Monster Lived Among Us

***WARNING – Some contents of this blog posting are graphic in nature and may be offensive to some readers.***


Forget the creatures like Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman in Transylvania. This October we’re dealing with a real life monster right here in my own small and tight knit Canadian community.

Colonel Russell Williams was the commander of Canada’s largest Air Force base, 8-Wing CFB Trenton, in the city of Quinte West. I live just minutes from the base and have so my entire life. The community has prided itself on the relationship between our military and the citizens of Trenton and the surrounding area.

That relationship has been strained as of late but for the most part, the non-military people of the community have been able separate the actions of the monster from the good work our men and women in the armed forces do each day.

The Canadian Forces are rightfully embarrassed to have had such a high ranking officer deceive them for so many years while being promoted through the ranks. But they weren’t the only one’s deceived by his secret life. The shock and disbelief felt by everyone in the community speaks volumes. How could such a high profile individual command the base and be well respected by day, yet be so evil and wicked by night? We may never know the whole truth.

Over the last several days, the real story of what took place by the depraved hands of Williams has come to light in a Belleville, Ontario courtroom. Hearing the disgusting and shocking evidence being read in court for the record has been difficult to listen to. Many people I know have chosen to avoid hearing the gruesome details of not only the murders but the sexual assaults and his actions inside the homes of those he invaded.

Williams had no defence and no choice but to plead guilty to a total of 86 repulsive charges including home invasions, sexual assaults and murders of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau. The vial descriptions of his actions ranged from breaking into homes of young girls to collect their underwear, dress in their undergarments and lie on their beds and masturbate while all the time documenting this on video and with a digital camera.

Samples of the more than 1,000 images were shown in court of Williams dressed in the underwear and lingerie of his victims and neatly arranging stolen undergarments to be photographed. He kept all of this evidence hidden in his homes in Ottawa and Tweed and the video and photographic evidence was meticulously organized and stored on his computer. This would be an orgy of evidence for police that they could use to incarcerate this beast for life.

***WARNING – Graphic details in the next two paragraphs.***

As awful as this was, the worst facts came on day two when descriptions of the two murders were read into evidence. The details were precise since Williams recorded the attacks on video which was recovered by police. Each woman used a different method of dealing with their attacker while hoping they would both be alive after it was over. Comeau fought Williams as best she could while being beaten, bound and raped. Sadly her efforts to find freedom failed to work. As she tried to escape, he knocked her out with a flashlight covered her nose and mouth with duct tape and watched her suffocate to death.

Lloyd’s approach was to be submissive and allow him to attack her repeatedly for hours while hoping to survive the assault. Williams was not about to let that happen though as he removed Lloyd from her home and drove them to his place in Tweed where the attacks continued. She suffered seizures and begged to be taken to the hospital and at one point knew her life was in danger and was heard on the video saying, "I don't want to die. If I die, will you make sure my mom knows that I love her?" Eventually Williams knocked Jessica out with a flashlight and used rope to strangle her. He’d leave her body in his garage for three days while he went back to work and flew to California. Upon his return he dumped her body in a heavily wooded area east of Tweed.

I had tears in my eyes as the details were gradually released. The horrific manner in which these two beautiful women were raped, beaten, tortured and killed was sickening. How could such evil exist? How could anyone do these things? How will the families of those he affected move on? How could another human being hear these women begging to not be killed and then end their lives so brutally? How could all of this happen in my own community?

He isn’t a man. He’s a soulless animal who should at the very least be castrated and tortured himself. If ever the death penalty would be welcome, this would be one of those times. It’s moments like this I wish we lived in a society of an eye for an eye but we are not all as sick and twisted as criminals like Williams. That is why he will spend the rest of his life behind bars before he spends the rest of eternity in hell.


My apologies to my regular readers who normally visit my blog for my lighthearted views of life but this story hit too close to home and I felt as though I had to talk about it.

The Devil Wears A Uniform

Now that the shock, horror and utter disbelief has dulled a little, I thought I’d take a moment share my thoughts on the story that not only rocked my own community but the entire Country.

For eleven days the people in and around the Bay of Quinte region wondered what had happened to 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd. She just vanished and despite a massive ground and air search that involved family, friends, complete strangers, police and search and rescue aircraft from 8-Wing Trenton, she couldn’t be found.

Her image was everywhere you went with posters in restaurants, factories, coffee shops on the side of transports and in the windows of people’s cars. If she wasn’t going to be found, it wouldn’t have been for a lack of trying.

On Monday morning February 8, 2010 bits and pieces of information started to come to light that had everyone believing there might be a break in the case, although it didn’t look like the outcome was going to be a positive one.

Police had cordoned off an area near Tweed, Ontario, not far from where she was living and in a community that had seen two women forcibly confined and sexually assaulted just last September. Our worst fears were soon realized as the body of beautiful Jessica had been located in a remote area with thick underbrush.

How could this have happened? Why did it happen? Tragedies like this are very rare in our community but it had happened again. You see, as recent as last November, the body of 38-year-old Cpl Marie-France Comeau had been found in Brighton, Ontario. She worked as a flight attendant at the base in Trenton. All of these events were taking place in a rather small area of Eastern, Ontario and all around the Air Base at CFB Trenton.

As if all of this wasn’t shocking enough, it was soon learned that a suspect had been arrested in Ottawa which is about three hours away. How did they find this evil person so quickly and what was he doing in Ottawa? There in lies the twist. You see, he had a home in Ottawa and he also had a home in Tweed. The dots were starting to be connected.

Then the bombshell was dropped that would jolt the Canadian military community from coast to coast and around the world and leave the citizens of Trenton and the surrounding area stunned in amazement. The man that had been charged with all of these crimes and is alleged to have committed other home invasions was none other than 46-year-old Col. Russell Williams, the top dog and commander of 8-Wing at CFB Trenton, the largest Air Force Base in Canada.

The announcement left everyone stunned. It didn’t matter if you wore a uniform of the Canadian Forces or were just a local resident; we were all left with feelings of disbelief, astonishment, rage and a sense of loss.

It didn’t take long for the news to travel and everywhere you went it was all anybody could talk about. A short time later the national news broadcasters had the story and it became the story of the day and week.

I spoke with friends who are in the military and many of them were embarrassed to be seen wearing their uniform. There was a report that someone in their uniform was spat on at a local gas station while filling their tank. Stories like this were few but they infuriated me to no end.

This evil man may have worn a uniform but it wasn’t the uniform that made him wicked. That most likely began long before he first put on the Air Force dress blues. Those details may eventually be unearthed and could shed light on what led to his alleged horrific acts. Already we’ve learned that he was a pal of infamous Canadian killer Paul Bernardo back in school. A strange and sickening coincidence…I think not, but only time will tell there.

It has been reported that Williams gave a full confession and it was he that led police to Jessica’s body along the side of a rural road. If that isn’t an admission of guilt, then I don’t know what is.

It’s my hope that the community will rally around the members of our neighbourhood who work in the military and in particular those who work at 8-Wing CFB Trenton. They are likely in as much or more disbelief than we civilians. They should in no way share any of the guilt or face any negative repercussions because one of their own has been charged.

This past Saturday, Jessica Lloyd was laid to rest in Belleville with family, friends, representatives of the Police and Military in attendance to provide support. Approximately 300 mourners attended the funeral with many not able to find room inside the chapel but instead having to stand outside and listen to the service over loudspeakers.

The questions are starting to be answered for the families of those affected by these horrifying acts of violence but the wounds left by the evil actions of one sick individual will remain forever.