Invisible darkness : the strange case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka

by Williams, Stephen, 1949-

  INVISIBLE darkness ^ . 287

  The Marquis had a huge trunk and it was relatively easy to install a hidden compartment—like a big false-bottomed suitcase. P.J. drove the Marquis to St. Catharines. He was supposed to meet Bernardo at the Tim Horton doughnut shop on the Queen EHzabeth Way—where the miniature village was—but P.J. seemed to always get lost around St. Catharines. He had to phone Bernardo, and Paul came over and led him back to the house. Over tea, Paul asked P.J. and his girlfriend to intercede with Karla on his behalf They tried, but could not get past Mrs. Homolka.

  On Sunday, February 7, Paul brought a load of cigarettes up to P.J.‘s garage. That’s when Patrick Johnnie really noticed a difference. Paul was so bent out of shape he told a good-looking woman who came on to him in the Happy Daze restaurant, where they had repaired for a drink, to get lost. That was not at all like the Paul Bernardo Patrick Johnnie knew.

  Sergeant Brian Nesbitt introduced himself to Detective Steve Irwin. Sergeant Nesbitt was taking a two-week, major-crime techniques course at the Canadian Police College in Ottawa. Irwin was a keynote speaker. Irwin talked about the intricacies of complex sexual-assault investigations. Afterward, Nesbitt congratulated Detective Irwin on his perspicacity.

  While talking about Irwin’s ongoing investigation into the Scarborough rapes, Nesbitt brought up Paul Bernardo’s name. Irwin told Nesbitt—again—that Bernardo had still not been cleared in Toronto.

  Irwin had talked about having fifteen hundred suspects in the Scarborough rape files. Nesbitt asked if they could “borrow” the files, but Irwin discouraged him, saying the files were not sufficiently well organized nor were they in one consistent foi-rnat.

  Irwin made a mental note to call the forensic scientist, Kim Johnston, as soon as he got back to the city. When he did, on January 23, Ms. Johnston told Detective Irwin she still did not have results on any of the five individuals whose samples he had resubmitted in November. They were short-staffed at the cen-288 . STEPHEN wllli.ms

  ter; one of the scientists was on maternity leave, and Ms. Johnston had been away on course. They had so many other cases; homicides always took priority.

  Karla euphemistically referred to it as her “diary”; the written memoir of all Paul Bernardo’s trespasses Karla began to vigorously document as soon as she left hospital and moved in with her aunt and uncle in Brampton. “Paul was very possessive …” she scribbled. “He manipulated my mind … I was so afraid he would tell what I did … he knew I had trouble hearing him … I have an ulcer thanks to him.”

  Even though Karla hked to portray herself as “hiding out” in Brampton, she kept in touch. And sometimes she made a diarylike entry in her memoir of Paul’s abuse. For instance, she noted that Paul’s friends, Gus and Mike, had gone to the clinic and tried to fmd her. She even called Mike Donald and engaged him in a long telephone conversation about Paul and how bad he was and what he had done to her.

  As the days went by, she “remembered” more and more things Paul had done to her. On January 12, two days after she had settled into her aunt and uncle’s small apartment, she wrote: “He made me sleep in the root cellar; threw knives at me; said he would kill me and make it look like an accident; couldn’t go to bed until he said I could … I was always terrified when I was with him. Stabbed in November, strangled in December.”

  When Karla’s sister Lori came to visit she watched Karla rewrite the same letter a dozen times, addressing each one to a different friend.

  Kristy Maan was one of those friends, and Karla’s elaborate but circumspect explanation of her circumstances, an explanation that declared Paul a wife beater under whose spell she had fallen, and from which she had finally, miraculously, broken free, appalled Kristy.

  When Kristy got the letter she felt strangely vindicated. She had long suspected something was amiss between Paul and Karla. Shortly after the wedding, she had incurred Karla’s wrath

  INVISIBLE darkness 289

  when she broached the topic in a post-wedding letter. The way Paul’s family had behaved at the wedding put the lie to Kristy’s first impression of Paul as a rich, urbane guy with a great car. She also thought Karla looked wan and thin at the wedding, an observation that was met with outraged indignation and then months of silence, during which Kristy was persona non grata.

