I've had an obsession the last week or two. My girl friend got me hooked, I'll blame her.
Canadians are well aware of the man I'm going to mention, pretty sure a few Americans will have as well. I'm not sure how well known he is overseas.
Russell Williams.
Former Colonel and commanding officer of CFB Trenton, the largest air force base in Canada. I grew up on military bases. My dad like the man I'm going to talk about was also a pilot. That's where the similarity stops.
Russell Williams from all appearances didn't begin his criminal life until the age of 44 which is highly unusual. The fact that he started by breaking into houses and put on women and children's underwear then masturbated on beds and in dresser drawers is even more unusual. He stole lingerie in large quantities and photographed his take, much like someone would to sell it on EBay. He took thousands of pictures and he was in many of them.
He concentrated his time in young girls bedrooms and would often return to the same home over and over again. In one break in he wrote "merci" in a young girls computer, thanking her I suppose for the underwear he stole from her. Of over 40 break-ins only 17 were reported to police. It wasn't until the evidence was gathered that they told unknowing home owners of the crimes.
His behavior escalated rapidly and the progression of photographic evidence, his length of time spent in the homes and what he did there points to his need for more and more thrill. In one home he wiped a young woman's make-up brush with his penis and put it back on her make-up table.
Eventually he upped the thrill by sexually assaulting two women, both in his neighborhood. He tied them up, cut off their clothes and took pictures. Each assault which did not include penetration lasted around 2.5 hours.
A forensic psychiatrist reports that he was messy in his escalation and it points to compulsion that was driving him to take more and more risks to satiate his desires.
Corporal Marie Francis Comeau was a flight attendant for the Canadian Military and was stationed in Trenton where Williams was base commander. He only flew with her once but she got his attention. He was able to find out where she lived and discovered she lived alone. He was able to access her flight schedule and while away on a trip he entered her house to look around. The night she was to return he entered her basement. His plan was for her to fall asleep before he assaulted her. Instead unable to find one of her cats she entered the basement. The cat was there its eyes fixated on Williams. When she saw him she is reported to have yelled "you bastard" before he rushed her. He was masked and Marie Francis never knew her commanding officer had entered her home. He tied her to a pole in the basement and recorded her on video. He untied her at some point to take her upstairs and she fought. He knocked her unconscious and recorded her in this state on the stairs leading up. He took her to her bedroom where he continued a sadistic sexual assault. She fought hard and when he felt it was time to end it by strangling her, he was unable to complete it due to her struggle. He ended up putting duct tape on her nose and mouth and recorded her dying breaths on video. After her death he took still photos of her sitting on the floor before finally placing her on her bed and wrapping her in her duvet. That was November 2009.
January 2010. Jessica Lloyd, 27, is discovered missing by her family. A massive search begins. Two neighbors in the area report to police they saw an SUV off the side of the road the night before she was discovered missing. They take tire impressions. They take boot impressions from the back yard. A road block is set up and vehicles are screened for tire impressions as they go through. Williams has tires that match. Unbeknownst to him he is now under surveillance. They watch him detail his vehicle and take the contents of the vacuum to forensics. They are building the case. It will come to light that she was kept alive for almost 24 hours and he'd transferred to his house alive to continue the assualts. He recorded her having seizures, maby brought on by extreme stess and her begging to be brought to the hospistal, it is said the video camera didnt waver.
On February 7, 2010 Russell Williams is brought in for questioning. What is maybe the most fascinating and disturbing footage I've ever watched records a confident man who becomes anxious and then becomes resigned just prior to confessing. They say a smart man is outsmarted by a smarter man in this interview. I'm not sure he's outsmarted, I believe he's smart enough to know when he's been caught. His impulses led him to commit terrible acts and they were impulses that made him lose sight of being cautious. He entered the interview wearing the same footwear he'd worn the day of Jessica Lloyds disappearance. When shown the matched footprints you can almost feel Williams defeat. It takes an hour or two longer of long pauses and silence before Williams looks up and says "Get a map" in order to show his interrogator where Jessica's body is.
The interrogator, an OPP behavioral specialist named Smyth , is brilliant in his questioning techniques. He is able to get a confession while still reminding Williams he can ask for a lawyer at any time. Williams never does. He willingly gives up DNA and boot impressions. You have to ask yourself if either Williams thought he was too 'big' to get caught, a God complex, or if he was was hoping to be. When asked at the end of the interview what he was feeling he simply replied, "disappointed". I want to know what the disappointment meant, was it disappointment at being caught or at having fallen prey to his own dangerous desires? We may never know.
He is a fascinating case to everyone in the mental health field. He doesn't fit the role of psychopathy perfectly. He confessed he said because he didn't want to bring extra burden to his wife of 18 years, an apparent loving gesture. He was concerned as well that they were tearing apart her brand new house which he explained had been a dream of hers. In that home he was able to tell them where the video and photographic evidence was hidden. It is surprising to note that there were bags and boxes of lingerie both in a spare bedroom and the basement and she had never looked in it. Amazingly uncurious. Some report that military men often have secret things their wives are not to look in as part of security in the forces. Maybe at the top levels, but as a military brat I can say honestly my dad didn't store things in our house that we couldn't access. His wife has only one quote that can be found as she has steadfastly refused to speak with the press. She says, "I miss the man I knew, I hate the man who took him away."
Williams attempted suicide in April of this year by shoving a toilet paper roll down his throat and after that unsuccessful attempt he tried to starve himself to death. It is highly unusual for psychopaths to take their own lives which again leads us to believe he's an anomaly. He cried after sentencing saying he was terribly sorry for the acts he'd committed, he recognized verbally his apology wouldn't be acceptable.
I have mixed feelings about this man. His acts are horrendous and monstrous yet his confession tape surprisingly brings up feelings of empathy for him. It's like I am too easily able to separate his distress from his actions and I end up feeling for his distress. Yet, he did not have any empathy for any of his victims. I suppose it's my inability to understand lack of empathy that makes it difficult.
I do know that this mini obsession has literally given me at least one sleepless night. Knowing how easy it is to break into homes and knowing this man specifically targeted attractive women living alone makes me nervous. Just this past week I locked my bedroom door in addition to my entry doors, I've never done that. The act of locking of the bedroom door caused me to become hyper vigilant and I became convinced I heard footsteps in my home. My dogs began barking which is very unusual. I literally sat in my bed in an rigid position holding my phone, ready to dial 911 for at least an hour. I slept with the light on and dreamt terrible dreams. In the morning convinced my animals were dead I wielded a metal pant hanger over my head as I unlocked my bedroom door. My single status which I've lived comfortably with for years suddenly seemed dangerous.
I've attached pictures and video if I've happened to pique your interest.
Click here to watch a commercial free special edition of the Fifth Estate's view of the confession. The Confession - the fifth estate
