Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
Estate may 2005 , the Queen and prince phillip in Canada,in command of their flight an officer on his way up in the Canadian forces , lieutenant colonel russell williams rising through the ranks if not a household name .
arrested russell williams 46 of tweed for first degree murder.
Russel Williams would not be on this past summer’s royal visit.once the model of a military man is now accused of a bizzare and violent crime spree.
two counts of first degree murder .
two brutal sexual assaults
82 break ente and theft related charges.
Russell williams seemed the embodiment of the military ideals of duty and honor.
pilot for prime ministers and royalty commander of the secret Canadian base in the Persian Gulf and in 2009.appointed commanding of Canada’s biggest most important
Air Force Base in Trenton ,Ontario.
Russel williams fall from grace is a frightening reminder of the unpredictability of human behavior
It started under the radar , under cover of darkness with a mysterious person stalking the Ottawa suburb of Orleans. and a series of break- ins like the one that took place in january 2009.
a family returned home from a trip to toronto.as their teenage girl unpacked she notice something strange.
all her underwaear were gone out of herdrawer
brenda constantine and her husband brian rogers wouldn’t laugh for long when their daughter discovered what else was missing.
there were dresses gone ,there were shoes gone , all her bathing suits,photographs of herslef had gone.
someone had gone through their family albums ,selecting pictures of their 15 -year old daughter.
and police found even more disturbing.
they took some DNA evidence from the daughther’s bedroom ,from her bureau where the underwear draw around that area.
for brenda and brian the crime was both bizarre and terifying,someone was targeted their 15 ,year old.
Orleans Ontario is a bedroom community for the nation’s capital,home to many members of the military and their families.
at the time they included russell williams and his wife.
On the fast track in the forces lieutenant colonel williams had been commander of canada’s air transport squadron a key job at a time of war.
during 2008 and 2009 there were 34 similar break-ins and attempted break -ins in the area resulting in the theft of hundreds of intimate female garments,
all from homes not far from the house where lieutenant colonel williams lived.
Otawa police warned residents to be vigilant,they called the incidents very peculiar in nature.
the search for a suspect was on.
On at that same time another search was underway to fill the key position in canada’s air force commanding officer at CFB.
Trenton lieutenant general angus was eventually signed off on the successful candidate russell williams
When canada is at war nowhere is it more evident then the base at Trenton .
its here that soldiers take their final steps on home soil before shipping out to afghanistan and where heroes return
4,000 men and women are assigned to trenton the job of base command is a crucial one .
in a ceremony in july 2009 now colonel russell williams were sworn in as the new commanding officer.
as wing commander williams had living accommodations on the base but he also owned a cottage in tweed ontario.about an half hours drive north along highway 37
a quiet little town that was about to get a lot better known for the wrong reasons because some strange soon to become terrible things were happening not far from CFB Tranton.
Tweed Ontario population 52oo about midway between toronto and ottawa a friendly town ,especially on canada day .
the kind of place where everyone seemsto know everyone else.
colonel russell williams had owned this cottage in tweed for 5 years before he took command of the trenton air base in july 2009.
his street cozy cove lane is as it sounds an idilic lakefront location where no one locked their doors at least not then.
williams next door neighbor was lifelong resident larry jones.
jones ” pretty well every day he’d be here off and on and going and coming all hours , you never knew , cuz he’s a very busy man and he had a big job to do.”
