Finding Karla

How I Tracked Down an Elusive Serial Child Killer and Discovered a Mother of Three

In the early 1990s, Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo became known around the world as the “Ken and Barbie Killers” after the young lovers were convicted of crimes related to the rape and murder of two teenage girls. Homolka later struck a deal with prosecutors to serve twelve years in prison for manslaughter. 

When she was released from prison in 2005, Homolka lived briefly in Montreal, where she was hounded by the press. By 2007, she had disappeared. Some said Homolka had changed her name and left Canada for Haiti, France, or the Czech Republic. Others said she was living in the Bahamas with a bisexual porn actor named Luka Magnotta. 

In the spring of 2012, investigative journalist Paula Todd embarked on a mission to find Homolka, knowing that other reporters around the country were doing the same. But Todd was certain she’d found where Canada’s most notorious female serial killer was hiding, trying to make a new life for herself. What she discovered was both unexpected and incredible – the woman who had killed three children now had three of her own.