OTTAWA – Ontario Provincial Police investigators removed two bags of belongings on Tuesday after searching the Ottawa home of a Canadian Forces base commander who is charged with the first-degree murder of two women and the sexual assault of two others.
Two police officers entered the home of Col. Russell Williams on Tuesday afternoon and later left with the bags. In a search warrant previously executed on another man suspected in the two sexual assaults, OPP were looking for digital storage devices, two bras, thong underwear, baby blankets and zip ties, among other items.
The arrest of Williams, commander at CFB Trenton in southeastern Ontario, has sent shock waves across Canada and throughout the Canadian Forces.
Williams, 46, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and the forcible confinement and sexual assault of two other women in cases where the victims were bound naked to chairs and photographed by their attacker.
Police spent Sunday interviewing Williams and, on Monday, announced they had found the body of Belleville, Ont., resident Jessica Lloyd, 27, who had been missing for more than a week.
Police would not say how they were able to find Lloyd’s body after Williams’s arrest, nor are they revealing the cause of death in either case, Sgt. Kristine Rae of the Ontario Provincial Police said Tuesday.
An autopsy on Lloyd was underway Tuesday in Toronto, she said.
Williams appeared in court on Monday charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Lloyd and Marie-France Comeau, 38, a corporal from the base that Williams commanded. Comeau was killed in November and found in her home in nearby Brighton.
"It’s a joint investigation between the OPP and Belleville Police right now, and that will continue into the near future," Rae said. "There are officers at different scenes collecting evidence and gathering information."
Canadian police agencies are also looking for information about cold cases in their areas and calling Ontario investigators probing the murders and sexual assaults. "We have heard from other police agencies," Rae said. "Other services have called for information."
Detectives working the file are reviewing all cold cases of missing and slain women at every military posting – including a secret Canadian in the Middle East – at which Williams served during his 23-year career.
Police in Halifax confirmed Tuesday they have contacted police in Ontario about Williams, who once served at CFB Shearwater, near the Nova Scotia capital.
On Monday, OPP Det.-Insp. Chris Nicholas said police were "tracking the movements of where this man has been over the past several years."
However, police Tuesday ruled out Williams as a suspect in the unsolved 2001 death of Kathleen MacVicar, 19, which happened at CFB Trenton. Her mother, Colleen MacVicar, said she was disappointed Tuesday after police confirmed that Williams was not a suspect.
When the charges were filed on Monday, police also announced Williams was being charged with two counts of forcible confinement and two counts of break and enter and sexual assault in connection with two attacks on women in nearby Tweed, Ont., last September.
"People are still shocked and devastated and trying to come to terms with what we know," said Tweed resident Jo-Anne Albert Tuesday. "It’s just knocked everybody on their backs a bit; everyone’s still talking about it, obviously."
"Tweed has never been the same since September," she said. "That was something that had never happened in this community."
Albert added that after the two assaults, police "did what they could" and cautioned the community to be "extra vigilant" with their personal safety, especially by locking doors and windows.
"People did different things with the way they lived and were more careful. Yes, it sure did change the way we live."
The community didn’t link Lloyd’s disappearance to the sexual assaults until Monday, when the news came out.
"My heart goes out to Jessica’s family and to the other murdered girl and also to the two girls (who were sexually assaulted). It’s brought maybe a little bit of closure to them . . . but at a terrible expense."
During the investigation of the Ontario sex attacks, police also searched the home of Larry Jones, a local man.
Jones, 65, said OPP told him the women had their hands bound with zip ties and their heads were covered. They were then photographed by their attacker.
Jones was initially a suspect in the attacks and his home was searched on Oct. 29.
According to the search warrant, OPP were looking for digital storage devices, a black La Senza bra, a purple La Senza bra, thong underwear with a poodle, two baby blankets, pornographic photos and videos, white shoes, and zip ties, among other items.
Jones said that the special type of tire treads on Williams’s vehicle tipped off police to his possible involvement in the murders. Police said Monday it was a roadside canvass on a nearby highway that made Williams a person of interest in the case. However, on Tuesday, Rae said she could not discuss the tire tread information because it was "evidentiary in nature."
Meanwhile, it appears that Williams has still not retained a lawyer. A clerk at the Belleville courthouse where Williams appeared Monday said the accused had been represented by a duty council and that they were not aware of any lawyer putting their name forward to represent the senior air force officer. Belleville lawyer John Wonnacott, who acted as Williams’s duty council, said he had not been retained by Williams.
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