Invisible darkness : the strange case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka
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That night Gus fell asleep on Paul’s couch. When Gus woke up the next morning, Paul was lying on the floor downstairs, passed out. It was around 9:00 a.jvi. Gus went to the bathroom and found an open vial of pills. Later, Paul woke up and said that there was obviously somebody who did not want to take him because if there were, they would have done it by then. Gus thought he was talking about God and killing himself It never occurred to Gus that Paul w^as talking about the pohce and his possible arrest.
Karla had to get up first thing Monday morning to get to St. Catharines by 9:00 a.m. In her datebook it was marked “Virginia 10 A.M., Christina 9 a.m., leave early.” Karla had been on a first-name basis with Christina since Dr. Plaskos confided that she had been abused. Karla had only recently found similar familiarity-with her new divorce lawyer, Virginia Workman. Being abused created some kind of sisterhood and Karla really liked that.
Like bankers gathering to discuss a bad loan, a bevy of senior police officers arrived at the Metropolitan Police Services boardroom on the seventh floor at 40 College Street in downtown Toronto. Inspector Bevan was introduced to Metropolitan Toronto Deput- Chief Chuck Man.vood, Staff Superintendent David Boothby, Stafl” Inspector Steve Marrier, Inspector Bob Strathdee and Detective Sergeant Bruce Smollet.
They reviewed, for Inspector Bevan’s benefit, what they had on Paul Bernardo. Inspector Bevan remembered the Henley
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Island rape. The Toronto police told Inspector Bevan that Bernardo should probably become his prime suspect in the Mahaffy and French sex slayings.
Although this was the inspector’s first introduction to Paul Bernardo, from what he heard he quickly became certain that Bernardo was his man. Still, he left the meeting ambivalent. He had no evidence to link Bernardo with Mahaffy or French. Without some reasonable and probable grounds, the inspector would be hard pressed to get a search warrant, let alone arrest him.
On the very day the police were discussing Paul, Paul’s father was convicted of “digital fingering” in a Scarborough court. Somehow Paul’s sister had been persuaded to drop the other two more serious sexual-assault charges. Ken Bernardo was remanded for sentencing until 9:00 a.m., Thursday, February 18. He was definitely going to jail. The only questions that remained to be answered were for how long and under what terms?
A lot had gone down while Detective Mary Lee Metcalfe had been on vacation. She had barely hung up her coat on Monday morning, when she and her partner, Ron Whitefield, were swept into a meeting that included a number of prosecutors, the most senior of whom was “Maximum Mary” Hall from Scarborough.
Ms. Hall had earned the nickname Maximum Mary for her determined hard-nosed prosecutorial style and lack of compassion for criminal behavior. She looked the part. A voluptuous woman in her mid-forties, Mary Hall had a decidedly amazo-nian bearing, accentuated by the helmet-like way she cut her snow-white hair.
There were a number of other detectives, including Steve Irwin, head of the Scarborough rape investigation, and a couple of female officers from the sexual-assault squad, as well as
Detective Metcalfe’s immediate superior, Detective Sergeant SmoUet.
Detective Metcalfe discovered that she and Whitefield were scheduled to interviev^ a w^oman named Karla Leanne Bernardo a.k.a. Teale nee Homolka at the residence of her aunt and uncle, Patti and Calvin Seger, at 7:30 p.m. the following evening. Karla Homolka’s estranged husband, Paul Bernardo, had become the prime suspect m the Scarborough rapes.
In the meeting, they reviewed the DNA evidence and discussed how many “probes” they needed before the prosecutors would feel comfortable in court. Mary Hall said five, Irwin only had two and three probe matches. Pam Newall, Kim Johnston’s boss at the center, said she would gladly go to court with one, but later backed away from that position when her opinion was solicited by the director of the ministry’s law office, Casey Hill. Irwin was assigned to work with Casey Hill to develop a comprehensive search warrant.
In the meeting, they reviewed video footage of a Greek wedding, in which Paul Bernardo could be seen trying to dance. Its useflilness for a voice-identification lineup was discussed. Since the video was busy and unprofessional, w^ould it be fair to anyone concerned if they used Bernardo’s recorded voice for a voice-identification hneup?
