The Scarborough Rapist

In May of 1987, a young woman was raped in Scarborough, Ontario. This was the first in a series of rapes which the media would begin referring to as “The Scarborough Rapist” (Sellers). The rapist was, in fact, Paul Bernardo, then 23 years old. He would eventually admit to fourteen rapes; he was associated in as many as 50 (Sellers). Five months later Bernardo met Karla Homolka, then 17, in a hotel restaurant in Scarborough. Prior to meeting Bernardo, Homolka had shown no signs of criminal or irregular behavior (Sellers). She quickly fell in love with Bernardo and the two became a couple. There is no suggestion that Homolka was aware of Bernardo’s was the Scarborough Rapist. The two did, however, participated in aggressive sexual play, with Bernardo showing great interest in having sex with a virgin something Karla Homolka could not provide. Karla’s younger sister Tammy, then 15, became a target of Paul’s attentions and Karla, demonstrating her willingness to “do anything” for Paul, participated in planning a strategy in which the two would drug Tammy and, while she was asleep, rape her (Sellers). The couple first tried to implement the plan in July 1990, giving Tammy a spaghetti dinner laced with Valium but Tammy woke up shortly after the rape began and the couple had to abandon their plan (Sellers). On December 23 of that same year, Bernardo and Homolka drugged Tammy Homolka using the animal tranquilizer halothane which Karla had stolen from her job (Sellers). With Karla videotaping, Paul raped Tammy in the family room of the Homolka house; however during the rape Tammy choked on her own vomit and died. Karla and Paul successfully covered up the evidence and Tammy’s death was ruled accidental (Sellers). Homolka and Bernardo would then go on to trick rape and release a young fifteen year old girl, in June of 1991 Bernardo kidnapped 14 year old Leslie Mahaffey (Sellers). With Homolka, he raped and murdered her, disposing of the body in concrete. Next in