla. Yes, let the record show that I did not sully my eyes with a bootlegged copy; I bought it, downloaded the file, and then struggled to get the bloody thing to display (had to download a special version of Adobe reader).

Although most of what I wrote prior to actually reading the document still stands, I must add that I found it to be an interesting read. Todd paints a most revealing picture of her time in Guadaloupe, from the decidedly patriarchal local customs, to the stroke of luck which led her to Homolka's hideaway, to the hour she spent with Canada's most notorious female killer. 

However... I still don't feel that Todd's work contributes anything to the Homolka discussion that I wasn't previously aware of; she merely confirms the work of the good citizens of the Blogosphere. The fact that Todd was able to pinpoint Homolka's precise location and speak with her are largely moot points in my opinion because the discussion, while interesting, did not unearth any new details or insights into the inner-workings of this most complex monster who once referred to herself as "Karly Curls." 

Karla Homolka hasn't changed much at all over the last 20 years; she is still meticulous in her appearance, strongly defiant of any form of criticism, and completely unwilling to even glance at her own wretched past. Furthermore, she continues to refuse any and all requests for information which concerned citizens might find useful in coming to gain a better understanding of her enigmatic personality. As ever, she says only what she wants us to hear, and shows only what she wants us to see. The fact that she allowed a journalist whom she had never met, who had tracked her from half a world away and showed up at her home unannounced, to watch while she breastfed her youngest child speaks volumes about Homolka's desire to alter whatever preconceived impressions that Todd may have brought with her.

As a final note, I must admit that my blood boiled ever so slightly upon reading that: 

"On the Web, the stalkers, sleuths and gossips insist she's changed her name, dyed her long blonde hair and switched from speaking English to French - a skill she'd honed in prison, along with earning a university degree in psychology."

Stalkers, sleuths, and gossips? Honestly, Ms. Todd; what is it that elevates you above those you have lumped into this unsavoury lot? While I have been watching her movements online for some time now, the thought of jumping on a plane in the hopes of "finding" her never once crossed my mind. With all due respect, your career accomplishments, while impressive, do not make you any less a "stalker" than the rest of us lowly "gossips."

Finding Karla

The Canadian media was ablaze yesterday with news that a journalist by the name of Paula Todd had managed to track down convicted serial killer accomplice extraordinaire Karla Homolka in her new home country of Guadaloupe. Todd has published a report of her encounter with Canada's most-hated woman in an e-book, Finding Karla, which is available through Kobo Books at the bargain basement price of $2.99.

I, for one, will not be purchasing a copy. While the byline is enticing: How I Tracked Down an Elusive Serial Child Killer and Discovered a Mother of Three, it is representative of what I already knew, and have known for some time now (courtesy of Watching Karla Homolka). Paula Todd merely did what nobody else within the subculture cared to do; she bought herself a plane ticket and travelled to the Caribbean in the hopes of catching a glimpse of wolf in sheep's clothing.

From what I can tell, Ms. Todd sleuthed out her target using information that has been readily available through the Internet for quite some time. She took a chance that the detective work undertaken by concerned online watchdogs was correct -- and it was -- and now she's selling her "story," and has priced it to clear! 

Even if her report contributes absolutely nothing to the broader discussion, Todd stands to make a tidy profit. My own blog statistics prove that, in spite of what some may like us to believe, Karla Homolka is still very much an attention-getter; interest in this enigmatic woman (my own included) seems to have no end.

Todd claims to have spoken briefly with Homolka (aka Leanne Bordelais) in her home, and even observed her interactions with the three small children she has with partner Thierry Bordelais. The two women engaged in a brief interview before Mr. Bordelais interjected, and Homolka cut the discussion short:

"Nobody cares, and everything I’ve said is off the record."

Todd has said that, in the interest of protecting the safety of Homolka's children, she has elected not to publish the exact address. However, given the fact that, by way of her e-book, she has confirmed that online reports on her current whereabouts are true, anyone with the desire to find her can probably manage the task easily enough; just look for the mailbox that's marked "Leanne Bordelais."

