This documentary covers two cases; the first is the shocking story of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, the notorious Ken and Barbie killers. Bernardo was a natural born sadist, while the stunningly attractive blonde Karla Homolka was all any man could desire in a woman. By all accounts it was an intense relationship, and the sex was good, but by the time they met, Bernardo was already on the road to damnation.
Alas, Karla was not simply a homely girl in search of a husband, she was, or became, a willing partner in rape and murder. Twisted though that may be, what sort of woman offers her lover her own sister, then marries him after he has raped her, a rape that is videoed while the girl is unconscious? There is worse to come, but that is more than enough here.
Tammy Homolka died as a result of her ordeal, but the authorities failed to conduct a proper investigation and autopsy,which resulted in her death being put down to excessive use of alcohol. Shortly, Homolka moved in with Bernardo, then he kidnapped a teenage girl who was raped repeatedly and murdered. The victim was dismembered and her body disposed off. A fortnight later, the killer couple married.
After returning from their honeymoon, they kidnapped another teenage girl, raped and tortured her over three days, then murdered her. For whatever reason, the two turned on each other, Bernardo beat Karla, and she moved out. Then, Bernardo having been identified as the "Scarborough Rapist", Karla was approached as a potential key witness.
It was only after she had secured a deal to testify against her estranged husband that the full truth about her role in his crimes came out, but by the time the tapes were found, it was too late. She received a 12 year sentence for manslaughter, and after serving it left her native Canada for a new life in the Caribbean, having found a new husband. Bernardo will likely die in prison.
The second case covered here is far less notorious, that of spoilt rich kid Gerald Carnahan of Nixa, Missouri, who murdered a young woman with whom he had become infatuated. Jackie Johns was raped and beaten to death. This was 1985, the year before DNA profiling was introduced, and although the prime suspect, the case against him was deemed insufficient, but two decades on he was convicted after the forensic evidence was retested in the light of advances in the technology, a familiar theme throughout the first decade of the 21st Century.
Both the above include reconstructions, but nothing too lurid. It remains to be seen why Carnahan should be considered any sort of doll, killer or otherwise.