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Thread: Col. Russell Williams - Canadian Air Force Serial Killer

  1. #1
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    Col. Russell Williams - Canadian Air Force Serial Killer


    Victims Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau





    How a colonel became a killer


    By Ian Robertson and Cal Millar
    Special to QMI Agency

    In How a Colonel Became a Killer, writer Cal Millar and Toronto Sun reporter Ian Robertson dig into the background of the brutal sex slayer and detail the startling and horrific evidence that made Russell Williams the first murderer who made technology an accomplice to his crimes. The following is an edited version of a chapter from their new book, available through Amazon.com.

    Rape and murder victims have been photographed or videotaped during sexual assaults or after being killed.

    But until Williams' arrest, investigators never encountered a killer who fully documented their crimes.

    Evidence uncovered during Project Hatfield provided the law enforcement community, police psychiatrists and researchers with an encyclopedia of information about his 29-month crime spree -- which began with sexually motivated residential burglaries and culminated with the senseless slayings of two young women.

    Former Toronto Police homicide detective Tom Klatt, a partner at MKD International Inc., a leading worldwide private investigation agency, said it's "extremely rare" to find a case in which the culprit took pictures. But he predicts it will become more common.

    "Williams was the first," Klatt said, calling him a "rare and different type of killer" -- someone who has shown us the future.

    With new technology such as small iPhones and other high-quality image recording equipment, Klatt suggests some murderers will videotape or photograph killings so they can relive the experience or share images with others, similar to how child pornography is distributed through underground computer networks.

    "It's common for criminals to take something from a crime scene," he said. "Since they do take trophies, I fully expect in the future, killers will make use of modern technology to record their crimes.

    "They get off ... looking at what they have done."

    One of the most recent movies featuring a killer making gruesome videos, the documentary-style 'Poughkeepsie Tapes', is total fiction. Like Williams, the fictional slayer documented victims from their abductions to their deaths and posthumous mutilation in the town midway between Albany and New York City.

    With its release only a few years after Kendall Francois pleaded guilty in 2000 to murdering eight women there, some people surmised it was a true account. Police found several bodies in his home, but nothing to indicate any victims were photographed or video-taped as the horror film portrayed.

    Clifford Olson, who is considered Canada's most callous serial killer, didn't photograph his victims, but did tape-record a 14-year-old girl's fatal screams. He then played her anguished cries over the family's telephone.

    From January 1980 to August 1981, Olson who murdered 11 young people in British Columbia's heavily-populated lower mainland. He died in prison last September.

    St. Catharines slayer Paul Bernardo videotaped his wife, Karla Homolka, during sexual activity with one victim, but no pictorial evidence of the killings surfaced.

    Dating Game contestant Rodney Alcala, a U.S. rapist sentenced to death in 2010 for five 1970s murders, had more than 1,000 photographs of young women and boys mostly in sexually explicit poses. None depicted people after death.

    Dubbed the "Beauty Queen Killer" after murdering eight women across America and being implicated in numerous other rapes and sex-slayings, Australia-born Christopher Bernard Wilder -- killed when his gun discharged while struggling with a New Hampshire cop in 1984 -- was heading to Canada, where capital punishment was abolished.

    Among those taking photographs of victims was a British couple who also made a 16-minute audio-recording of a 10-year-old girl being killed in 1964. Like Williams' victims, she was forced to pose naked before being raped and strangled in one of the earliest-known cases involving pictures taken before a slaying.

    The judge who sentenced Ian Brady and Myra Hindley -- she died in prison in 2002 -- to life for the five "Moor Murders" in Manchester, called them sadistic and depraved.

    Hanged in Tokyo in 2008, serial abductor Tsutomu Miyazak killed four young girls, who he photographed before and after death, then partially ate -- after sending graphically-detailed letters to their families.

    Miyazaki, who was more extreme and depraved than Williams, owned more than 5,000 horror and explicit adult videos, plus photographs and videotaped recordings of his little victims.

    Former U.S. soldier Dean Corll took photos of some of the 28 boys he tortured, raped and murdered in Texas.

    Police found photographs of at least 16, taken before they were killed, most likely so he could relive the euphoria he achieved while committing rape and murder. He was shot dead in 1973 by a victim promised freedom if he slew a 15-year-old girl Corll had abducted.

