Paul Bernardo: Canadian Serial Killer and Rapist

Kristen French

On April 16, 1992, the couple went out to find another victim. Near the Holy Cross Secondary School, they found Kristen French.

As Homolka asked Kristen for directions, Bernardo approached the 15-year-old from behind, with a knife. They forced her into the front seat of the car. From the back seat, Homolka held Kristen by the hair.

It was Easter weekend. Over the next three days, Homolka and Bernardo videotaped themselves as they tortured, raped and sodomized Kristen. They forced alcohol down her throat, told her to call Bernardo “master”, and beat her viciously.

Kristen died of asphyxiation. At the trials, Homolka would say that Bernardo strangled Kristen for seven minutes. Bernardo would say that Kristen had a noose around her neck, and choked when Homolka beat her with a rubber mallet.

After Kristen died, Paul and Karla had Easter Sunday dinner with Karla’s parents.

Kristen’s naked body was found in a ditch in Burlington, on April 30, 1992. Her corpse had been washed, and her hair cut off.

Other Reports

Bernardo kept busy. On April 6, 1991, he raped a 14-year-old girl. The girl described a blonde woman, who waved from a car and distracted her, allowing Bernardo to drag her into the bushes.

About two weeks before Kristen’s abduction, Bernardo stalked two sisters in St. Catharine’s. The girls noted his license plate as he followed and videotaped them from his car, but they made a mistake, and police were unable to follow up.

On April 18, leaving Karla to guard Kristen French, Bernardo left the house to buy dinner and rent a movie. One of the sisters spotted him. She took a better look at his license plate, and called police. Authorities didn’t pursue the case.

Bernardo stalked 21-year-old Sydney Kershen in July and August, 1991. The second time, her boyfriend chased him, and noted his license number. The pair called police, who discovered that the car belonged to Paul Kenneth Bernardo. Although an officer went to Bernardo’s house and saw the car, he made no official report.

Later searches of the Bernardo house would turn up a press clipping of a violent rape in Hawaii. The couple had spent their honeymoon in Hawaii. Authorities suspected them, but didn’t process the case, due to extradition problems.

The Lead-Up

In May, 1992, a long-time acquaintance of Bernardo tipped off the police. Van Smirnis told a friend, an OPP officer, that Bernardo might be involved in the Kristen French murder. Bernardo had confided a previous rape to Smirnis. Officers interviewed Bernardo, but decided he was not a likely suspect.