  To Debbie Purdie, Karla embellished her pro forma missive: “Lots—tons has happened. I’ve left Paul—for good … a true wife beater … since Tammy died … I’m getting a divorce as soon as possible YAY! Write to me. I need to hear from friends.” “~”^

  In her datebook Karla recorded that she went home to St. Catharines to go to the Legal Aid office, see Dr. Plaskos and have her hair done at 3:00 p.m. on January 19. To the doctor, Karla “did not seem depressed or suicidal … she seemed quite positive” and appeared to be taking things very well. Dr. Plaskos did some blood work, including an HIV test.

  In another letter to Debbie, dated the same day, Karla explained how “he [Paul] took 5 years of my life and I’m not allowing him to take any more … I wish I could have turned to you—or anybody—[Buddy] he’s my puppy; Paul better not be abusing him or there will be hell to pay … I’m really excited about my new life. I can’t wait.”

  Occasionally, she digressed and made what approximated a journal entry on the subject of her immediate needs and aspirations. Her entry for January 21 reads: “So confused about what to do with my life … don’t know where I should live or what career I should choose; fear that I will go back to him. I wouldn’t in a million years. I’d rather go to jail … I miss being in the hospital. I should have stayed longer. Dr. Plaskos gave me more Ativan; oh yeah, I just remembered, Paul kicked me in the lower back and there was blood in my urine.”

  On January 25, it was Karla’s father’s birthday, so Karla combined a visit home with a visit to “her new lawyer,” Virginia Workman.

  In another letter to Kathy Ford she described how Paul’s

  290 STEPHEN willlams

  physical abuse did not start until July, 1992. “I got hit everyday—at least once,” she revealed.

  After Kristy Maan got Karla’s “cycle of abuse” letter, she reciprocated w^ith a book about getting out of unhealthy relationships. She sent the book to Karla’s mother at the Shaver Chnic. The next thing she knew, Karla called her and told her where she was hiding. Karla invited Kristy to come and visit.

  On January 29, Kristy, Karla and Kristy’s new baby went shopping at Square One, a big mall in Mississauga. They went to Sears and had lunch at Burger King. Kristy was amazed. Karla appeared more than fme; maybe she needed a little weight—Kristy always thought Karla needed a little weight— but Karla had a real bounce m her step and she seemed mor-dinately happy. To Kristy, Karla seemed to have completely recovered from whatever hell it was she had been through. Maybe Karla was overcompensating, but she seemed positively bubbly and the incongruity between the details in her letters and Karla’s demeanor gave Kristy pause, but little else.

  At Paul’s father’s lawyer’s request, Paul wrote a letter on his father’s behalf, dated January 29, 1993. It was addressed, To Whom It May Concern.

  “I am aware of the charges my sister had brought against my father,” he wrote. “It is my opinion that this issue was put to rest years ago.

  “I do not understand her actions. She was free to approach any family member, especially my mother, at any time. This issue would have been better resolved out of court.

  “A prison term would not only not do my father any good but would cause a great deal of distress amongst the family.”

  At exactly 8:50 a.m. on Monday, February 1, forensic center scientist Kim Johnston called Detective Irwin. She said Paul Bernardo had raped Cathy Thompson, Deneen Chenier, and Sharon Moon. She had matched Bernardo’s DNA to samples taken from each of the three women. She was exhilarated.

  INVISIBLE darkness 2^1

  Nothing like this had even happened to Ms. Johnst
on before. There was no doubt that Paul Bernardo was the Scarborough rapist.

  Detective Irwin immediately began to mobilize the forces. He organized twenty-four-hour surveillance on Bernardo. He did the necessary paperwork to get a tap on Bernardo’s telephone. A computer check on the CPIC terminal told Irwin that Bernardo had been recendy charged with assault in Niagara. He sent a request for more, detailed information.

  It turned out Bernardo had hit his wife with a big, black steel flashlight and been charged with “assault with a weapon” on January 6. The Niagara Regional Police provided Detective Irwin with a dozen Polaroids of Karla Bernardo taken by the police on the night they laid the charge. Her eyes were raccooned and she had bruises on her arms and legs. She had been kept in hospital for three days.

  On February 3, a colleague of Irwin’s, Detective Ron Whitefield, called the Homolka household and reached Karla’s sister. He told Lori that her brother-in-law had become a suspect in a serious investigation. Within minutes, Karla’s mother called Whitefield back. Detective Whitefield said they would Hke to talk to Karla—as soon as possible, but they would also like to touch base with Dorothy and her husband.

