Brenda Ann Spencer: "Switched to overload"

Brenda Ann Spencer fired 36 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle through her bedroom window at a bustling schoolyard on January 29, 1979. Her shooting spree left two adults dead, and another nine people wounded (eight of them children). The rifle had been a Christmas present from her father, Wallace Spencer.

Amid the six and a half hour standoff, which eventually led to her arrest, she was asked what had compelled her to do such an unfathomably horrible thing. Young Brenda, only 16 years old at the time of the shootings, provided an equally horrifying response:

"I don't like Mondays. This livens up the day."

Like many people my age, my first exposure to the life and crimes of Brenda Ann Spencer came courtesy of the highly popularized song, "I Don't Like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats. Singer/songwriter Bob Geldof had been in the midst of giving a radio interview when news of the tragedy came through on a Telex machine. Although the song has become a Monday morning radio classic across the globe, it is important to remember that it all began with a messed-up young woman, a telescopic rifle, and the haunting phrase which has since become ensconced in popular culture.

  

                                           Image: Nykta                                                    Image: margoaquato

"I don't remember, but I'm sure that I did it."

While Brenda has, in recent years, provided a somewhat clearer explanation for her terrible crimes than her initial 'Mondays' claim, it doesn't look like this broad is getting out of the Big House any time in the near future. Still very clearly detatched from what she did on that frosty morning back in '79, she claims to remember very little about what transpired that day, and nothing at all about the actual shootings.

CBC Radio-Canada Interviews Karla Homolka

I was able to cobble together a web-ready version of this hard to find

interview using raw video files contributed by kouheikun @ WKH2012.

PART 1

PART 2

Note: Small portions of this videotaped interview are missing;

a complete (translated) transcript is provided after the jump below.

Immediately following her release from prison on July 5, 2005, Karla Homolka and her lawyer, Sylvie Bordelais, sat down with CBC Radio-Canada reporter Joyce Napier for an interview.

Before Canada's Most Hated Woman even opened her mouth, people across the nation were incensed that she had chosen to conduct the interview in French. This meant that the majority of people who lived in the province of Ontario, where she committed her crimes, were forced to accept the first (and probably only) public statement she has ever made concerning her role in the the rape-murder spree that dominated headlines in the early 1990s.

I've read this interview a number of times, and if I were asked to summarize it in the simplest of terms, I would say: low self esteem  (+) desire for relationship (x) rape-murder spree that captured global headlines and rocked an entire nation (=) out of prison in time to birth a child for each innocent life she stole (?)

Fatal Error. Cannot compute.

The Fifth Estate: Karla Homolka

Thanks to the tireless staff at WKH2012, this long lost episode of  the award-winning documentary series The Fifth Estate is accessible once again. 

As I watched the program (which I hadn't seen in years), all the same feelings of horror, sickness, sadness, and rage stirred in me anew. The Fifth Estate illuminates Homolka's role in the sex killings of three Ontario teenagers in shocking clarity; the sheer gall with which an unaffected Homolka recites the details of her crimes is nothing short of astounding. 

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

Karla Speaks for Herself

In spite of everything that has been said about Karla Homolka by the multitudinous professionals assigned (in some way or another) to her case, I have always felt that her own words speak volumes about her involvement in the crimes. 

Simply reading about her comments to police in preparation for then-estranged husband's trial, and her sworn testimony on the stand reveals only part of the picture. The full effect of her statements can only be experienced with the assistance of Karla herself: her appearance, her demeanor, and the apparently unaffected ease with which she delivers the chilling details surrounding the deaths of three innocent young women. 

My interest in obtaining the documentary aired by The Fifth Estate was primarily due to the fact that it contains some video footage of Homolka's cautioned statement to the police following her agreement to cooperate fully in the Bernardo investigation in exchange for a lesser sentence. While the footage amounts to less than seven minutes in total, the "diagnostic mystery" that is Karla Homolka speaks for herself.

Karla Speaks for Herself: Part 1

Extracted from: CBC's The Fifth Estate

This episode can be obtained in its entirety here. 

Thanks to: WKH2012

Karla Speaks for Herself: Part 2

Extracted from: MSNBC's Dark Heart, Iron Hand

This episode can be obtained in its entirety from: 

WKH2012

"Serial Killer in Guadeloupe?"

Sorry, the above video is only available in French.

Magnotta: "I am not dating Karla Homolka."

Luka Magnotta interview with Sun News in 2007

Updated: June 2, 2012

While Luka Magnotta continues to dominate headlines in Canada and around the world, more focus is shifting toward the long-standing rumours about his involvement with convicted (now free) murderer Karla Homolka. 

Magnotta gave an interview to Sun News in 2007 in which he pleaded with the public not to believe the rumours. As far as I can tell, most folks in the know figured the whole thing was a twisted publicity stunt orchestrated by Magnotta, the self-proclaimed male model and gay porn star who desperately wanted to break into the legit market.

Joe Warmington's 2007 Interview with Body Part Mailings Suspect

May 31, 2012

[Snip] 

He insists the rumours were not created by him and that he is a victim of a smear campaign. "How would you like it if someone linked you to this?"

He said he's scared to answer his door and is spooked by e-mails and Facebook entries that claim to either be Karla or even her lawyer Sylvie Bordelais, who did not return a call to the Toronto Sun last night.

Police investigating the Magnotta murder case in Montreal confirmed that their suspect was, in fact, linked to Homolka. Then, they backtracked, noting that they were aware of the persisting rumours but had no evidence to substantiate them.

Amid the cacophony of voices, one can't help but wonder if the "unfounded" myth was perhaps peppered with elements of the truth? Was there ever a direct link between these two unabashed predators? Or more likely, is this merely a bloody diorama in which fandom went most horribly and tragically awry?

I continue to wait, and to watch, as I learned a long time ago never to take Authority Speak as Gospel.

Interesting. Unavoidable. Speculation.

Paul Bernardo Police Interview (June 2007)

Karla Homolka's ex-husband, convicted serial rapist and murderer Paul Bernardo sat down for an interview with Toronto Police Services Sex Crimes Unit in June, 2007.

The purpose of the interview was to shed light a number of unsolved crimes that took place during the time Bernardo was operating as the Scarborough Rapist. In particular, the police were hoping to extract some information on the disappearance of Elizabeth Bain (Bernardo denies any involvement).

The interview offers a rare glimpse into the fractured mind of a Dangerous Offender:

Paul Bernardo Interview withToronto Police Service
Sex Crimes Unit, June 2007 (PDF)

Paul Bernardo Interview with Toronto Police Service
Sex Crimes Unit, June 2007 (YouTube Video)

"If you can't do the time, do the crime in Canada."

This amateur video appeared on a web site called Guadaloupe Today:

Karla Homolka: Emily Bordelais 2012
myhappyending20111, YouTube
December 14, 2011

The voice over audio is garbled and very tough to understand, and the soundtrack (Britney Spears?) is bizarre, but it features a photo or two I hadn't seen yet so I thought I'd share it here.