Top Canadian military official charged with murder

[citizen k]

When I first saw the headline I thought maybe some prosecutor was protesting against Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, but no, this guy is actually accused of killing some chick.

Top Canadian military official charged with murder
By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press


TORONTO – The commander of Canada's largest Air Force base, who once flew dignitaries around the country, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of two women

Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Chris Nicholas said Monday that Col. Russell Williams, 46, was also charged in the sexual assaults of two other women. Williams was arrested Sunday in Ottawa.

The charges left Canada's military in a state of shock.

Williams, a 23-year military veteran, was appointed as the base commander of Canadian Forces Base Trenton in Trenton, Ontario last July. Trenton is Canada's busiest Air Force base and is providing logistical support for Canada's missions in Haiti and Afghanistan as well as support for the Vancouver Winter Games.

Williams is charged with the first-degree murder of Jessica Lloyd, 27, of a Belleville, Ontario, resident whose body was found earlier Monday, and Marie Comeau, a 38-year-old corporal found dead in her Brighton, Ontario, home in November.

Authorities said Williams came to the attention of police during a roadside canvas on Feb. 4, six days after Lloyd was deemed missing.

Williams is also charged with forcible confinement, breaking and entering and sexual assault after two women were sexually assaulted during two separate home invasions in the Tweed, Ontario area in September of 2009.

"We're shocked by the connection that has been made with a leader in our Air Force," Maj. Gen. Yvan Blondin, the direct commander of Williams, said in Trenton.

"It obviously is no longer possible for the commander to remain in his position."

Blondin said he didn't know him personally but said Williams was an elite pilot and considered a "shining bright star."

Williams was photographed last month with Defense Minister Peter MacKay and Canada's top general during an inspection of a Canadian aircraft that was on its way to support relief efforts in Haiti.

Lieutenant-General Andre Deschamps, Canada's Air Force chief, said the Air Force is fully supporting civilian police. He called it a difficult period but said the Air Force would provide support for personnel at Trenton.

Dan Dugas, a spokesman for MacKay, called the charges serious but said MacKay will not comment.

Police descended on Williams' Ottawa home on Sunday and police cars remained posted there Monday evening. Williams' Defense Department biography said he is married.

Williams once served as a Challenger aircraft pilot who transported VIPs. The Air Force declined to say who he flew but the Challenger regularly flies cabinet ministers and the governor general, Canada's ceremonial head of sate. A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he didn't believe Williams flew Harper.

Between December 2005 and June 2006, Williams was the commanding officer for Camp Mirage, the secretive Canadian Forces forward logistics base that is not officially acknowledged by the government or military but has been widely reported to be near Dubai.

"We are certainly tracking the movements of where this man has been over the past several years and we're continuing with our investigation," Nicholas said.

Williams walked into a courthouse in Belleville, Ontario on Monday in hand and leg shackles, wearing a blue prison-issue jumpsuit. The judge imposed a publication ban on other details.

He was held in custody and will appear in court by video on Feb. 18.

[PRC]

The murder of two women actually.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/respected-colonel-charged-with-murder-of-two-women/article1460795/

Respected colonel charged with murder of two women

Greg McArthur, Steve Ladurantaye and Timothy Appleby

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Feb. 08, 2010 10:56PM EST Last updated on Monday, Feb. 08, 2010 11:07PM EST

It was on Sunday afternoon that Colonel Russell Williams, a decorated pilot who has delivered prime ministers and soldiers to remote locales around the world, agreed to sit down with a behavioural science expert from the Ontario Provincial Police.

What has happened since that interview has shaken the Canadian Forces, and the citizens of three small towns in Eastern Ontario: Police charged Col. Williams, the commander of Canada's largest Air Force base, with the murder of two women, and assaults on two others.

And as quickly as the charges were laid against Col. Williams – he became the prime suspect in a string of unexplained attacks on women only five days ago – the detectives' net is widening even faster. Investigators are examining crime-scene evidence from several Eastern Ontario cities and additional charges are anticipated, a source familiar with the investigation said late Monday night.

Since September, detectives in three different communities near CFB Trenton have been searching for clues in what, on its face, appeared to be three separate incidents. In September, over a span of two weeks on a quiet lakeside road in the village of Tweed, two women living just a short walk from each other were tied up in the middle of the night and photographed by an unknown assailant.

Two months later, 78 kilometres west, in the town of Brighton, the boyfriend of CFB Trenton's Corporal Marie-France Comeau discovered his girlfriend dead in her home, the victim of what was quickly deemed a homicide.

Little more than a week ago, a Belleville woman, 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd, was reported missing when she failed to show up for her shift with Tri-Board Student Transportation in the town of Napanee.

Police found her body Monday morning.

In each community, the attacks had their distinct unnerving effects. "Girls my age are terrified," said Erin Fisher, 28, of Belleville. At the Fare and Fowl Pub on Tweed's main drag, the patrons dubbed the mysterious attacker "The Creeper."