Williams wife mary elisabeth worked in Ottawa and usually stayed at their house in Orleans. jones says the colonel was ofthen at the cottage alone.
jones:” kind of a loner because he never really had any friends there, maye twice a year he had some friends there”
one of williams vistors at cozy cove was jeff farquar
jeff: ” i remember being there when he had first bought it.i think the deal was just barely done and uh ,he called me to come out and take a look and gave me a tour of the place and he was really ecxited to have a cottage.”
they´known each other since 1982 , when the bearded 18 year old russelll williams was in his first year at the toronto’s scarborough campus ,jeff farquar was assigned as his doormate .it was a rocky start.
williams’s nickname was the drill seargent, sarge for short ,he was also the resident prankster.pulling practical jokes that involved stealth suprise and opening locked doors,he would spend hours hiding in a roomate’s closet.
a trend that caught on
Jeff farquar says his best friend shared little about his background , a child of divorce at boarding school and in college williams rarely saw his his family .
he usually spending weekends and vacations in residence ,often alone.
young russell williams
as for love life farquar remembers him having just one girlfriend in college
.then a bad breakup.
jeff says it was a tough one on him for sure.and hadn’t known him to have any girlfriends age 20 to 30.
afterwards that relationship was off limits even to his closest pal.
Jeff says it wasn´t an open subject and just like his parents divorce or whatever the situation was with his family ,jeff wasn’t going to poke in pride and pull out a scab . that ‘s not something you want to do to any of your friend .
but there was something russell williams didn´t keep to himself.though he studdy economics for four years ,he suddenly announced he wanted to join the air force.
good student graduated and right after that he said , i think i want to be a pilot.
apparently a t least in part from this , tom cruz in the hit movie top gun.
jeff was a little bit concerned because he thought that russell took it way over the top.
jeff thought that russell really lost in a fantasy world here because he had just had the recent nasty breakup “oh no ,he´s going to be a jet fighter and he´s going to win the girl back.
in the years to come williams would make his fantasy reality ,becoming one of canadas top pilots, not flying fighters,but transport planes to war zones and natural disasters. and jets carrying prime ministers and other VIPs across the country and around the world.
jodie and jeff farquar’s wedding.
through it all williams was the friend jeff farquar had known since college enthusiastic trumpet player.amateur photographer MC at his wedding .
but it was musch his pal still didn’t share , like news of his impending marriage.
russell and mary elisabeth’s wedding.
jeff says it was a complete shock ,he was excited for him but he hadn´t been dating from university days.
the´ve been now been married almost 20 years.farquar says he thought the match with mary elisabeth harman now a charity executive was a good one.
but with her in ottawa and him at the base in trenton it was often a longdistance relationship.
It was on a weekend in the fall of 2007 that a series of unusual break- ins bean to unfold in and around Tweed.
russell williams was at his cottage neighbor larry jones was at home next door.when he got a frantic call from his daughter who lived nearby.
christine opened the door to go from the garage into the house and saw this long tall figure run past out the door on the deck ,jumped over the fence and run off in the bushes.
she thought it was just one of neighborhood kids and nothing seemed to me missing.
it would be years before the police told her something different.
in fact it would be years until anyone put it together.that beginning in 2oo7 according to court documents
when russell williams as it cottage in Tweed a multitude of bizarre break-ins would follow
women’s linger’s and underwear stolen almost all in his own neighborhood,especially on cozy cove lane.
it was the same pattern as the breakings near Ottawa in Orleans ,theft sometimes so well executed they weren’t even noticed
When he took command at trenton. the demands on williams increased
now responsible for thousands of military men and women and ofthen in public eye.
but following his promotion in july 2009, according to police records ,
the frequency of the break -ins increased to. there were 1o more in his first two monts as wing command.
and all the while colonel williams performed his official duties.
golfing with hokey grteat johnny bower to raise money for military families
appering at a charity drive to send gift boxes to soldiers abroad.
cementing community relations.
inviting local officials on flight to the far north
The colonel returned from Arctic on sempember 16th 2009 and according to the police criminal avtivity in Tweeds was about to take a brutal turn.
early on september 17th, a young mother was a sleep near her 8- week old baby , she said about 1:in the mornging a male intruder invaded her house sexually assaulted her took photographs and left about 3:00 am.
that same day while police investigated the assault,colonel williams was at the base presiding over an attempt to set a guiness world record for pulling an airplane on the trenton terminal.