    Another bizarre case with videos and stills taken of victims before their murders involves Leonard Lake and Charles Ng., of California men who, like Williams, had served in the military.

    In less than two years, they may have killed up to 25 people, including two babies. Although law enforcement authorities have not formally indicated the purpose of the videos, the men may have experimented with the idea of producing so-called "snuff films."

    Caught shoplifting in San Francisco, Ng fled before police arrived, leaving his car with a gun and silencer. Before committing suicide, Lake gave them his partner's name and mentioned several victims slaughtered in their hideout bunker, where investigators found written logs and videotapes outlining some of the horror that took place there.

    Arrested in Calgary in 1985 when caught shoplifting, Ng made headlines after officials refused American requests for his extradition -- arguing the serial killer might be executed if convicted. Following public pressure, he was shipped to California, where he remains on San Quentin State Prison's death row.

    Muslim extremists have also video-taped their brutal torture and murder of kidnap victims.

    These images are key tools in a propaganda campaign aimed at demoralizing countries which declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001 slaughters in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

    Extremist groups, including al-Qaida, began posting video and still images of barbaric executions after foreign coalition troops organized by the United Nations to destroy training camps and wipe out terrorism worldwide. They also seek to reduce the free world's appetite for battle and give activists ammunition to pressure politicians into withdrawing support for military action in the Middle East.

    It is now obvious that the video camera has become a popular tool for any killer seeking more than 15 minutes of fame.

    After Anders Behring Breivik gunned down 77 young people and wounded more than 300 in Norway last year, and detonated a fertilizer bomb in Oslo that killed eight people, police found his lengthy anti-Muslim manifesto -- which urged other mass murderers to make and share videotapes of their carnage, using a specific camera.

    It appears a gunman who murdered four people at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France, this March, including a seven-year-old girl, after earlier killing three soldiers, wore Breivik's recommended camera. The shooter, al-Qaida sympathizer Mohammed Merah, was killed when "special forces" police officers raided his apartment.

    No images were posted on the Internet, but he sent videos to the Al Jazeera Arab television network, which did not broadcast them.

    It's easy to compare Russell Williams with serial killers.

    He escalated rapidly from panty-stealing raids at neighbouring homes in Tweed and Ottawa to sex-related homicides, but wasn't a serial, since he only killed twice. But the former CFB Trenton commander shares similarities with most and, having escalated his attacks, undoubtedly more women would likely have been raped and murdered without police intervention.

    Because he was so calculating and methodically recorded Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau being killed, police had "a gut feeling" that he may have already murdered other victims.

    Military police compiled records of his travels and civilian forces, including OPP cold case detectives, were also asked about any unsolved homicides. No evidence, however, linked Williams to previous victims.

    http://www.shorelinebeacon.com/2012/...ame-a-killer-2

  2. #2
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    Serial killer Russell Williams will keep his military pension—for now

    Killer ex-colonel Russell Williams is going to keep his military pension—for now, at least.

    In a judgment released today, Ontario’s highest court ruled that Laurie Massicotte—a Tweed, Ont., woman who was ambushed in her living room and sexually assaulted just weeks before the disgraced air force officer committed his first murder—should not be allowed to pursue Williams’s pension as part of a multi-million-dollar lawsuit she first filed in 2011. Simply put, the Court of Appeal ruled that any legal arguments about the serial predator’s retirement benefits are “premature” because Massicotte has yet to win her case or be awarded damages.

    If her lawsuit is ultimately successful—and Williams fails to pay the dollar figure determined by a judge—then the pension could be back in play, the court concluded.

    What should happen to Williams’s pension, believed be worth $60,000 a year, has been a controversial question since the day he confessed to a sadistic crime spree that shocked the country: two horrific murders, two home-invasion sexual assaults, and dozens of fetish break-ins targeting female underwear. Like most pension plans, the one bound by the Canadian Forces Superannuation Act specifically states that benefits are “exempt from attachment, seizure and execution,” which means they can’t be revoked by the government or awarded to plaintiffs. It doesn’t matter that the recipient is a serial predator who violated every core value the military stands for; he contributed to the pension plan for more than two decades, so the money is his.