  Irwin called Alex and Tina Smirnis and made an appointment to pick up the videotape of their wedding. The Smirnises were already aware of the assault charge in St. Catharines. By the time Irwin got there, Alex was having second thoughts about turning over the videotape. He was inexplicably worried about revenge.

  Alex nervously told Detective Irwin that Bernardo loved the video camera and took one with him everywhere he went. Irwin was aware Alex spoke in non sequiturs, but this time he really wondered about Alex’s point. He assured Alex that Bernardo’s capacity for retaliation would soon be severely limited. Alex reluctantly handed over the videotape.

  When Detecrive Whitefield called the Homolkas on Wednesday, February’ 3, to speak with Karla, Karla was, in fact, there but she was too busy writing a letter to Kathy Ford dated Februars’ 3 to take the phone: “I am sitting on Tammy’s bedroom floor (my new temporary sometimes bedroom… .).” The letter went on to elaborate at great length on the “pattern” of Paul’s abuse. And her mother did not feel she could interrupt Karla.

  She was in St. Catharmes that day for another visit to Dr. Plaskos, who was rechecking Karla’s hemoglobm. On Karla’s file, Dr. Plaskos noted that Karla told her that she was “frequenting restaurants and bars.” Karla explained to the doctor that she was “getting on nicely with her life.”

  Out of the blue, Joann Fuller called Jamne Rothsay. Since Paul Bernardo had raped Janine over the Christmas hoUdays in 1991, Janine had not had much to do with either Joann or her boyfriend. Van Smirnis. It was one o’clock in the morning. Janine had just come home from work. “Guess who I’m with?” Joann told Janine.

  Something had gone wrong and Paul was freaking out because he had to be in court in St. Catharines first thing in the morning. Joann wanted Janine to drive Paul across the border. Janine told Joann that she would not drive Paul Bernardo anywhere and she was amazed that Joann would ask.

  The way Joann remembered the incident between Paul and Jamne, Janine had had fun. Van said Paul said that Janine said that she loved Paul, and that was good enough for Joann. Joann’s thoughts were often shaped Uke pretzels. In Joann’s mind, Janine had never complained and Karla had just said, “Oh well, people make mistakes.” Joann could not understand Janine’s adverse reaction.

  To Janine, it was not worth discussing. Besides, she had been working at the duty-free shop on the Lewiston bridge and wanted nothing to do with smuggUng, which she rightly assumed was the reason behind their predicament.

  What had happened was Paul had approached Van and said

  INVISIBLE darkness 293

  he needed to make a cigarette run. When they got to Smokin’ Joe’s, Bernardo bought forty-five hundred dollars worth of cigarettes. They loaded the cigarettes in an old Buick Skylark that Van had borrowed from a “family friend” for the occasion.

  They were planning to take the cigarettes across the border via the railway tracks that spanned the Niagara River right next to the Whirlpool Bridge. Paul had constructed a makeshift dolly that would supposedly run on the railway tracks. They were just about to load it up when a Customs agent materialized out of the dark. Whereupon they ran, abandoning the car and cigarettes.

  Joann called Janine again from the Porter House, a bar at Church and 5th in Youngstown. Janine told her “no” again, and Joann said, “Well … I think Kristen might do it,” and hung up. Youngstown was a very small town, and as far as Janine knew, neither she nor Joann knew anyone named Kristen. Janme lay awake wondering who Kristen might be.

  Joann finally got another girl named Sue to drive Paul back to Bayview Drive. Paul said he thought Sue was hot. The agents seized the car and the cigarettes. The next day they tracked Van down and charged him under the Customs and Excise Act.

  Detective Bruce SmoUet and Detective Ron Whitefield traveled to St. Catharines on Thursday evening and interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Homolka at 61 Dundonald. Dorothy told them that Karla was staying with her aunt and uncle in Brampton. They asked Mrs. Homolka to make sure her daughter called them as soon as possible. In rape investigations, the police always wanted to talk to the women closest to the suspect.

  Karla dutifully called Detective Whitefield at 11:15 a.m. on Friday morning. She said that the earliest she could meet with the police would be next Tuesday evening. She had to go to a funeral, and the people w^ith whom she was staying—whom Karla wanted present during the interview—were expecting company over the weekend.