the next night there was another breack-in.undetected at the time , incredibly at the same house where the sexual assault had taken place.
a pattern of returning to the scene of the crime that would be repeated.
the following day at the arena in belleville colonel williams took part in the opening of the junior hokey season.
the week after that , there was a third brakin at the scene of the sexual assault the same day that williams welcomed defense minister peter mckay to CFB Trenton.
and according to the charges against williams at the end of september 2009 the pattern of criminal activity in Tweed would become even more extrerme.that final weeek of the months there were two more break-ins at a house not far from williams cottage
then there was a third breakin at that very same house.
a women was at home alone when she was suprised by a male intruder
she said he blindfolded her , tied her up, cut up her clothes,choked ,beat, sexual assaulted and photographed for 2 and 1/2 hours.
when she asked if he were going to kill her ,she says his answer ” no need for that”she told police she thought she’d heard his voice before. but couldn´t identify it.
because both sexual assault victims are subjetec to a bulication ban.
we won´t reveal their names.
According to larry jones ,the day after the second sexual assault the ontario provincial blanketed cozy cove lane.
they knocked on the door.
when they got to russel williams door there was no answer., the officer moved on. to the jones house.
jones:” he said who lives next door , i said russ williams.comandor officer for CFB trenton , he says , well i guess no sense looking at that guy then.just like that.
and the word in Tweed was that the two sexual assaults must have been done by one person.
and before long the police apparently thought they had their man.
a resident of Tweed.in fact of cozy cove lane. russel williams nextdoor neighbor larry jones came home 0ne day. to find his house over run.
by the OPP SWAT team.
remember , the second sexual assault victim thought she recognized the voice of her attacker,for some reason she guessed it was the voice of larry jones
jones says it took a 3 and 1 half hour interrogation fingerprints DNA a more than 3 -hour polygraph exam and weeks of follow up before police finally told him he wasn’t their man.
but by then for many people in tweed it was to late.
jones:” well, after i was taken away and the neighbor saw me getting in the police car. well right away,larry jones is the guy on Cozy Cove , he´s the one that sexually assaulted those women down the road. so i was guilty right there. in everybody´s eyes.
On the road from tweed to belleville there’s a 150-year old farmhouse. the women who lives here happens to teach music at trenton air base. it was a late afternoon in mid november her birthday ,
when Anne Marsan-Cook arrivedhom to get ready for her party at a friend’s place nearby.
she was alone in the house.she thought .she rushed upstairs to change.
she remember she went to the bedroom and as i went to my dresser to get change of clothes i noticed that the bedside drawers, the little tables by the bed the drawers were open.
not only the drawers was open,but some personal items kept there were missing.
her sex toys. dildos as she calls them
she immediately thought someone in the family was playing a joke
Anne Marsan-Cook and harry where having some laughs. of what kind of yahoo would come and do that.
when her neighbor howard gray arrived to pick her up they debated calling 911.
Anne Marsan-Cook and howard gray said no ,because police won’t even put ink to the paper. all they ‘ll do is they´ll use us as a good laughter at cofee break. because was that was it was and because they wouldn´t even begin to take it seriously.
howard told anne marsan -cook to take her stuff,”you´re not staying along here. tongiht and they came downstairs they went around the house ,checked all the doors. all the windows and out they went.
the last thing they did was double check the kitchen was dead bolted from the inside
the following morning after the party .gray drove marsan cook home again. she went up to her officet to photocopy something before work, what he heard next was her screams
dashing upstairs he found her speechless ,trembling. it was a screen of an oild computer that was really used it had been turned on the screen savert disabled and replaced by a chilling message.
in large letters it said :
” go ahead, call the police.i want to show the judge your really big dildos.”
