Kristen French
Kristen Dawn French (May 10, 1976 – April 19, 1992) was a Canadian school girl and murder victim of Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo.
She was interred at Pleasantview Memorial Gardens, Niagara Regional Municipality, Ontario, Canada.
Biography
French was a member of the precision ice skating team which won several medals, and a member of the girls rowing team at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School.
Abduction and murder
On 16 April 1992, as she walked home from Holy Cross Secondary School, a Catholic school in St. Catharines, French was approached at the entrance of the Grace Lutheran Church parking lot by Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo under the pretense of needing directions. While French assisted Homolka with directions, Bernardo attacked her from behind and forced her into the car at knife point. The kidnapping was seen by several eyewitnesses.
She was held in captivity for three days, during which Bernardo and Homolka videotaped themselves torturing and subjecting the 15-year-old to sexual humiliation and degradation while forcing her to drink large amounts of alcohol. They murdered her on 19 April 1992. Her naked body was found in a ditch along No. 1 Sideroad in north Burlington on 30 April 1992, approximately one kilometre from the gravesite of Leslie Mahaffy, another of Bernardo and Homolka's murder victims.