An assistant prosecutor was assigned to research “tricks and lies.” How far could the pohce go with a ruse to entrap a suspect who had been identified by science? The meeting broke about noon, with these esoteric questions swirling around like the confetti in the Smirnises’ wedding video. Casey Hill gave Detective Irwin a hundred-page search warrant on which he had previously worked, by way of example. It was a formidable document.
When Metcalfe and Whitefield returned to the squad room, they were introduced to Inspector Vince Bevan. He told Metcalfe and Whitefield exactly what he and the Task Force required from their forthcoming interview with Bernardo’s estranged wife: firstly, Karla’s account of Paul’s activities during
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the time periods June 15 to 29, 1991 (the two weeks between Mahaflfy’s disappearance and the discovery of her body parts in Lake Gibson), and April 16 to 30, 1992 (the period during which Kristen French was abducted, raped, murdered and dumped in the ditch along Sideroad One).
He also wanted a detailed description of the jewelry Karla and Paul had. The task force knew exactly what accessories the girls Vv^ere wearing when they disappeared. They had canvassed all the pawnshops in the Niagara Region looking for transactions but found nothing.
Thirdly, Bevan wanted Karla’s fingerprints—for elimination purposes. The task force had found a piece of map at the scene where Kristen French had been abducted and there were latent unidentified fingerprints on it.
And one very important last thing: when Karla Homolka had been photographed by Niagara Regional Police at the hospital on January 6, she had been wearing a Mickey Mouse watch very similar to the one worn by Kristen French when she was abducted. Metcalfe and Whitefield were to ask Karla about the Mickey Mouse watch.
When Metcalfe and Whitefield agreed to ask these questions, Bevan accomplished two things. He tipped Karla Homolka’s hand and regained control of a suspect that hours earlier he did not know he had.
Karla made a date to go to Cara Taylor’s funeral with Norma Tellier on Monday afternoon, February 8. Even though the Taylors were neighbors on Dundonald—Karla thought they lived two doors down on Dundonald—Karla did not know Cara. Cara had been much younger, more Tammy Lyn’s age.
Nevertheless, Karla sent Mrs. Taylor a Hallmark “In the Loss of your Loved One” card. Beneath a printed verse, Karla wrote, “Please accept my sincere apologies and sympathy for your loss. Cara was a wonderful girl who will be missed by all. Love Karla Homolka.”
Cara’s boyfriend, a young man named Caputo, had climbed through her window in the middle of the afternoon. First he
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had raped Cara, and then he had suffocated her with her pillow. Cara’s mother found her dead daughter when she got home from work.
For Karla, the funeral was a catalyst for her reunion with Norma Tellier. Through Norma’s aunt, Karla told Norma that she still wanted to be Norma’s friend. She told Norma everything that had happened was Paul’s fault—she had been under Paul’s spell.
Norma had been going over to the Homolkas smce Christmas and hanging out with Karla’s sister, Lori. Norma told Lori that Paul had raped her twice in December—once at Paul and Karla’s house on the anniversary of Tammy Lyn’s death and once on Christmas Eve, in Lori’s bedroom. Lori was surprised, because everyone had been home at the time.
Norma also told Lori that Paul told Norma that he had had sex with Lori and that Lori had wanted more. That really outraged Lori. Lori wrote down everything that Norma told her. Norma told Lori that Paul had also told her that he had sex with Lori’s dead sister. Tammy. Lori said that the family had long suspected Paul and Tammy. T
hey thought he had been buying Tammy’s silence with money. When Karla was in the hospital for those three days in January, Lori and Norma had asked her what they should do about the fact that Paul had raped Norma. Karla told them to just forget it; Karla’s situation was complicated enough. Lori tossed her notes.
While she was staying in Brampton, Karla discovered that Paul had run up all her credit cards with cash advances. She went ballistic and turned to Dr. David Wade, the vet who owned the Martindale clinic. He was a successful businessman, a Mason and an animal lover; he would know what to do. His perspective was straightforward. If an animal was sick, take it to a vet. If a woman was scorned, get a lawyer. Karla went to Virginia Workman, a well-known divorce lawyer in St. Catharines.