Then Anne Marsan Cook checked her bedroom
and then that´s when she saw the drawers, her underwear drawers ,two drawers were both open and empty.
a wreck because she realized then that someone must have been in the when she was the night before, someone who´d come for her, wh´d hidden in the closet.and typed that message , unlocked kitchen dead bol and left.
anne marsan -cook said he was angry to leave that message, he wanted to do just something more than just stealing her didlos and her underweare ,to leave a message like that.
she also was convinced it was in some way related to the sexual assault in Tweed.
but anne marsan -cook´s house is located within citiy limits of belleville so the break-in was investigated by the belleville police
Anne Marsan-Cook and howard gray qurstioned the guys ,is this connected is this connected to Tweed police like why what’s going on back at Tweed?
howard gray said” well you got to know what’s happening back at tweed .
police admitted to Anne Marsan-Cook and howard gray they weren’t aware of that .
when Anne Marsan-Cook and howard gray realized there had beena failure to the communicate, she started telling everyone she could what happened to her.
Anne Marsan-Cook spread the messages now for all the women in the area and where she work on the base.
but the warnings wouldn´t be enough for a 38 -year old corporal at CFB Trenton .
who lived in Brighton Ontario but 30 kilometers from the base.
Marie-France Comeau may have been military but she was also a free spirit. according to former boyfriend and confidant Alain plante.
alain: inside she was an artist a bohemian ,in love with life in general .
as a military flight atendant ,infact corporal Marie-France Comeau recently been a crew member on the aircraft carrying prime minister steven harper on a state visit. to far east
3 days later on november the 25th
her body was discovered inside her house,the cause of death was fixation , first described as suspected suicide,then reclassified as murder.
like so much else here, the full story would take time to come out.
back in trenton the same day that Marie-France Comeau ‘s body was found
russell williams was being handcuffed and arrested, laughting as part of a publicity stunt for the local united way fundraising campagne
later officially informed of Marie-France Comeau’s death, he wrote a letter of condolence to her family.saiyng” please let me know wether there is anything i can do to help you during this very difficult time “
he didn’t attend the funural.
in the months to come williams had his usual full schedule of events.
the olympic torch relay.
hollydays parties.
consulting on relief operations with defense minister and chief of defense staff
defense staff after the Haitian earthquike always the cosnumate officer
next : the crucial clue that led to russell williams.
whenever colonel russelll williams would drive from CFB trenton to his cottage ontario he went right past the house where a 27 – year old women lived on her own
her name was jessica Lloyd.her brother andy describes his sister is friendly and wivacious.
On january 28th 2010 jessica Lloyd came home from an evening out she sent a final text message to a friend before calling it a night.
it was that same nighta about 3:00. a.m that two local men drove south on highway 37 headed to belleville to pick up a loead in their truck. they didn’t know it yet.but they too went right pass jessica Lloyd’s house.
what was about to happen may well be the single most important event in this hwole tragical story . it was frigid with with a full moon. lyle barker was in the passenger seat. stuggling to stay awake.
what he saw was an SUV parked in a field some distance both from the road and from the nearest house.
lyle say it was very odd because you never see anything like that at that time of year..it just didn’t seem right.
that’s was mr barker’s cousin said like it shouldn’t been there sometihng’s not right here.
lyleand his cousin kept driving.it would be a while before they
later that day andy Lloyd got a phone call from his mother .jessica had never arrived at work and andy went right to her house.
andy says then that´s was so weird, because everything was there, he couldn’t figure out what had happened because all of her identification and her cell phone and her purse and things people don’t leave home without were there
as folowing days unfolded, pictures of jessica were everywhere.
a massive search with a police helicopter and the search and rescue team from CFB trenton .
but something had been missing
authorities hadn’t drawn a specific link to the sexual assaults in Tweed.
nor of the murder of Marie-France Comeau two months earlier.
or the break in on Anne Marsan-Cook birtday.
after lyle barker and his cousin returned from their trucking job, they saw jessica Lloyd’s face on all those misssing posters
when they noticed police vehical around the house on highway 37
they put together,it was the house next to the field where barker had seen the SUV parked in the middle of the night.
the house from which jessica Lloyd had dissappeared. that’s when Lyle went to the police
when they reached the field the weather was still frigid it hadn´t snowed since
and there were tire tracks perserved by the cole exactly where barker said they would .
