An Ontario woman says she has plans to marry convicted schoolgirl killer and rapist Paul Bernardo, according to a media report.
A Toronto Sun report, published Thursday, quotes an unnamed 30-year-old woman from London, Ont., who says she has been corresponding with Bernardo since last fall. CTV News has not been able to verify the report.
The woman has reportedly told her friends that Bernardo, who remains in prison, is innocent and was a "bystander" in the rapes and killings of schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. She also told The Sun that she has wedding bands, and has gotten a recent tattoo that says "Paul's girl" on her ankle.
"He is a kind man, a Christian, a very nice man," she told the Sun.
The woman's family told the paper that they have been trying to dissuade their daughter from marrying Bernardo, and that she is now reconsidering her decision. They said she started writing to Bernardo for "research" for a book she was writing.
The family said their daughter is convinced Bernardo is innocent and is looking for "someone who will love her unconditionally." They describe her as "brilliant but psychologically and emotionally fragile."
Bernardo turned down an interview request from The Sun, the paper said.
Bernardo, now 50, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years in 1995 for the murders of French and Mahaffy. He was also convicted of two aggravated sexual assaults, and was declared a dangerous offender. He later confessed to sexually assaulting at least 10 other women, according to a 2006 report from the Toronto Star.
Karla Homolka, Bernardo's ex-wife, struck a deal with prosecutors in 1993 to serve 12 years in prison for manslaughter for her role in the crimes. She was released in 2005, and in 2012 a journalist discovered that she was living in the Caribbean, under a new name, with a new husband and three young children.
