Canadian military colonel charged with murder and sexual assault
Posted February 9, 2010 8:39 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Detectives plan to expand their investigation looking into unsolved cases after a Canadian military colonel was charged with murder and sexual assault.
Col. Russell Williams, 46, the wing commander of CFB Trenton, has been charged with the first-degree murders of both Jessica Lloyd of Belleville, Ont., and Marie Comeau of Brighton, Ont.
The Ontario Provincial Police told a news conference, Monday, the married colonel from Tweed, Ont., was arrested Sunday in Ottawa.
According to investigators, the arrest is “a direct result of police and Canadian Forces services working together in a coordinated manner to improve public safety.”
Lloyd’s body was found earlier Monday. She disappeared 10 days ago.
Comeau, who was a 38-year-old corporal from Brighton with CFB Trenton’s 437 squadron, was found dead in her home on Nov. 25, 2009, just six months after being posted to Trenton.
Police have said little about their investigation except that the women were linked by geography.
Brice McVicar, a reporter with the Belleville Intelligencer, told CTV News the break in this case came after police pulled over the colonel in his blue BMW in a roadside check near Belleville, last Thursday.
The Globe and Mail reported Williams sat down with an OPP behavioural science expert a day before charges were laid.
Police also said the arrest should give the community a sense of peace.
“[…] This community has been placed on heightened state of caution for several weeks and we are pleased that the public safety has been served in this case,” Vince Hawkes, the deputy commissioner of the OPP, said.
Williams has also been charged with two sexual assault home invasions in the same area dating back to September of 2009.
He appeared in bail court in Belleville Monday afternoon.
Williams was named base commander in July. The Department of Defence is now looking for a replacement.