The O.P.P set up roadblocks.checking the tires of cars on highway 37.
a week to the day after jesica Lloyd vanished,thursday, february 4th one of those they stopped was colonel russell williams. driving a SUV.
they checked his tires then let him go
unbeknownst to williams he was under police surveillance. from then on .
jessica Lloyd’s disappearance not only heightened anciety and Tweed but also suspicious about larry jones
it reminded him of something odd,that happened a few months earlier, he was going hunting when his usually a loof neighbor made a beeline towards him .
he would learned later what that conversation really ment.
On sunday february 7th russell williams was at his new house in ottawa when the O.P.P called asking him to the ottawa police departement to answer questions, it’s been reported he thought they were going to ask about larry jones
instead williams was informed that extinctive tires of his SUV matched the tracks in the field next to jessica Lloyds house.
during a 9-hour interrogation he cooperated with police.
police investigators gave the sad news to the Lloyd family
the next morning williams directed police to the body .
the Lloyds had to wait until the new conference to learn who it was hwo’s been charged with jessica´s murder.
” colonel russel williams is the 8 wing commander of CFB trenton. “
then it’s also when Williams neighbor larry jones heard were police had found the body
” the body of jessica Lloyd was located this morning off kery road in the municipality of Tweed“
It was the very location jones had described to russelll williams, his favorite hunting grounds.
Jones :” there’s lots of roads way back in the boonies that you could put a body and nobody ever her .but no, he had to pick the road tha goes to my hunt camp. and i said well jesus. what’s going on there i wonder.sounds like hie’s trying to set me up.
at their news conference police revealed they´found the crucial tire track. but not that it was lyle barker who told them where to look .
then barker got a phone call .
barker:“i received an anonymous call that my tip head caught him. that it was worth it’s weight in gold.
Larry jones has no doubt that if not for barker´s vigilance, he might well be the one behind bars. and russell williams wouldn’t
jones:“like the man though he’s never going to get caught until he left those tier tracks behind jessica Lloyd’s house.which was a real god sin for me
On October 21, 2010
On October 21, 2010, Williams was sentenced to two life sentences for first-degree murder, two 10-year sentences for other sexual assaults, two 10-year sentences for forcible confinement, and 82 one-year sentences for breaking and entering, all to be served concurrently. The life sentences mean Williams will serve a minimum of 25 years before parole eligibility. Because he was convicted of multiple murders, he is not eligible for early parole under the “faint hope clause” of the Criminal Code
Russell Williams squirms as he’s left with no choice but to admit to his crimes during a remarkable police interview (Image: UGC)
Russell Williams poses in women’s lingerie taken during a break-in committed in 2007 (Image: REUTERS)
The vile airman would take photographs of himself in women’s underware he stole after breaking in to their houses
Some of the hundreds of stolen undergarments presented as evidence at Williams’ trial © via CBC
Here is a timeline of events in the case:
Oct. 21, 2010 — A judge sentences Williams to two terms of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the first-degree murders. Williams is also sentenced to 10 years for each of his two sexual assaults, as well as one year for each of the other charges he faced.
The Canadian military says it is working toward immediately expelling Williams from the Canadian Forces, recovering his pay since his arrest and removing his medals.
Oct. 19, 2010 — Following the reading of the agreed statement of facts, Williams is formally convicted of all charges against him.
Oct. 18, 2010 — Williams pleads guilty to all charges against him, including two counts of first-degree murder, two counts each of sexual assault and forcible containment as well as 82 counts of breaking and entering and attempted breaking and entering.
Crown attorneys begin a two-day presentation of the agreed statement of facts, including photographs Williams took of himself and descriptions of the videos he took of the rapes and murders of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau.
