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Col. Russell Williams, Commander of Canada's Largest Air Base, Is Charged With Murdering Two Women

Williams was charged in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau and in two sexual assaults. Canada's top general called it a "body blow."

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Col. Russell Williams in Royal Canadian Air Force dress uniform at a parade before his arrest

The commander of Canada's largest military air base was charged with murder. On February 8, 2010, Col. Russell Williams was arraigned in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau.

Williams, 46, of Tweed, Ontario, the base commander at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, had been arrested the day before in Ottawa. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, for Lloyd, 27, of Belleville, and Comeau, an air force flight attendant who worked at the Trenton base, and with two sexual assaults in Tweed the previous September. He was remanded into custody at the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee. Gen. Walter Natynczyk, the chief of the defence staff, said the military was in a "state of shock" and that the news felt like a "body blow." He said he knew of no complaints against Williams in his 23-year career. The Ontario Provincial Police said they were working with other forces to examine unsolved cases elsewhere.

By July, Williams also faced 82 charges related to break-ins from 2007 to 2009 in Ottawa, Belleville and other parts of eastern Ontario. In October 2010, he pleaded guilty to 88 charges and was sentenced to two life terms with no chance of parole for 25 years. The Department of National Defence then revoked his commission and moved to recover his pay from the date of his arrest.

CBC News gave Cpl. Marie-France Comeau's age as 38 in February 2010 and as 37 in July 2010.

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