Serial killer who murdered and raped teenage girls now volunteers at her children's school
A Canadian woman who was convicted over the rape and murder of three teenage girls in the 1990s has been spending time volunteering at the school her children now attend, it has emerged.
Karla Homolka, 47, was jailed for manslaughter over her role in torturing, raping and killing schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy - as well as her own 15-year-old sister Taffy - with her then-husband Paul Bernardo in 1993.
Parents at Greaves Adventist Academy, a private Christian school in Montreal, noticed Holmolka dropping off and picking up her children at the premises, but were alarmed to find out she had been spending time in classrooms, local media reported.
The school confirmed that Holmolka was asked to come into school by a teacher for a show-and-tell class for something related to knitting, and on another she bought in a dog. She also once volunteered to supervise nursery-school age on a school trip to the Montreal Science Centre.
“We don’t want here here,” one parent told City News. “How would you feel knowing that your child is interacting with a person who is a serial killer? It’s not right.”
The school board knew of Holmolka’s past as all volunteers undergo criminal background checks, a statement said. She was never alone with students, the school stressed, and was not a regular volunteer.
“The Quebec Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the administration of Greaves Adventist Academy are committed to providing quality education and enriching learning experiences to its students,” the statement read. “While we work through the concerns stated by parents and other stakeholders, we welcome those associated with the school to contact the Quebec Conference office of Education.”
“The school board was fully aware of who she is. She is not a regular volunteer, and can never be alone with any children, either in school or churches,” Seventh-day Adventist Church spokesperson Stan Jensen said.
Holmolka pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges to have her sentence reduced by 12 years. She split from Bernardo while in prison and was released in 2005, after which she married her lawyer’s brother, and had a baby boy. The couple moved to The Antilles in the Caribbean, where they had two more children, to avoid media scrutiny. It is believed the family moved back to Canada in 2016.
Her ex-husband Bernardo remains in prison, although he has a parole hearing scheduled for later this year.
“It’s like getting a kick in the gut, when you realise she has all of these freedoms and she participated with Paul Bernardo in the brutal murder of their daughters,” Tim Danson, a lawyer representing Ms French and Ms Mahaffy’s families, told CTV News.
