Police probe more potential victims
Jennifer Yang and Raveena Aulakh Torstar News Service
Hours after Monday's announcement that police had arrested 46-year-old Col. Russell Williams, a decorated career officer, police forces began reopening cases of unsolved homicides involving young women in areas where Williams has been previously stationed.
The colonel, who took over command of 8 Wing/CFB Trenton in July, has enjoyed an illustrious military career that has taken him across the country and even overseas.
Williams faces charges of first-degree murder in the deaths of the two women and the sexual assaults of two others. Ontario Provincial Police say several connecting factors ultimately led them to Williams, but are refusing to divulge any specifics, only citing geography as one of the common elements.
But according to sources, women's underwear, computers and digital photography are all bread crumbs in the probe that culminated in the arrest of Williams.
According to Larry Jones, the man who was initially suspected in Williams' alleged home invasions and sexual assaults, police were looking for very specific items in the early days of their investigation.
Jones, who lives next door to Williams on Cosy Cove Lane in Tweed, said that back when police were investigating him, they searched his home and produced a search warrant for La Senza bras, Jessica brand panties, computers, laptops and digital photography. Other reports say police were also looking for baby blankets and zip ties.
"They took the (computer) with my pictures on it," Jones said, adding that he believed police were looking for photographs that the sexual assault victims said were taken of them. Newspaper reports of the incidents have said that the women were struck, tied to chairs and photographed by their assailant.
Little progress was made on the home invasions but they landed back on investigators' radar screens shortly after Jessica Lloyd disappeared. The 27-year-old was last heard from on Jan. 28, when she sent a text message to a friend.
Belleville police immediately asked for help from the OPP, who began connecting Lloyd's disappearance to the sexual assaults, as well as the murder of 37-year-old Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, found dead in her Brighton home in November.
Lloyd's body was discovered Monday, off Cary Rd., about 13 minutes away from Cosy Cove Lane.
Asked whether Williams is alleged to have stolen underwear, OPP Sgt. Kristine Rae declined to comment.
"Anything evidentiary, I can't comment on," she said.
Rae also wouldn't comment on reports that police traced Lloyd's disappearance to Williams by using distinctive tire tracks left in snow near the woman's home off Highway 37.
Reports have said that investigators linked the tire tracks to a specific vehicle and that Williams was stopped by police on Feb. 4 during canvassing of motorists driving along that highway.
Williams was arrested on Sunday in Ottawa, where he also shares a home with his wife Mary Elizabeth Harriman, an associate executive director of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. On Tuesday, police were seen leaving the couple's Ottawa home with bags.
The colonel appeared shackled at the ankles in a Belleville court on Monday, and is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 18 via video link.
The OPP say they have also been fielding numerous calls from other police departments. Hours after the announcement of Williams' arrest, police services across the country were reopening cases of unsolved homicides involving young women.
At last count, at least four cold cases in Nova Scotia and Ontario were under scrutiny.
Halifax Regional Police contacted OPP investigators regarding murders of three young women after they were inundated with calls from people wondering if there was a correlation.
Williams had been posted to the Shearwater base near Halifax, N.S., from 1992 to 1994, according to his biography posted on the Department of National Defence website until Tuesday afternoon. During that time frame, Andrea King, 18, Shelley Connors, 17, and Kimber Leanne Lucas, 24, were murdered.
"We've had some preliminary discussions with them (OPP investigators) but so far they haven't been able to provide any information that would impact any of our files here," said Const. Brian Palmeter in Halifax.
Investigators will also look into the unsolved 2001 murder of 19-year-old Kathleen MacVicar in Trenton.
The teen from Nova Scotia was found in Middleton Park, a housing development inside CFB Trenton. MacVicar had been staying with family at the military base when she disappeared June 13, 2001. Her body was found two days later in a corner of the base; she had been sexually assaulted and stabbed to death.
MacVicar's mother said she first heard about Williams' arrest Monday afternoon, and her first thought was "it could be related to Kathleen." Within hours, OPP had called her.
"I'm glad they are looking at it again," Colleen MacVicar, Kathleen's mother, told the Star on Tuesday afternoon from her home in Glace Bay, N.S.
But MacVicar said she isn't getting her hopes up. She has been disappointed before.
Williams' first posting was at Portage la Prairie, Man., in 1990, about 85 kilometres from Winnipeg; Glenda Morrisseau, 19, went missing on July 17, 1991. Her battered body was found about three weeks later.
Winnipeg police said Tuesday in an email that they were "aware of the arrest of the air force officer. Investigators will continue to review information as it unfolds."
Williams' arrest has shaken the military community to the core and in light of the charges, Williams has been removed from his post in Trenton. Lt.-Col. David Murphy has been currently appointed acting commander, according to the Northumberland News.
The small community of Tweed, where Williams and three of his alleged victims lived, is also reeling from the trauma that has visited their town. On Tuesday, police were visible around the area, guarding each exit along Cary Rd. as well as Williams' residence, which has been cordoned off with yellow tape.
This past fall, the home invasions caused people to point angry fingers, said Lawrence Ramsay, owner of Tweedsmuir Bar and Grill.
Ramsay said he knew Lloyd as a customer at the Tweedsmuir – pretty and pleasant, she was part of a group who came in on weekends. He last saw her around Christmas but has never seen Williams in the bar.
Ramsay also said that the boyfriend of one of the sexual assault victims is also an occasional customer at the bar. He said the young couple, in their 20s, had moved into the area shortly before the assault. He added they had recently had a baby, and have since moved out of the home.
Another woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted lives nearby.
The single mother declined to be interviewed on Tuesday, but previously relayed her terrifying ordeal to the Toronto Sun, stating that her attacker entered her room as she was sleeping. He reportedly blindfolded her and tied her hands behind her back before cutting her clothes off and assaulting her.
She said he took photographs of her before leaving her home just before dawn.
Feb. 10, 2010
www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/719261