    Now serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years, the former commander of CFB Trenton was also the target of three civil lawsuits: one launched by “Jane Doe,” his first sexual assault victim; one by Massicotte; and another by the family of Jessica Lloyd, who was kidnapped from her home in Belleville, Ont., and murdered inside Williams’s nearby cottage in Tweed. All three lawsuits also named the former colonel’s wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, alleging that she acquired her husband’s half of their $700,000 Ottawa home in a “fraudulent” post-arrest deal designed to shield his assets from the very type of civil litigation he ended up facing. (Unlike the other two, Massicotte’s lawsuit also seeks damages from the Ontario government for the alleged “negligence” of the provincial police force, which she claims should have done more to warn her neighbourhood that a potential predator was on the loose.)

    As Maclean’s first reported in August, Williams reached an out-of-court financial settlement in two of the cases (Jane Doe and the Lloyd family) and both actions were simultaneously dismissed against his wife. But Massicotte’s $7-million suit remains active—and, in recent months, her lawyers have requested major amendments to her original statement of claim. Specifically, Massicotte asked to alter her lawsuit to allege that Section 83 of the CF Superannuation Act violates her Charter rights to life, liberty and security because it deprives her of potential compensation for the “physical and psychological losses” she endured.

    In April, Justice Martin James refused to allow the proposed amendment, ruling that a constitutional challenge would only “complicate and lengthen” a case that is already more than two years old. When Massicotte appealed the ruling, Williams fought back—arguing that he “had no input or involvement in the passage” of legislation that protect pensions from lawsuits, and if Massicotte wants to challenge the constitutionality of that system, she would need to sue the federal government, not him.

    In the end, Ontario’s top court sided with Williams.

    “We see no basis to interfere with the motion judge’s conclusion,” said Justice C. William Hourigan, speaking for the unanimous three-judge panel. “Declaratory relief should have been sought against the federal government, not against Mr. Williams and should therefore not be permitted. Further, in our opinion, the proposed amendments are premature. The issue of whether Mr. Williams’s pension is exigible does not arise until after the final determination of issues as currently pleaded.”

    What happens next is not clear. Williams’s lawyer, Pasquale Santini, declined to speak to reporters after the hearing, and Massicotte’s lawyer, Philip Healey, said little more. “There are different things that could happen next,” he said, “but I don’t want to comment on that.” When asked how his client is holding up, Healey responded: “She has, of course, been through a lot, and she is doing the very best she can.”

    http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/r...nsion-for-now/

  3. #3
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    **WARNING** Graphic Testimony

    October 19, 2010

    Col. Williams assaulted victim after she had seizures


    Disgraced Col. Russell Williams repeatedly sexually assaulted Jessica Lloyd despite the fact she had seizures and begged to be taken to hospital, a Belleville, Ont. court heard Tuesday.

    Lloyd's family members sobbed as Crown prosecutors detailed the last hours of Lloyd's life during the second day of Williams's sentencing hearing for a series of sexually motivated crimes.

    On Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two sexual assaults and 82 fetish break-ins in Eastern Ontario.

    Before court recessed for the day, Williams was formally convicted of all charges against him after prosecutors spent two days detailing graphic evidence of his crimes.

    Earlier Tuesday afternoon, court heard how the former commander of CFB Trenton told police he first noticed Lloyd when he spied her working out on her treadmill in the basement of her house. He then staked out her home, came back to watch her from the back yard before breaking in and approaching her in her sleep.

    Williams tied her up, taped her mouth and repeatedly sexually assaulted her before taking Lloyd to his home in Tweed, where he had her shower, let her sleep and then again sexually assaulted her.

    When Lloyd began having seizures, she begged Williams to take her to the hospital. Williams did not, and continued to assault her. He videotaped the entire ordeal.

    "If I die, will you make sure to let my mom know that I love her," Crown prosecutors said Lloyd asked Williams.

    Williams fed Lloyd some fruit before he hit her over the head with a flashlight and strangled her with a rope. That was Jan. 29. Williams left Lloyd's body at his home as he returned to work at CFB Trenton. He stayed overnight at the base before flying soldiers to California. He returned days later to dump her body in a nearby field.

    For the past two days, Crown prosecutors have outlined how Williams went from stealing underwear from women's bedrooms to murdering two women from Eastern Ontario and sexually assaulting two other victims in the same region.

    Earlier Tuesday, court heard how Williams suffocated flight attendant Cpl. Marie-France Comeau in her own home. Crown prosecutors detailed evidence that showed Williams used his authority to learn where she lived and when she worked.