Destitute, Karla easily obtained a Legal Aid certificate. The government would take care of Ms. Workman’s fees and Ms. Workman would take care of Karla’s marital problems. Karla
cancelled all her credit cards and then reported Paul to the Humane Society for abusing the dog. The Humane Society went to Paul’s door, prepared to impound the dog, but deferred when they saw Buddy. Buddy was a bit too hardy and happy to have been much abused. Paul explained his predicament, in a cursory way.
Since Karla had got Paul into the Masons, Karla would see to it that he got out. She made sure the Masons knew Paul had been charged with assault, a fact that would ensure his expulsion. Then she called Customs, gave them a description of the Nissan and the license number and reported Paul for smuggling.
Day by day, Karla’s voluminous diary grew, but she made no mention of the fact that Paul was the Scarborough rapist, or of the rape on Henley Island, or Leshe Mahaffy or Kristen French. Nor did Karla seek her new lawyer Virginia’s professional advice about her imminent interview with the MetropoHtan Toronto Police. Karla clearly demonstrated she understood the precarious balance of power between her and Paul when she perceptively recorded in the diary that Paul had “something to lose on one thing” and “everything” on two others.
All Karla really wanted to do now was let bygones be bygones, have fun and get her stuff back. She made a long list in her diary. She wanted her hope chest, her champagne glasses and everything else that was rightfully hers. The best way to sort all this out was a divorce. Karla wanted a divorce. Virginia Workman dutiflilly prepared the papers.
When Detectives Metcalfe, Whitefield and Smollet introduced themselves to Karla and her aunt and uncle, they told Karla they were investigating her husband for a series of violent sexual assaults and asked her what she thought about that. Karla could tell the detectives were nonplussed when she said that nothing shocked her. As soon as she told them that she knew they were coming, she realized she probably should not have said that either.
The interview—which lasted almost five hours—went along quite smartly for the first litde while, until Karla discerned.
based on the questions they had started to ask her, that these pohce from Toronto had somehow put the murders in St. Catharines together with the Scarborough rapes.
They wanted to know if she had a Mickey Mouse watch, but they would not tell her why. She knew why. She suddenly became agitated and visibly nervous.
In response to the detectives’ queries about the sudden change in her demeanor, she ftimbled. Naturally, the questions would upset her. Her Mickey Mouse watch belonged to her sister, Lori. Lori had lent it to her and now Karla knew they were going to want to take her sister’s watch with them. No one asked her how she knew that.
From the look on their faces and the way they responded, Karla thought she had made another mistake when she asked the police how much time someone involved in serious sex crimes could get in jail? They said “a long, long time,” and Karla thought they all looked at her very strangely.
Then they asked Karla for her fingerprints! She asked why, but they would not tell that either. Now she was forced to lie about a lot of things and she had not wanted to do that. But Karla was not going to jail for all those things Paul had made her do. It was not her fault. That is what everybody had told her while she was in the hospital—her doctor and the social workers, her friends, everybody. That was what all the books Karla had read said: it was not her fault.
Recrimination is like a prism, bending and reshaping memory. Karla told the detectives, at length, how much Paul had abused her. She was battered. He beat her. Had they seen the pictures the other police officers had taken when Karla was hospitalized? If they had, they could easily see Karla was abused. Anything she did, Paul had made her do it.
Karla had just pretended to like him. She had not really wanted to marry him, but she felt she had to. Since Karla had moved in with her aunt and uncle in Brampton, she was just starting to have fun—for the first time in five years.
Before the police left, Calvin Seger approached Detective Whitefield. Calvin observed that Bernardo had lived in both Scarborough and St. Catharines. It appeared to him as though
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they were investigating both the Scarborough rapes and the murders in St. Catharines. Whitefield told Calvin that was a reasonable assumption.
Karla became very scared and shaky after the police left. She told Auntie Patti and Uncle Calvin that she knew exactly what the police had been getting at. Even though Karla had told the police that she did not really know, she told Calvin and Patti that Paul was definitely the Scarborough rapist. She also told them Paul had killed Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy.
