Canada awaits Karla Homolka's Release from Prison

July 3, 2005

Karla Homolka has transfixed Canada since she helped her husband drug, rape, torture, videotape and kill two teenage girls and cause the death of her own sister. Homolka, 35, will be released sometime before Tuesday after serving the full sentence of 12 years in prison for manslaughter. According to press accounts of her childhood, Homolka was just 17, a bright 11th-grader, when she met Paul Bernardo, 23, a charming and handsome man, in 1987. Bernardo would ultimately be found by police to be a serial rapist, with sometime assistance from Homolka. Homolka struck a bargain with prosecutors to plead guilty to two counts of manslaughter and testify against her husband, and fears she will be the target of vigilantes angry about what many Canadians consider the "deal with the devil" that's to blame for her imminent release.