The Six Degrees of Karla Homolka

by Pamela Stewart

There is a theory that has been posited on the Internet for over a decade called Caesar’s Last Breath. The Fermi question sets out to prove that everyone on earth has inhaled a molecule of air from Julius Caesar’s last breath. Apparently this concept can be applied to any other person – good or evil.

I don’t understand math, but dozens of websites claim to prove this theory. If it is true, it means all of us have also breathed in a molecule of air that came from that dark and bitter place that is Karla Homolka, or her ex-husband, Paul Bernardo.

Your body is probably full of molecules that were touched by evil, but that also means that your soul has been touched by the atomic clusters that were a part of the victims. Maybe that is why we are so interested in the people who commit these horrible acts. And yet, when we have the misfortune of being in much closer contact with someone like Karla, or Paul Bernardo, our radar doesn’t go off.

Perhaps it’s because we have dumbed down the instincts all animals have to recognize a predator. It could also be that many of us are too trusting, or we don’t look for what is lurking behind those blank eyes. Karla and Paul seemed like your average suburban couple. They don’t appear to be people who would contribute anything of value for those of us who like stimulating discussions. That is one reason why they were able to do what they did. We ignored them because they were boring.

A former colleague of mine used to be a teller at a Royal Bank in Scarborough. When the police sketch of the Scarborough Rapist was released to the media, she called police and told them that it looked like her regular customer – Paul Bernardo. Here is a copy of the police report:

METROPOLITAN TORONTO POLICE SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT

Date of this Report

27 Jun 1990 1300

Info from: Ms M… Royal Bank, Ellesmere Road & Neilson Road

The above party called S/Insp. J. Wolfe at the S.A.S. office and gave the following info.

One Paul BERNARDO 21 Sir Raymond Drive West Hill DOB 27 Aug 64 is a dead ringer for the photo in the papers of the Scarb. Rapist.

The caller also reports that he had not been seen at the Bank since the last rape until June 27/90. When seen on June 27/90 he had changed his hair style, the caller also reported that this party was a student at the Scarbor. Campus of the U. of T. and that he looks about 21/2 yrs. old.

P.C. Buchanan #1897

That woman provided information that could have prevented the murders of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. Like many tips the police get in a busy active investigation, it wasn’t followed up. An investigation review report by Justice Archie Campbell outlined the inadequacies in the case management that led to this tip being overlooked:

The various police agencies, scattered through the different investigations, had more than enough information to make Bernardo a first rate suspect if all the information was put together systematically in a form that was recognizable and accessible to the investigators. But there was no such system in place and Bernardo continued to slip through the police net. Together in one place and followed up, (the McNiff report, the Royal Bank Tip, the Madden report, the stalking incidents, the Haney tip, the I.L. tip) and the lack of common computerized case management computer software to ensure that separate investigations into the same suspect can share information effectively (c.f. the ineffective communication between Metro and GRT in May of 1992 about the status of the Toronto investigation), and the lack of a unified command structure to co–ordinate parallel investigations into the same suspect.

A close friend of mine knows someone who dated Karla for about six months when they were teenagers. She asked him if he noticed anything strange about her. He said she seemed like a normal girl. They just kind of drifted apart. Teenage boys aren’t really known for being intuitive, but I wonder if the animals she held at the veterinarian’s office she worked at recognized the darkness in her.

My friend also knows someone who was a neighbor of the Mahaffy family. He told her about the destruction of that family caused by their pain. Their lives have been ruined by the guilt they have to live with for locking their 15-year-old daughter out of the house the night she was kidnapped by the evil duo.

Another friend of mine told me about a woman he knows who worked on the case and it destroyed her career. She was never the same after she viewed the evidence, but how could you be?

I met Kristen’s mother, Donna French, when I was a volunteer with a Toronto area Rape Crisis Centre. She gave a speech at one of our events. There hadn’t been a long passage of time since the death of her daughter.

It was heartbreaking looking into the eyes of this woman and wondering how anyone could survive something so horrific. I remember that Donna was a very warm and compassionate woman. Even though the event took place outside, when she spoke it was as if all extraneous sound ceased. The birds stopped singing, the sound of cars passing by was muted. The only voice that could be heard was Donna’s and that was as it should be. We were all crying, but Donna French had probably cried herself out of a lifetime of tears. She was comforting us! Like many people who have lost someone to a senseless act, Donna turned her sorrow into something positive. I don’t know how that is possible.

In her victim impact statement at Bernardo’s sentencing, Donna said this:

“Only a parent who has lost a child through an act of violence could possibly understand the pain. It’s as though the hand of evil has reached in and ripped away a part of your heart and you’re left with this huge, gaping hole that throbs, and aches, and refuses to heal.”

Karla Homolka AKA Leanne or Emily Bordelais helped kill three children. Now she has three of her own. Those children have her DNA. If the theory I mentioned at the beginning of this article is true, the spirit and physical molecules of Kristen and Leslie and Tammy inform their souls. We often want someone to pay for their crimes by suffering the same fate as their victims. For her children’s sake, I hope Homolka never has to experience the kind of pain she caused to others.

Click here for Pamela Stewart’s previous posts:

Dellen Millard: He’ll Be Flying Solo to the Big House

Calling Rob Ford: Where’s the Humor in Mayoral Malfeasance?

Pamela Stewart is a freelance writer and former private investigator. She lives north of Toronto in Jackson’s Point. This lakeside town is the kind of place where people don’t lock their doors. It’s a safe space for Pamela to explore the dark side of life in her fiction and nonfiction. She also writes about more pleasant things when the sun is shining.