One in Pair of Canada Killers Freed

Canada’s most notorious female inmate was secretly spirited from prison Monday after serving 12 years for the rape, torture and killing of three teenage girls, including her younger sister.

Karla Homolka, 35, received the relatively light sentence in return for her testimony against her former husband, Paul Bernardo, now serving a life term. Homolka told the court and psychiatrists that she was a battered wife who took part in the rapes and killings to protect herself and her family.

Months after prosecutors negotiated the deal, however, Bernardo’s attorneys handed over videotapes made by the couple that indicated Homolka had been a willing participant in the crimes.

“I don’t want to be hunted down,” Homolka told RDI, the CBC’s French-language news network, after her release. “I don’t want people to think I am dangerous and I’m going to do something to their children.”

Homolka became a symbol of evil in Canada in 1993 when she was convicted of manslaughter for her role in the kidnapping, rape, sexual torture and killing of Ontario teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy.

She was also convicted in the 1990 death of her 15-year-old sister, Tammy.