I will save my 3 bucks and stick to online sleuthing, as opposed to real-life stalking.

Karla Homolka: The Stephen Williams Letters

Journalist, author, and accused enemy of the state Stephen Williams struck up a fascinating conversation-by-mail with Karla Homolka while she was serving out her sentence for the kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of two Ontario teenagers. The series of letters was to be the backbone of a book deal he had entered into as a follow-up to his acclaimed best-seller, Invisible Darkness: The Horrifying Case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka. 

"I was exuberant until I realized that in spite of the things I had discovered this new book for which I had just signed a contract could not be written unless Karla talked to me. And frankly I was the last person on earth that she would ever talk to.

As she said in her first startling letter to me: 'Well, they say ‘never say never’ and they’re right. Never in a million years did I think that I would ever write a letter to anyone from the media, let alone you who has treated me so harshly.'"

But Karla did write a letter to Stephen Williams; a multitude of them, in fact. Her flair for the dramatic, along with hefty doses of self-righteousness are evident in her missives to him. She does not mince words as she describes to him her perceptions of the complex and often highly political inner-workings of the Canadian correctional system, particularly as it relates to female offenders. In other letters, she describes (in nauseating detail) her life on the inside, which, by all accounts, bore no resemblance to the the image of incarceration most of us hold in our minds.

Here are the letters as they appeared in Williams' fascinating follow-up, Karla: A Pact with the Devil.

Runaway Devil's Stick Figure Murder Plot

From Runaway Devil

(Remington, Zickefoose)

This crudely-drawn comic strip depicting a family being burned alive was found in JR's locker by a school official after the massacre at her family's home was discovered. Various schoolmates confirmed that the drawings and captions were in JR's handwriting. At this point during the investigations, police were beginning to piece together the 12 year old's involvement in the brutal slayings. 

On February 23, 2009, Justice Scott Brooker ruled that the authors of a book about the case,

Runaway Devil, could reprint the drawing as it provided no means by which to identify the girl. Alberta Children's Services and JR's legal team protested the decision, but the judge stated in court that he saw no evidence that releasing the drawing would affect her rehabilitation.

Six Degrees of Runaway Devil

Runaway Devil by Sherri Zickefoose and Robert Remington is the single largest source of information on the case of 12 year old JR, who became the youngest Canadian ever convicted of multiple murder.

Marc, Debra, and little Jacob Richardson are dead. Their daughter, JR, who was convicted of their murders is currently serving her 10 year sentence in the community. She is enrolled in University, and even has a part-time job. Meanwhile, her then-boyfriend and accomplice in the killings will most likely never experience life outside his prison cell.

JR's trial was deeply shrouded in secrecy and publication restriction, as the Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act sets out to protect the identities of young offenders. This is why Runaway Devil is such an important book; it offers concerned and fascinated citizens alike the opportunity to at least try to understand what went so horribly wrong on that tragic night in April, 2006.

I recently found a copy of the book for sale online ($1.99 for a gently-used hard cover) in order to refresh my memory, and discovered something on Page 45 which made me do a double-take: a quote on the "gothic" subculture from one of my ex-boyfriends!

Totally silly, I know, but I was young, and hanging with the goth kids from the Big City made me feel "cool."

Purely for shits and giggles, I present my own, personal six degrees of separation:

Fireside Chat (Transcript)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Cold North Killers

No doubt, I will be showing up at my local booksellers to pester them for this title!

Karla Homolka and the Absence of Feminist Criticism

Due to her well-documented history of depravity and violence, Canada's most hated woman secured her very own chapter in Killing Women: The Visual Culture of Gender and Violence.

Dealing with the Devil: Karla Homolka and the Absence of Feminist Criticism
Belinda Morrissey
In: Killing Women - The Visual Culture of Gender and Violence
Edited by Annette Burfoot and Susan Lord
Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006
xxii + 332 pp. / isbn-13: 978-0-88920-497-3 / isbn-10: 0-88920-497-7