  Detective Whitefield told Karla that it was a very serious matter they were investigating. When Karla asked him if anyone

  was in immediate danger, Whitefield said he could not answer that. Instead, he thanked her for her courage and willingness to speak with them. She was not, in fact, obliged to speak to the police, he gratuitously told her. Then Detective Whitefield called Karla’s mother and assured her that Karla had nothing to fear, she was not under suspicion. He emphasized that it was Paul Bernardo who was being investigated, not Karla.

  Upstairs, from his office on the seventh floor at 40 College Street, Staff Superintendent Dave Boothby—one of the most senior police officers on Toronto’s eight-thousand-member force—called Inspector Vince Bevan and invited him to a meeting on Monday morning.

  Paul drove up north to see Patrick Johnnie; on his way he did a little sightseeing in a few shopping mall parking lots. The police followed Paul everywhere. On February 12, Paul was stopped at the border coming back into Canada. The Customs agents found the hidden compartment and an amount of cash in the Marquis. At 6:00 p.m., Smollet called Bevan and told him they had lost him after he was released. Smollet called for the Ontario Provincial Police helicopter, which was equipped with FLIR [forward-looking infra-redj. While Smollet was pressing the OPP for the helicopter, Paul pulled into his driveway, parked the car and went in the house. Paul’s mind was unraveling. Without Karla, nothing made any sense.

  Karla had become well known to the bartender at the Sugar Shack, a bar and dance emporium on County Court Boulevard in Brampton, Ontario, where they played oldies from the fifties and sixties. Karla always wore a tight, skimpy, black dress. It was hard not to notice her. She had started coming in toward the end of January.

  On Friday night, February 5, Karla was with a woman she called Auntie Patti, and Auntie Patti’s friend, Anne. Karla liked to drink green chartreuse with orange juice. A local guy named Jim Hutton came in with two of his buddies. Jim was an appli—

  ance salesman in his mid-twenties. He had that “Baywatch” look: six feet tall, fit, sandy, light brown hair.

  The boys sat at the table next to the girls. The bartender could see that Jim was Karla’s type. They started to talk and then Jim asked Karla to dance. They kept dancing until closing time. Before they left, Karla told Jim she would be back the following night.

  By eleven o’clock Saturday night Karl
a had almost given up, when Jim finally came in. After the Shack closed, Jim and Karla went over to a bar on Main Street called O’Malley’s. They got there around 12:30 a.m. Jim said a friend of his owned it. They sat around for a while, drinking and talking. Then they went to Dave Bailey’s house. Dave was another one of Jim’s friends. His house was only a short walk firom O’Malley’s. That night, Dave slept on his couch and Karla and Jim went at it in Dave’s bed until the small hours of the morning. That was exactly what Karla needed: an orgasm, something just for her. Around 5 a.m., Jim called a cab and took Karla back to her aunt and uncle’s apartment on McLaughlin.

  Gus Draxis was a tall, dark, heavyset Greek kid. He idolized Paul Bernardo, about whom he was very worried. Since Paul’s wife, Karla, had left him at the beginning of January, Paul had not been himself At Paul’s behest, Gus had tried to get in touch with Karla—to no avail.

  Gus talked to Karla’s dad once and he told him that a lot of stuff had been going on, that Karla was hiding, that Paul had been beating her and stuff. Gus no longer felt on terra firma.

  Paul called Gus one afternoon in early February and said he wanted Gus to help with his rap album. The request was unusual. Inordinately secretive about everything, Paul’s rap career had been strictly off limits. Paul even told Gus what his rap name was—Young Hype.

  Gus went to Port Dalhousie in early February to spend a couple of nights with Paul. Gus thought he was drinking too much and maybe popping pills. Suddenly, Paul declared he had to move out. Gus said Paul would be welcome to move in with

  296 STEPHEN wllli^ms

  him up in Newmarket. So Paul went over to Ontario Street and rented a Chrysler Magic Wagon from Budget. Paul and Gus loaded up the Magic Wagon and drove it up to Gus’s house.

  Between Port Dalhousie and Newmarket, Paul foresaw that Karla would come back to him after all, and he said to Gus, “I’m not going to start dismembering the place.” They turned around, drove back to Port Dalhousie and unloaded the Magic Wagon.