TIMELINE: THE CASE OF COLONEL RUSSELL WILLIAMS
September 17, 2009
September 30, 2009 October 29, 2009 November 25, 2009 December 4, 2009 January 28, 2010 January 30, 2010 January 31, 2010 February 4, 2010 February 7, 2010 February 8, 2010 February 9, 2010 February 11-12, 2010 February 13, 2010 February 18, 2010 March 25, 2010 March 26, 2010 April 3, 2010 April 8, 2010 April 29, 2010 May 6, 2010 June 9, 2010 July 22, 2010 August 26, 2010 October 7, 2010 October 18, 2010 October 20, 2010 October 22, 2010 December 10, 2010 December 22, 2010 February 20, 2013 |
During a home invasion in Tweed, Ontario, a woman is tied up and sexually assaulted in her home. She had also been photographed.
Another woman is forcibly confined, sexually assaulted and photographed in her home on Cosy Cove Lane in the Tweed area, the same street where Colonel Russell Williams has a cottage. Police search the Tweed home of Larry Jones, a neighbour of Russell Williams, looking for computer digital storage devices, assorted lingerie, two baby blankets, pornographic videos and photographs, zip ties and white shoes, among other items. The authorities clear Jones as a suspect. Corporal Marie-France Comeau, a 38-year-old flight attendant at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, is found dead in her home Brighton, Ontario. The death is declared a homicide. Corporal Comeau is buried at the National Cemetery in Ottawa. Jessica Elizabeth Lloyd, 27, sends a text message to a family friend late in the evening. The following day, Lloyd fails to show up for her job at a student transportation service company located in Napanee, Ontario. Police in Belleville seek the public`s assistance in trying to locate Lloyd. Her disappearance is treated as suspicious since it is out of character for her to be out of contact with her family. The Ontario Provincial Police deploy a helicopter to search over the Belleville area in looking for Lloyd. The OPP and Belleville police set up a road block on Highway 37 near Belleville in an attempt to obtain information regarding Lloyd`s disappearance. They stop and question motorists for 11 hours. During the roadblock, Colonel Russell Williams, 46, who is commander of 8 Wing Trenton, comes to the attention of the police due to a distinctive tire tread on his SUV. Colonel Russell Williams is arrested in Ottawa and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Jessica Lloyd and Corporal Marie-France Comeau. The body of Jessica Lloyd is found by police off Cary Road in the Municipality of Tweed. Reports suggest that Williams helps the authorities in locating it. Williams appears in court in Belleville where he is also charged with two counts each of forcible confinement, break and enter, and sexual assault in relation to the two September 2009 home invasions. Two grocery-sized bags of belongings are removed by OPP investigators from Williams' three-storey home in west-end Ottawa. OPP forensic officers continue their search for hidden keepsakes stored in Williams' home. Dozens of pieces of stolen lingerie are among the items recovered. A funeral service for Jessica Lloyd is held in Belleville. After a brief appearance in a Belleville court via a video link with the Quinte Detention Centre in nearby Napanee, Williams' case is remanded to March 25. Williams is represented by Michael Edelson, a prominent Ottawa defence lawyer. Williams appears through a video link from the Quinte Detention Centre to a courtroom in Belleville, where he is remanded in custody until April 29. Williams signs off on a transfer of his Ottawa home to his wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman. Just before Easter Sunday, Williams attempts suicide by stuffing cardboard from a toilet paper roll down his throat. He is then placed on suicide watch at the Quinte Detention Centre. The suicide watch is removed and Williams subsequently begins a hunger strike. Colonel Williams is charged with 82 more offences in connection with break-ins in Ottawa, Belleville and Tweed. One of Williams' alleged victims launches a $2-million civil lawsuit against him and his wife in a Belleville court. The 21-year-old woman claims that she has suffered severe depression and addiction since the alleged attack by Williams. The lawsuit also alleges that Williams fraudulently transferred ownership of his Ottawa home to his wife in order to protect it from legal action. Colonel Williams' wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, states in an affadavit that she has been devastated by the charges filed against her husband. She also files a statement of defence, refuting any allegations that the home transfer is fraudulent. Williams makes a brief video court appearance in Belleville and remains in custody until his next court appearance on August 26 for a pre-trial hearing. Russell Williams appears in court via video link and waives his right to a preliminary hearing. He is committed to stand trial on October 7. Williams makes his first live appearance before a judge in a courtroom in Belleville, Ontario. His lawyer states that Williams intends to plead guilty to all charges against him. The hearing is adjourned until October 18. Colonel Russell Williams pleads guilty to all 88 charges against him. The charges are two counts of first-degree murder, two counts each of sexual assault and forcible confinement, and all 82 counts of breaking and entering and attempted breaking and entering. In an agreed statement of facts, Crown Attorneys working on the case examine photographs Williams took of himself and descriptions of the videos he took of the rapes and murders of Jessica Lloyd and Corporal Marie-France Comeau. Williams is sentenced by a judge to two terms of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the first-degree murders. He is also sentenced to 10 years for each of his two sexual assaults, as well as one year for each of the other charges he faced. Williams is stripped of his commission, ranks, and awards by the Governor General of Canada upon the recommendation of the military. Williams also loses his severance pay and the salary he received following his arrest, but is allowed to keep his military pension which is reported to be $60,000 a year. In addition, his uniform is burned, his military medals are destroyed, and his vehicle is crushed and scrapped. In an announcement made by the Department of National Defence, former colonel and convicted murderer Russell Williams is officially expelled from the Canadian Forces. Williams' wife, Mary Elizabeth Harriman, begins the process of filing for divorce, along with a request to have any of her financial and medical information sealed by the court. They had been married since 1991. Although unconfirmed by Correctional Service of Canada, Russell Williams is moved to a prison in Port-Cartier, Quebec (800 km northeast of Montreal) due to the pending closure of Kingston Penitentiary on September 30, 2013. |