Oct. 7, 2010 — In Col. Russell Williams’s first in-person appearance before a judge, his lawyer says Williams intends to plead guilty to the murder, sexual assault and breaking and entering charges against him at a later date. The hearing is adjourned until Oct. 18.
Aug. 26, 2010 — Williams appears in court via video link and waives his right to a preliminary inquiry. His next appearance in Superior Court is scheduled for Oct. 7.
July 22, 2010 — Williams makes a brief court appearance via video link in a Belleville, Ont., courtroom. The court agrees to reconvene on Aug. 26. Williams remains in custody at the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, near Belleville.
June 9, 2010 — Williams’s wife, Mary-Elizabeth Harriman, says she has been devastated by the charges filed against her husband. Harriman’s comments were made in an affidavit. An alleged victim of Williams has filed a $2.45-million lawsuit against the former CFB Trenton base commander and Harriman.
April 29, 2010 — Williams is charged with 82 more offences in connection with break-ins in Ottawa, Belleville and Tweed in Ontario. The new charges include:
- 61 counts of breaking and entering and theft.
- 11 counts of attempted breaking and entering.
- 10 counts of breaking and entering with intent to commit an indictable offence.
April 8, 2010 — Williams begins a hunger strike, according to reports.
April 5, 2010 — Williams is placed under suicide watch at the Quinte Detention Centre after an apparent suicide attempt, according to a media report.
March 25, 2010 — Williams appears briefly on a video camera at the Quinte Detention Centre, which is linked to a courtroom in Belleville. He was remanded in custody until April 29.
Feb. 18, 2010 — Williams appears before a Belleville court via video link from the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee. He is represented by Michael Edelson, a prominent Ottawa-based defence lawyer. On the same day, OPP confirm they have finished searching Williams’s Ottawa home.
Feb. 16, 2010 — OPP search Williams’ home in Ottawa’s Westboro neighbourhood.
Feb. 13, 2010 — A funeral service is held for Jessica Lloyd in Belleville. Small groups of people gather outside the funeral home during the service, with one group of young women carrying a sign that says: “Rest in peace, sweet angel.”
Feb. 8, 2010 — Police find the body of Jessica Lloyd off Cary Road in Tweed, Ont.
Feb. 7, 2010 — Williams is arrested in Ottawa and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau. He is also charged with two sexual assaults that happened in Tweed in September.
Feb. 2, 2010 — Police in Belleville ask people with information regarding Lloyd’s disappearance to call them instead of posting it to Facebook. More than 34,000 friends, family and strangers join a Facebook group dedicated to finding Lloyd.
Jan. 31, 2010 — The Ontario Provincial Police deploy a helicopter over the Belleville area to look for Lloyd. The previous day, authorities combed the area near Highway 37 and Harmony Road.
Jan. 30, 2010 — Police in Belleville ask the public for help in locating Lloyd. “We’re treating this suspiciously at this time and doing everything we possibly can from every angle here at the Belleville Police Service to return her home safely,” Deputy Chief Paul Vandegraaf says.
A Ontario Provincial Police vehicle sits outside the Ottawa home of Col. Russell Williams on Feb. 9, 2010. (Pawel Dwulit/The Canadian Press)PAWEL DWULIT/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jan. 28, 2010 — Jessica Elizabeth Lloyd, 27, sends a text message to a family friend at 10:36 p.m. The next day she does not show up for work. Lloyd’s family tells police it is out of character for her to be out of contact.
Dec. 4, 2009 — Comeau is buried at the National Cemetery in Ottawa.
Nov. 25, 2009 — Cpl. Marie France Comeau, 38, is found dead on Nov. 25, 2009, in her home in Brighton, Ont. The death is ruled a homicide.
Sept. 30, 2009 — Another woman is sexually assaulted in her home on Cosy Cove Lane. Williams has a cottage on Cosy Cove Lane.
Sept. 17, 2009 — A woman in Tweed, Ont., is tied up and sexually assaulted in her home.