Larry Jones, a resident of Tweed's Cosy Cove Lane, where the two assaults took place, said his friends stopped speaking to him after he was hauled in for repeated police interviews.

Five days ago, police got their break during roadside stops on a rural highway.

Something – police won't say what – pointed at Col. Williams, the seasoned pilot who took command of CFB Trenton about six months ago.

One police source called it "luck of the draw. Just old-fashioned police work. He lived in the area, and there were some things seen, vehicles seen that matched his, and they started looking at cases, linked the three of them, and just went from there."

The roadside discovery prompted police to sweep out across the province.

By Sunday, OPP officers with search warrants were combing through Col. Williams's cottage-like home on Cosy Cove Lane, and the residence he shares with his wife in the upscale Ottawa neighbourhood of Westboro.

It has been less than two months since the couple moved into the newly developed, $700,000 home on Edison Avenue. Col. Williams's wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, is the associate director of Canada's Heart and Stroke Foundation.

"She is taking extended leave to focus on family matters," a spokeswoman for the charity said on Monday. "And we continue to support her."

The day the searches commenced, Col. Williams had his police interrogation.

Investigators are saying nothing about what was discussed during those few hours.

But while police are pushing their probe forward, the residents of Trenton are trying to come to grips with the allegations against Col. Williams, a man that many of them have met.

"We all look up to the soldiers. This really is scary. It would be like finding out the mayor was killing girls," said Chantal Jouan, 17.

In an interview with The Kingston Whig-Standard, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk said: "This is a tough day for anyone in uniform."

In Tweed, residents vividly recalled their interactions with Col. Williams.

In this small town of 6,500, the only things that stuck out more than his sleek, blue BMW were his protruding jaw line and impeccable posture.

Neighbours on Cosy Cove Lane recalled that he would clear his lawn of frogs before starting up his mower. He seemed especially affectionate towards his kitten, a black and white cat named Rose, one neighbour said.

Col. Williams was part of a rarefied group. Canada has fewer than 100 Air Force colonels. While the charges against him are sure to spur a lot of introspection among the military, the forces were standing behind his rapid ascent Monday.

"The thing about a guy in his position is we observe him over decades in a wide variety of jobs and positions to make sure he's the right individual for such a high-stress and high-responsibility job, and we select these people very, very carefully," said retired chief of the air staff Angus Watt.

"If there is the slightest hint of any wrongdoing or character weakness in somebody, we do not appoint him to a position of this magnitude. It's just not done. ... It's an objective process, and obviously, we missed something here."

Col. Williams has also been prominent in repatriation ceremonies of soldiers who died in Afghanistan since he joined the base.

Even to a senior security source, the CFB Trenton commander was an intimidating presence: "You reflect on yourself and say, God, am I as sharp as him?"

[The Brain]

Are his methods unsound?

[Grey Fox]

He's probably been at it for 26 years now.

[Malthus]

Yeah, read this in the news this AM. Freaky. 

[viper37]

So he was a serial rapist or what?  Obviously not a serial killer since he only killed 2 and left the others alone...  That's so weird.  I hope there weren't anymore victims accross the country as he travelled from base to base in the past.

[Neil]

Are his methods unsound?

[crazy canuck]

So he was a serial rapist or what?  Obviously not a serial killer since he only killed 2 and left the others alone...  That's so weird.  I hope there weren't anymore victims accross the country as he travelled from base to base in the past.

According to an update to the story on the Globe on line site, he is now under investigation for a number of unsolved murders of women in the area.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

I saw this on the news last night. It's like an episode of CSI or Law & Order or something. The dude is a real high profile on the rise soldier, or was, I guess. Messed up.

[jimmy olsen]

I know it's Canada, but does a colonel really count as one of Canada's top military officials? 

[Jaron]

Maybe not in rank but he was clearly very prominent and visible.

[Drakken]

I know it's Canada, but does a colonel really count as one of Canada's top military officials? 

Trenton is one of Canada's main air force bases. 

It would be as if the commander of Andrews Air Force Base was discovered to be a serial killer.

[Malthus]

I know it's Canada, but does a colonel really count as one of Canada's top military officials? 

As others have noted, it is not just his rank - it is the job that he held, commander of a very important military base.

The whole thing is shocking and, if what I read in the paper this AM is true, there is little doubt of his guilt - allegedly he led investigators to one of the bodies, and part of his MO was taking "trophy" photos and souveniers.

[crazy canuck]

I know it's Canada, but does a colonel really count as one of Canada's top military officials? 

Do you think that if a person of similar rank in the US did this it would not be big news?

[PDH]

I know it's Canada, but does a colonel really count as one of Canada's top military officials? 

Do you think that if a person of similar rank in the US did this it would not be big news?

Our colonels are all cold-blooded killers. This is a tradition that dates back to Curtis LeMay.