The Canadian military was rocked to its core Monday following the bombshell
allegation that the colonel in command of the country's largest air force base
had killed two women and sexually assaulted two others.
Col. Russell Williams, a 46-year-old
career member of the Canadian Forces, was charged Monday with first-degree
murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, of Belleville, and Marie France
Comeau, a 38-year-old corporal with CFB Trenton's 437 squadron who was killed
last November.
"We're all shocked," said Lt. Annie
Morin, a public affairs officer at CFB Trenton.
"The wing commander has been a man
that's been respected and very much liked, so this news came as a very big shock
for pretty much everybody on the base."
Williams was an elite pilot, a
"shining bright star" of the military who rose through the ranks during his
23-year career to fly the prime minister and Governor General across Canada and
overseas in one of four Canadian Forces Challenger jets.
He is now also charged with sexual
assault and forcible confinement in attacks on two other women in the region
during home invasions last September.
Williams was appointed as the base
commander of CFB Trenton last July. The high-profile military base is where
troops depart from for Afghanistan and where repatriation ceremonies are held
honouring slain soldiers. It is also a major search-and-rescue base and the main
staging site for aid to Haiti.
On Monday, military brass expressed
their condolences to the family's of the victims and shock at who police had
named as the suspect.
"I never worked with him closely and
didn't know him personally," said Maj.-Gen. Yvan Blondin, Commander of 1
Canadian Air Division and Williams's superior officer.
"As far as I know from what I've seen
from his file, he was just a shining bright star. If you talk to people on the
wing they would probably tell you that they admired the wing
commander...Everybody is so surprised, we just do not know what to think about
this."
The charges raised questions about
whether members of the military are required to undergo regular psychiatric
testing as they assume higher command.
Blondin said such testing would only
be ordered if there were signs of a problem.
"All I do know is that when we pick
people for jobs in command, they have been with us for the last 20-25 years. We
observe them through their performance. They are usually extraordinary people.
They rise above other members in the community at doing what we do and this is
what Col. Williams has done. This is why he was picked to be wing commander,"
Blondin said.
Canada's top soldier said that
military members are "in shock" following the charges against Williams.
"This is a tough day for anyone in
uniform," chief of defence staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk told the Kingston
Whig-Standard while visiting CFB Kingston on Monday.
The Chief of the Air Staff, Lt-Gen.
Andre Deschamps, said in a statement that "the Air Force is fully supporting
civilian authorities" in the case.
Allegations that a predator was in
their midst left women in eastern Ontario deeply unsettled.
Katrina Chapple, 27, of Trenton, said
as a result of a warning from police she recently had an alarm system installed.
"It's kind of scary. I have a house
by myself just like (Jessica) did," Chapple said.
"I've been more cautious about when I
get home late at night. Just kind of looking around and carrying something with
me. So I've changed a few things. (I) got an alarm system, for one."
But Terra Dafoe, Lloyd's friend since
childhood, said police should have notified women sooner, as warnings came too
late for her "good-hearted" friend.
She said women in the Belleville-area
weren't aware there was a possible predator on the loose until after Lloyd
disappeared.
"We sort of feel like the police have
failed us," Dafoe said in an interview from her Toronto home.
"Why not be more aggressive with the
public in saying they had suspicions there was a predator out there? It's that
type of lack of communication that is infuriating because then you feel like
Jess might not have had to go through this."
Provincial police say they did warn
women to take safety precautions after the back-to-back sex assaults in Tweed.
Belleville police issued a similar warning following Lloyd's disappearance.
But they weren't prepared to say they
should have warned the community they had a sexual predator on their hands.
"It's tough to speculate on that,"
Det.-Insp. Chris Nicholas told a news conference, adding that police did issue
advisories last week.
It was only recently that police
thought there could be a connection between the cases.
Police first looked at Williams as a
suspect after he was pulled over on an area highway during roadside checks Feb.
4.
The body of Lloyd, an administrator
at a school bus company, was found early Monday in Tweed, about 30 minutes north
of Trenton, 11 days after she was last heard from by her friends.
Comeau, a corporal with CFB Trenton's
437 squadron, was found dead in her Brighton home on Nov. 25.
She had been in the military for 12
years and had been at 437 squadron for six months before she was killed. Police
have not released her cause of death. An autopsy is to be performed on Lloyd in
Toronto.
Some women in the region said they
were satisfied with the police response.
Genness Grills, 26, of nearby
Campbellford, says police recently urged women to change their routines.
"Maybe it would have been better if
they said it earlier but I guess if people get too nervous about it, it doesn't
really help them either," she said.
"It's good that they did say
something once they were sure."
A Toronto rape victim known as Jane
Doe sued police for not making the public aware of a serial rapist they were
tracking and was awarded $220,000 in 1998 after a judge ruled she and other
women were used without their knowledge or consent to attract a predator.
Williams, who has been relieved of
his duties, appeared in Belleville court bound by hand and leg shackles Monday
afternoon, and wearing a blue prison-issue jumpsuit and booties.
He was remanded in custody until a
video appearance on Feb. 18.
Emotions boiled over in the courtroom
as a handful of distraught-looking people caught sight of Williams. One man
hurled an obscenity his way as Williams was led from the court.
The Department of National Defence
issued a statement noting Williams is considered innocent until proven guilty,
but that in light of the "seriousness of the charges" an interim Wing Commander
for 8 Wing Trenton will soon be appointed.
A review will also be conducted by 1
Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg to determine the most appropriate action
pending the outcome of his trial.
Police spent Monday searching
Williams' property. Investigators said the only link to the two dead women they
were prepared to identify was "geography." They wouldn't say whether the victims
knew the suspect, and they said the investigation isn't over.
"We are certainly tracking the
movements of where this man has been over the past several years, and we're
continuing on with our investigation," Nicholas said.
Tweed reeve Jo-Anne Albert said the
town's residents had been following the case and had been praying the woman
would be found alive.
"The community is devastated," Albert
said in a telephone interview.
"Everyone has followed the news and
hoped and prayed that this young lady would be found and brought home to her
family. So it's definitely not the outcome that we wanted."
-With files from Pat Hewitt and
Allison Jones in Toronto.