    Crown prosecutors told the court that Williams first noticed Comeau when she was working on a military flight.

    The two had a conversation and Comeau mentioned that she lived alone.

    Upon learning that information, Williams broke into her home twice last November. The second time, he killed Comeau, a 38-year-old career soldier.

    The 47-year-old Williams, wearing a black suit and light-coloured striped shirt, sat quietly as his many crimes were described to the court on Tuesday.

    Crown prosecutors explained how Williams first broke into the house where Comeau lived by herself last November, stealing some of her undergarments and taking photos of her ID and home.

    A week after his initial break-in, Williams returned to her home and broke in again.

    Hiding in Comeau's basement, Williams intended to wait until she fell asleep to go to her bedroom.

    But she ended up making a trip to her basement to look for her cat, which was staring at Williams.

    Comeau called Wililams a "bastard" and screamed.

    Williams hit her on the head with a flashlight, which caused her head to bleed profusely. He tied her up.

    He then went outside to cover his tracks. At the front door of Comeau's home, Williams jammed a key in the lock. He broke the key off to prevent anyone from coming through.

    Inside the house, Williams carried Comeau to her bedroom. He repeatedly sexually assaulted her in the hours before her death.

    He took photos and videos of his assaults on Comeau, none of which were shown in court.

    The Crown said Comeau made repeated pleas for her life, asking Williams to "have a heart please…I've been really good…I want to live."

    Williams eventually suffocated her by placing duct tape over her nose and mouth.

    Williams then took extensive measures to clean up the scene of the murder, including washing Comeau's bedsheets in bleach.

    He fled Comeau's home and drove directly to Ottawa for a meeting about the acquisition of a C-17 military transport plane.

    Williams later wrote a letter of condolence to Comeau's father in which he praised Comeau as a "professional, caring and compassionate woman who earned the respect of all with whom she came into contact."

    Williams urged the elder Comeau to "please let me know whether there is anything I can do to help you during this very difficult time."

    Pattern of escalating behaviour

    Earlier Tuesday, the court also heard a description of a prior incident in which Williams sexually assaulted a woman who fell asleep watching TV in September 2009.

    The woman woke up when someone hit her on the head with a flashlight, in an attempt to knock her out. It was Williams, who told her she was being robbed.

    He tied up the woman and blindfolded her. Then he cut off her top and bra and began taking photos of her.

    He indicated that she would not be harmed if she let him take pictures. He also forced her into various poses.

    Prior to the start of Tuesday's hearing, Crown prosecutor Lee Burgess said the case was "the most awful" he had dealt with in his 20-year career.

    Michael Edelson, the lawyer representing Williams, said the day's proceedings were going to be "another extremely difficult day."

    Williams pleads guilty


    On Monday, Williams pleaded guilty to murdering two Eastern Ontario women and to sexually assaulting two other women from the same region. Williams also admitted to committing dozens of break-and-enters over the past three years, in which he stole hundreds of undergarments from women who lived in the houses he burglarized.

    It was revealed that when Williams broke into houses, he took pictures of himself modeling the underwear he found and often masturbated while doing so.

    The women he targeted were generally between their late teens and early 30s, though in at least 12 cases, he stole underwear from the bedrooms of underage women.

    Williams stored the stolen underwear at his home and kept detailed records about his thefts on computer hard drives that he hid in his basement ceiling. Crown prosecutors say he took thousands of photos of the undergarments and other items he stole from women in Eastern Ontario.

    Williams became known to police on Feb. 4, when they set up a roadblock on Highway 37 between Belleville and Trenton to check SUVs for tires that matched treads found outside Lloyd's home.

    When police discovered Williams's tires matched the tread, they began to follow him and arrested him three days later.

    Williams confessed to his crimes and led police to both Lloyd's body and computer files and military duffel bags filled with evidence that he stored in the garage of his Ottawa home.

    The proceedings will resume Wednesday morning with Williams's confession video and Crown statements. Court will then hear victim impact statements from victims' family members.

    http://www.ctvnews.ca/col-williams-a...zures-1.564944
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
    Senior Member Member ted75601's Avatar
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    Speaking as a Canadian, I am very sorry that Canada doesn't have the DP. This guy is a poster boy for it

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