Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka

Curiouser and Curiouser

Recent news about Karla has an Alice and Wonderland quality. First a hardware store manager gave Karla Homolka a job. Shortly afterwards, he secretly tape records her and gives the tapes to police. The tapes allegedly confirm Karla's violation of her release restrictions. The hardware story manager has issues of his own — his wife has recently charged him with sexual assault and he has a criminal record. Karla gets a call from a Quebec justice minister who interviews her on the hardware store manager's allegations. Suddenly during the interview, she finds out she has been duped by two radio talk show hosts. Karla quits her job, runs from her apartment and finds a new safe house.

The Karla Homolka Media Circus is back in town after a very short hiatus.

About the third week in August, 2005, Karla had been discovered living in run-down apartment provided by a benefactor and working as a clerk in a Rona, Inc. hardware store in the Longueuil district, a Montreal suburb. Some of the discovery mania was fueled by the media and some was fuel by genuine concern about having a notorious serial killer and child molester in one's neighborhood. Once the media knew where she worked, they followed her and secretly photographed her with her dog.

It appears as though Karla genuinely wanted to live and work discreetly: she dyed her hair, wore large sunglasses and avoided places where she would be recognized. Her puppy helped focus attention away from her onto her pet. It is not clear at this time how she spent her free time. In the vacuum about what Karla really did and thought, her boss, the hardware store manager, has dominated the media with his allegations about illegal activities and strange behavior. Before one swallows his allegations whole, it is useful to understand that his behavior is unusual and his motives unclear.