Canada - Marie-France Comeau, 37, & Jessica Lloyd, 27, slain, Ont, 2009 & 2010 - #1

[Hazel]

For people who are not familiar with the Ottawa area, here is map that could help a bit.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Gatineau&daddr=Orleans,+ON+to:473+Edison+Ave.&hl=en&geocode=FfDqtQId7ON8-yk7mHbwNBrOTDHAWE2urQwEBQ%3BFSjotQIdpbh_-ylX7r-xeBHOTDHO3_Wt_wOCVQ%3B&mra=ls&sll=45.446644,-75.617523&sspn=0.244237,0.440826&ie=UTF8&ll=45.433154,-75.634003&spn=0.244296,0.440826&t=h&z=11

 

[Dee10]

I'm still catching up, so I apologize if this has already been answered. According to his BIO, he lived in Ottawa in the 90s, and more recently in Gatineau, which is just on the other side of the river.
According to this article, he and his wife were living in ORLEANS (Ottawa east area)


and just recently moved (apparently around Christmas 2009) to the WESTBORO house, which is definitely a brand new home. There was another old house with a 'for sale' sign when the Google Street View car was in that area last spring/summer.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&sour...=55VcLb2cgIryiL6klr2jGg&cbp=12,40.31,,0,-5.65

the small pine tree on the right and the pine tree on the left are still there, when compared to the image in the news article:
http://www.napaneeguide.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2441494

Thanks for clearing that up! Regarding the 6 month course in Gatineau, I asked my s'in-law her husband is military. He drove from Gat. to Ottawa everyday & it took approx. 45 min. I asked if she was sure & she said "yes".

 

[paris_paris]

Interview with one of the victims that survived.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2010/02/08/12797701-qmi.html

Even when he took photographs, letting her touch the camera so she’d know.

Hopefully he took pictures in all of his assaults, and work for LE will be simple.

 

[maxfactor]

Has anyone read where his home town was ? or where he lived prior to his career in the military?

 

[fhc]

Welcome Spook1381

 

[Dee10]

For people who are not familiar with the Ottawa area, here is map that could help a bit.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=d&sour...154,-75.634003&spn=0.244296,0.440826&t=h&z=11

Thanks that is very helpful! :aktion033:

 

[Dee10]

George White, a former air force mechanic, lived two doors down from Williams for 12 years in Ottawa's east-end Orléans neighbourhood.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/02/09/ottawa-williams-neighbour-shcok.html#ixzz0f5aOFUaW
​

 

[ellabella]

I've been a WS lurker for eons, but just had to post because this one hits so close to home, with friends in Tweed, on base,etc. but this quote from this article absolutely chills me to my core:

Shortly after Christmas, she drove past his front yard on Cosy Cove Lane.

She waved. He waved back.

 

[RubyRed]

Welcome ellabella,,,,,,,,

Yes ,creepy isn't it ? I noticed that statement when I read the article as well .

 

[Dee10]

I am shocked about this one:

Meanwhile, police on Tuesday ruled out Williams as a suspect in the unsolved 2001 death of Kathleen MacVicar, 19, which happened at CFB Trenton, as investigators sifted through cold cases of missing and slain women at military postings where Williams served during his 23-year career.

Meanwhile, it appears that Williams still has not retained a lawyer. A clerk at the Belleville courthouse where Williams appeared Monday said the accused had been represented by 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.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Accused+ruled+suspect+earlier+Trenton+case/2541132/story.html

 

[Hazel]

George White, a former air force mechanic, lived two doors down from Williams for 12 years in Ottawa's east-end Orléans neighbourhood.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/02/09/ottawa-williams-neighbour-shcok.html#ixzz0f5aOFUaW
​

Wow! 12 years in Ottawa? I understand he was always on the move, traveling and stationed in other parts of the country and world, but still 12 years in that residence in Orleans! I sure expect LE to check that house (and backyard/under deck/basement/false walls, etc.) thoroughly even if that property has new owners now. Will be interesting also to find out WHEN did they move out of the Orleans house. I still haven't heard where his in-laws nor his parents live/lived??

