Canadian Killer, Convicted in Deaths of 3 Teen Girls, Has Volunteered at Elementary School: Reports

Karla Homolka, who is one of Canada's most notorious killers, has volunteered at her children's private elementary school in Montreal

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Karla Homolka, who is one of Canada’s most notorious killers, has volunteered at her children’s private elementary school in Montreal, according to multiple news reports.

On one occasion, Homolka was asked to come into the classroom at Greaves Adventist Academy “to show the students something related to knitting,” CTV News reported on Wednesday.

She also went on a field trip with students, along with their adult supervisors, and once brought in a dog for show-and-tell, according to CTV and the Montreal Gazette.

“How would you feel knowing that your child is interacting with a person who is a serial killer?” one parent told CityNews in a Tuesday story. “It’s not right.”

The field trip Homolka attended was in late March, CityNews reports.

However, a school spokesman told CityNews that Homolka was not a “regular volunteer, and can never be alone with any children, either in school or churches.”

“The school board was fully aware of who she is,” the spokesman said.

In a plea deal in 1993, Homolka spent 12 years in prison for manslaughter in connection with the kidnapping, rape and murder of two teenage girls. In exchange, she testified against her then-husband, Paul Bernardo, who was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Kristen French, 15, and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy.

Homolka was also convicted in the death of her 15-year-old sister, Tammy, acccording to the New York Times. The teen choked to death on her own vomit at a 1990 Christmas Eve party after Homolka and Bernardo sexually assaulted her as Homolka held a drug-soaked cloth over her mouth.

He remains in prison on a life sentence. She was released in 2005 and married the brother of her attorney, with whom she has multiple kids, according to reports.

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KARLA HOMOLKA
CP/Frank Gunn/AP

Many in Canada were outraged at Homolka’s light prison sentence — especially after homemade videotapes surfaced following her plea that showed her role in the teens’ gruesome sexual assaults and killings, according to the Times.

As reports surfaced this week of her involvement with the elementary school, Homolka was seen dropping off her children there, according to the National Post. But she reportedly declined to speak.

“It is protocol for all of our schools across Canada, and most of the world, to do background checks, not only on teachers, but [also] volunteers as well as clergy,” the Greaves spokesman told CityNews.

“As I said, she is not a regular volunteer. Rarely would she have cause to go into the school, and when she is, she is never alone.”

BERNARDO
CP/Toronto Sun/Greig Reekie/AP

Greaves officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE.

In a statement on Tuesday, they said in part, “The Quebec Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the administration of Greaves Adventist Academy are committed to providing quality education and enriching learning experiences to its students. While we work through the concerns stated by parents and other stakeholders, we welcome those associated with the school to contact the Quebec Conference office of Education.”

A lawyer for the families of two of Homolka’s victims told the Toronto Starthat her apparently normal life was a “kick in the gut” for them.

“I think she’s dangerous and I certainly wouldn’t take the chance with my kids to be around her,” he said.

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