Then she called the Niagara Falls residence of criminal lawyer George Walker. She knew Walker’s wife, Lori, through the animal clinic. The Walkers took their Dalmatian dogs to Martindale. Lori told Karla to come to Walker’s office at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday night, Jim Hutton asked Karla Homolka if she wanted to come over for pizza. He picked her up at the Segers’ and took her back to his apartment. They had pizza, they watched hockey on TV and then they made love.
Karla told Jim she was married and that she had left her husband at the beginning of January. It was a terrible marriage, she said. Jim saw a few bruises, but he steered clear of discussing it. Jim Hutton was not looking for a lasting relationship; he just wanted to get laid.
At 10:15 P.M., Jim dropped Karla off at her aunt’s and went to play hockey. He thought Karla was a very sweet, young girl. Jim looked a lot like Paul Bernardo and he drove a late model Nissan 240SX. Karla marveled at the coincidence.
Detective Metcalfe felt the interview with Karla had gone very well. Karla was cooperative, even talkative, going on about her Rottweiler dog. Buddy, and her daily work routine at the animal clinic and how she missed everything.
While they were fingerprinting Karla in the kitchen, her Aunt Patti watched with interest. Initially, the fingerprinting seemed to overly concern Karla. Since Karla had never been
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fingerprinted before, it was not surprising that she was apprehensive and wanted to know why. By the time they were finished, Detective Metcalfe felt that she had gained Karla’s confidence.
When Karla called Detective Metcalfe the following morning and told her that she wanted to take Mary Lee up on her offer to drive Karla any^^‘here she wanted to go, Detective Metcalfe knew she had estabhshed a bond. Karla told Mary Lee that she felt very comfortable talking to her, that Mary Lee had made her feel very relaxed during the interview Tuesday night. Karla wanted to talk to her and Detective Whitefield some more, she said.
Karla had an appointment in Niagara Falls at three o’clock in the afternoon on February 11. She told Mary Lee she did not want her parents to know about this appointment and asked her to keep it a secret from them. When Mary Lee asked about the appointment, and Karla admitted it was with a lawyer.
Mary Lee wondered if she and Detective Whitefield should come by a little early and talk for a while, but Karla said no. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to get there, so they should come by to get her around 1:30 or 1:45.
Karla g
ot in the rear passenger seat. Detective Whitefield drove. Mar>’ Lee leaned against the door and turned partway around so that they could talk. Whitefield was a personable Scot—tall and balding, but it was Metcalfe with whom Karla identified. She had lovely brown hair—“big hair,” as they say in St. Catharines—and she smelled as fresh as a bar of soap.
They went south on Highway 10 to the Queen Elizabeth Way and into the Niagara Region. They talked about driving. Karla liked to drive. She had not driven for the longest time, because Paul’s car was a standard and he would not teach her how to drive standard.
Karla described her job, how she performed minor surgeries such as clipping swans’ wings, amputating puppy dogs’ tails and anesthetizing animals. Detective Whitefield told an amusing anecdote about his pet budgie and they all laughed.
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Karla went on and on about the different breeds of dogs. She talked about how people should never trust German shepherds. Karla had studied the Rottweiler bloodlines before she got Buddy. The breeder was very important.
“Guess what?” Karla declared. She had met a guy. It felt so good to get back to a normal hfe. She really enjoyed being with this fellow. They had watched a hockey game and had pizza at his house. He was presently up on an impaired-driving charge, but he was going to fight it in court.
She told the detectives that she was quite ill and was taking antibiotics for an infection. She said that the lawyer they were taking her to see was well known to her before, that she had helped the lav^er’s wife get a Dalmatian puppy—for free— from the cUnic where she worked. The dog had been born deaf; that’s why it was free. She told them how much her dog had cost. They talked about dog toothpaste.
As they passed the exits for St. Catharines, Karla said she detested the city. It was a stupid place with no nightUfe. Anyway, she and Paul never went out much after they got married. They just stayed home and watched videos.