Leslie Mahaffy
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Leslie Erin Mahaffy (July 1, 1976 – June 16, 1991) was a young female resident of Burlington, Ontario, Canada who was murdered by serial killers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka.[1]
At the time of her abduction and subsequent murder in mid-June of 1991, she was a Grade 9 student at M. M. Robinson High School in Burlington, Ontario. She had openly rebelled against her parents during the school year and had skipped school and run away from home on at least two occasions; her academic standing had suffered as a result. She is also said to have shoplifted and repeatedly stayed out past her curfew.
On the evening of June 14, 1991, Mahaffy went to a funeral home and later attended a wake for her friend Chris Evans, who had died in a car accident earlier that week. Upon going home that night to discover being locked out by her parents, she spotted Bernardo, who was breaking into an adjacent home. They started a conversation, during which Mahaffy got into his car. He then abducted her at knifepoint.
The Mahaffy family did not report her missing because she had run away in the past, but they suspected something was wrong when she didn't contact her mother on her birthday. Investigators later revealed to the Mahaffys that their daughter's body was found dismembered and encased in cement on June 29, 1991 in Lake Gibson near St. Catharines, Ontario. Investigators believed she had been raped and tortured.
This was confirmed when videotapes were discovered in the home of Bernardo and Homolka. The tapes show that she was held hostage for approximately 24 hours and repeatedly assaulted and sodomized. After the trial, the tapes were all destroyed by police.
Her disappearance was part of a perceived series of disappearances of Ontario schoolgirls (Kristen French was also a victim of Bernardo and Homolka). This was widely covered in Canadian media and remains one of the most well-known criminal cases in Canadian history.
[edit] Bernardo's statements
Several days before Homolka's release from prison, Bernardo was interviewed by police and his lawyer, Tony Bryant. Bryant was subsequently interviewed by the media, providing Bernardo's thoughts about the release. According to Bryant, Bernardo claimed that he had always intended to free the girls he and Homolka had held captive. However since Leslie Mahaffy's blindfold, which had been placed on her fell off, resulting in her seeing Bernardo's face, made Homolka concerned that Mahaffy may have recognized Bernardo, and hence Homolka herself. Further, Bernardo claimed that Homolka's plan was to murder Mahaffy by injecting an air bubble into her bloodstream, eventually causing an embolism.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Jenish, D Arcy. "Horror stories", Maclean's Magazine Vol.108, Iss. 22, Rogers Publishing Limited, 1995-05-29, pp. 14 – 18. Retrieved on 2006-12-12.
