Enthusiasts of true crime have confessed to experiencing ‘vivid nightmares’ following a marathon viewing of a ‘haunting’ documentary series that delves into the depths of ‘human depravity.’

This spine-chilling four-part series, originally released in 2021, provides an in-depth examination of two infamous Canadian murderers who concealed their gruesome acts beneath a veneer of glamour.

Entitled Ken and Barbie Killers: The Lost Murder Tapes, the series enthralled viewers upon its debut, though some true crime aficionados are only now encountering it for the first time on HBO Max.

The ‘young and attractive’ duo, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, abducted, sexually abused, and murdered three young women—including Karla’s own sister—making their case one of the most ‘notorious and malevolent’ in Canadian history.

After their arrest, Karla alleged that she was coerced into participating in the heinous crimes by Paul, claiming victimhood in his manipulative schemes.

Nevertheless, law enforcement later uncovered a collection of videotapes recorded during the crimes, painting a starkly different picture of the events.

Series exposes chilling crimes of infamous couple

The case, and Karla’s sentencing, swept the nation and beyond, becoming one of the most controversial rulings Canada has ever seen. 

It began in late 1987 and early 1988, when over a 13-month period, 11 different women across were attacked by Paul, who had become known as the Scarborough [Sexual Abuser].

Karla soon started to learn about her fiancé’s [violent] sexual deviations, and according to the documentary, two days before Christmas in 1990, agreed to help him drug her then-15-year-old sister, Tammy, so that he could have [sexual intercourse] with her.

Tammy tragically passed away after being drugged by the pair, sparking a wave of further sexual offences and murders of young women Paul held captive. 

The documentary synopsis teases that the action follows how ‘the glamorous couple became Canada’s most notorious killers’, with legal experts, family and friends sharing their accounts of their horrifying crimes.

Since tuning in, fans have flooded social media dubbing it the perfect watch for fans of the genre, with one penning on IMDb: ‘A disturbing yet compelling documentary that exposes the depths of human evil… chilling and heartbreaking documentary.’

Another chimed in: ‘This was hard to watch, hearing about how messed up and psychotic these killers are. The documentary was well done, wasn’t confusing and very informative. 4 episodes was a good amount too, not too much.’

A third said: ‘I binge watched the first 3 episodes, went to bed and had intense nightmares, and then got up and watched the last episode.’

While over on TikTok, another true crime fan agreed: ‘Trigger warning this true crime documentary is shocking… honestly, you’ll be shocked when you watch it.’

Someone else wrote: ‘I honestly couldn’t believe what I watched, honestly all these true crime documentaries I’ve seen so far are so eerie and disturbing.’

And fans over on Rotten Tomatoes agreed, with one sharing: ‘Outstanding doc series. It’s the definitive account of perhaps the most infamous murder case in Canadian history.’

Karla, originally from St. Catharines, Ontario, was just 17 years old and Paul, from the Scarborough area of Toronto, was 23, when the pair met. 

Paul, who was a University of Toronto student at the time, studying to be an accountant, saw her at her hotel restaurant and felt ‘love at first sight.’

‘There was electricity in the air, it was love at first sight,’ Alan Cairns, author of Deadly Innocence, a book about the murders, reveals in the documentary. 

‘They called it a match made in heaven, but it was clearly a match made in hell.’

The two quickly fell in love – but while their romance was blossoming, Paul, who had been reported as a teenager for watching female neighbours through their windows, was secretly attacking women across southern Ontario. 

‘He seemed normal’: experts expose psychopathic traits

‘He seemed so normal. This is common in psychopathic personalities, they are often very charming,’ Frank Davey, author of Karla’s Web explains in the documentary.

During his high school years, he had several girlfriends who all later accused him of becoming ‘abusive’, with Alan explaining he would become ‘fixated on violence’.

Paul later had his DNA collected in conjunction with the crimes of the Scarborough Rapist, but it would take two more years for them to get the results back, after the sample mysteriously disappeared.

During this time, Paul and Karla were engaged, and Karla was soon helping her husband-to-be commit his crimes against teenage girls. 

Not long after her own sister Tammy, then 15, was killed as part of their web of crimes, just days before their wedding, Paul woke Karla up in the middle of the night with a present – a young girl he had kidnapped.

Paul had taken 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy from the backyard of her home in Burlington, Canada, and had planned to keep her as his [sexual intercourse] slave.

Pictured: Leslie Mahaffy.

He, with with Karla’s knowledge, held her captive for hours, repeatedly assaulting her and recording the attacks on video – but less than 24 hours later, she was strangled to death.

On April 16, 1991, the newlyweds abducted 15-year-old Kristen French while she was walking home from school. 

According to eyewitnesses, Karla asked the teen to come over to their car because they needed help with directions, when suddenly, Paul grabbed her and forced her into the vehicle. 

The couple kept Kristen in their home for days while recording the assaults, before they eventually killed her. Her body was discovered in a ditch days later. 

According to people who knew them, the couple had an ‘intense obsession’ with each other, which played out as part of their crimes. 

‘It was a very destructive relationship. They fed into one another, and encouraged and supported one another in doing things that were unspeakable,’ Dr. Fred Berlin, a sexual disorder specialist at Johns Hopkins University, says in the documentary.

‘They were attractive, intelligent, in love. The idea that these were the bad guys and that they were capable of doing anything so vile is something that’s hard for us to comprehend.’

Alan added: ‘The interest in this case was not sparked by the brutality of the murders. It was the disbelief that such an attractive man and beautiful young girl could team up and be involved in something so bad.’

Pictured: Kristen French.

Killer couple case takes turn as Karla turns on Paul

In January of 1993, Karla decided to leave Paul after he allegedly beat her with a flashlight, leaving her with two black eyes and a broken rib. 

Around the same time, Paul’s DNA sample – which had been collected two years earlier while police were investigating the Scarborough [Sexual Abuser] – was finally processed.

The police soon started to link all the crimes together, and they brought Karla in for questioning, in the hopes that she’d turn on her ex-lover. 

She claimed that Paul had made her participate in the gruesome killings against her will and agreed to testify against him in exchange for a reduced sentence for herself.

Karla was convicted on two counts of manslaughter and received a 12-year sentence, and filed for divorce from Paul. 

Tapes expose Karla’s deeper role

However, it wasn’t until after she had been sentenced that police found video tapes the couple had taken while committing the crimes, which showed her not only helping Paul in his acts, but also participating in some of them herself.

Paul was arrested on February 17, 1993 and charged with nine different counts, including kidnapping, unlawful confinement, unlawful aggravated assault, and murder. 

His trial began two years later, and Karla was the prosecutor’s key witness. She took to the stand where she branded him as the mastermind behind the whole thing.

On September 1, 1995, Paul was found guilty of all nine charges, and was sentenced to life in prison while, after serving 12 years behind bars, Karla was released on July 5, 2005.

Paul remains in prison and was denied parole for the third time in 2024.

Ken and Barbie Killers: The Lost Murder Tapes is available to stream on HBO Max