Col. Williams alleged to have burglarized woman’s home days before she was slain

BELLEVILLE, Ont. – A former Canadian military commander facing murder and sexual assault charges allegedly burglarized the home of one of the slain women just days before her body was found, court documents show.

Col. Russell Williams was hit with 82 new break-and-enter charges Thursday, with some of the burglaries reportedly involving lingerie.

Williams led one of the country’s top airbases – CFB Trenton – before he was charged in February with first-degree murder in the deaths of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau of Brighton, Ont., and Jessica Lloyd, 27, of Belleville. He is also charged in the sexual assaults of two others.

The commander’s arrest shook the military to its core.

On Thursday, just hours before Williams made a brief court appearance, provincial police said a review of unsolved crimes in eastern Ontario had resulted in the new charges.

Information filed with the court shows Williams is alleged to have burglarized Comeau’s home some 10 days before she was found dead on Nov. 25. The information does not specify what was allegedly stolen.

Forty-six of the new charges involve break-ins in Tweed, Ont., the eastern Ontario community where Williams lived after taking command of the sprawling airbase in July 2009.

It’s alleged Williams burglarized the Tweed home of the first alleged sexual assault victim twice after the Sept. 17 assault. The court documents also show police believe he robbed the home of his second alleged assault victim twice before the Sept. 30 attack in the woman’s home.

Another 34 charges fall under the jurisdiction of police in Ottawa, where Williams shared a house with his wife. The remaining two charges relate to suspected break-ins in Belleville, Ont., also near the military base.

Word of the new charges once again rattled communities barely past the initial shock of the murder charges.

Terra Dafoe, a friend of Lloyd’s, said she had expected there would be more charges but never expected so many.

“Eighty-two is just absolutely ridiculous, and it’s frustrating because there are so many previous crimes,” she said in an interview from Toronto.

“I just can’t help but sense a failure in the justice system.”

The constant trickle of new information in the case, Dafoe said, makes it difficult for those mourning Lloyd’s death to move on.

But she also hopes the aftermath of her friend’s death will lend some meaning to the tragedy.

“Because so many people adored her and she touched so many people’s lives – that was the only reason why they caught (the accused); it felt like the world rallied when she went missing,” Dafoe said.

Bonnie Jones, a neighbour of Williams in Tweed, said she didn’t know what to make of the development.

“You just kind of get settled down and everything gets stirred up again,” she said.

Her husband, Larry, was initially considered a suspect in the sexual assaults near their home and police searched their house and car last October. According to the search warrant, detectives entered the home looking for lingerie, baby blankets and other material.

The Ottawa break-and-enter charges are centred around the Fallingbrook neighbourhood, where Williams once lived.

A man whose house was among those burglarized said he and his wife came home one day to find family pictures on their bed and underwear drawers open.

“It was pretty upsetting,” said the man, who didn’t want to be identified.

The couple has four children, including 11- and 18-year-old girls. Photos of the girls were taken and the person who broke in rifled through his wife’s panty drawer and his two girls’ panty drawers, he said.

“All the different neighbours we have here, that we know of, it was all the same thing. (The burglar) looked into the women’s cupboards and underpants, and having a look (at) pictures.”

Michelle Lajeunesse, who lives across the street and a few doors down from Williams’ old house, called it “scary.”

“When you have a break-in you don’t look for underwear to be missing,” she said.

Quinte West Mayor John Williams said people would likely be surprised at the number of charges, adding some burglary victims didn’t even realize that their homes had been broken into.

“They would be happy to hear that those things, hopefully, have stopped,” Williams, who is not related to the accused, said from Trenton, Ont.

“I don’t know how somebody would have time to do all that and do their job, too. Makes you wonder when these things were taking place.”

Comeau, 37, was a flight attendant at CFB Trenton and served aboard the same military VIP flights Williams piloted for much of the 1990s, ferrying the Governor General, the prime minister and other dignitaries on domestic and overseas trips.

She was found dead in her home in Brighton last November.

Lloyd’s body was found in Tweed two weeks after she failed to show up at her job in Napanee.

On Thursday, Williams appeared physically fit during his court appearance via video and showed no outward signs of being on a hunger strike, despite media reports that he had started refusing food after attempting suicide earlier this month.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, he simply replied, “David Russell Williams” when asked his name, then added “thank you” at the end of the brief proceedings.

His next scheduled court appearance is June 24.

In the days following Williams’ arrest, provincial police investigators spent hours combing through his Ottawa home. Six plainclothes officers carrying boxes arrived at the semi-detached house and papered over windows.

In February a published report said Williams gave investigators a lengthy statement.

Police have not said what allegedly was stolen during the break-ins.

“We’re not disclosing anything that’s got to do with the details of the investigation,” said Sgt. Kristine Rae of the Ontario Provincial Police, who added the probe is continuing.

“These are the charges that we have laid to date – there are still reviews going on.”

Williams is also charged with two counts each of forcible confinement, break-and-enter and sexual assault relating to attacks on women during home invasions in Tweed on Sept. 17 and Sept. 30.

Outside court, Lt.-Col. Tony O’Keefe, who is acting as a liaison between Williams and the military, said it is difficult to comment on the state of mind of the former rising star.

“He looks OK to me – honestly, I can’t tell – he doesn’t talk about the case with me,” said O’Keefe.

The former commander reportedly came to the attention of police at a roadside checkpoint when his SUV’s unusual tires were linked to tread marks at one of the crime scenes.

Williams, who has hired high-profile Ottawa lawyer Michael Edelson to handle his case, was formally relieved of his command soon after the charges were laid.