From that same article:

In July, Williams and his wife moved into their cottage in Tweed and lived there for six months before returning to Ottawa to settle in a new house in Westboro, White said.

If this article is accurate, they moved to their cottage in Tweed and spent the summer there while their new home in Westboro was being constructed/finished. It's not very clear if they had moved out from the Orleans home by then.

 

[pinkeyesucks]

I may be speaking out of turn here but it was brought to my attention that the body was stumbled upon while the police were in pursuit of someone else.

 

[Hazel]

I am shocked about this one:
ruled out

The only logical explanation for ruling him out so quickly would be DNA, providing LE already had the results of any DNA found in Kathleen MacVicar's crime scene, already in her file.
This must be so hard on her parents after all these years

 

[Hazel]

I may be speaking out of turn here but it was brought to my attention that the body was stumbled upon while the police were in pursuit of someone else.

Are you kidding me? Police were in pursuit of someone else in that very deserted Cary Rd., surrounded by just trees and snow, early morning on a Monday, few hours after they paid RW a "visit" and arrested him?

 

[Hazel]

Murder charges may unfairly tarnish military's reputation

Although many in the military will consider it unfair, murder charges against Colonel Russell Williams could damage the reputation of the Canadian Forces, whose image in the eyes of Canadians has been transformed in recent years.

“If things drag out and new revelations come to light, the potential for damage to the Forces reputation will increase,” said Allen Sens, an expert in defence policy at the University of British Columbia.

“This is what Canadians will be watching for: will the military close ranks around this, as perhaps we've seen in the past, or will they openly co-operate” with the investigation, said Steven Staples, president of the Rideau Institute, an Ottawa think-tank that examines, among other things, the military and defence policy.

As the Defence establishment seeks to preserve its elevated level of funding, even as the federal government grapples with deficit and the mission in Afghanistan prepares to wind down, the timing couldn't be worse.

And then this happened.

Douglas Bland, who holds the chair in Defence Management Studies at Queen's University, hopes and expects that Canadians will differentiate between allegations against one senior officer and the overall integrity of the military's command structure

Unless …

Unless other allegations emerge from other incidents in other places where Col. Williams lived. Unless any evidence emerges of concerns about Col. Williams that were ignored. Unless the charges prompt allegations that latent sexism can still be found in the senior ranks of the military. Unless the military appears to throwing up defensive walls.

“If it turns out that other senior officials were aware of a pattern in his behaviour, or if past incidents occurred that were ignored or not appropriately addressed, then the impact could be quite damaging,” Prof. Sens said.

But unless and until such evidence emerges, the military, like the accused, should be presumed innocent.

read more : http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/murder-charges-may-unfairly-tarnish-militarys-reputation/article1462181/

 

[pinkeyesucks]

kinda wish i was but i am not.

 

[Dee10]

The only logical explanation for ruling him out so quickly would be DNA, providing LE already had the results of any DNA found in Kathleen MacVicar's crime scene, already in her file.
This must be so hard on her parents after all these years

I hadn't thought about DNA, just I really thought he look good for her murder as it was right on the Trenton base housing. Yes, the mother was quoted as being disappointed. I couldn't image not knowing.

 

[pinkeyesucks]

I know that Quinte West police took care of the initial case of Kathleen McVicar, but are the Military Police involved in any way? I tried too look up what the MP's actually do in respect to murder investigations that occur on base but I cannot seem to get a search going that does not revolve around the current investigation of RW. FRUSTRATING!

 

[Summersolstice]

To clear up some details:

RW was arrested in his Ottawa home, according to reports I saw on TV yesterday. His wife was present when he was arrested. She was taken into the home's garage and driven away by the military. This was a neighbor's account.

Gatineau includes the former city of Hull, directly across the river from Ottawa. It takes less than five minutes to cross the bridge. Time to drive to Ottawa, therefore, depends on where one lives in Gatineau.

A finding of guilt on two first-degree murder charges would not bring a 50-year sentence. Here in Canada, we have concurrent, not consecutive sentencing. So, the maximum sentence if RW is found guilty of all of the charges against him, would be life in prison without eligibility for parole for 25 years.

The military top brass would be quite naive to think that this incident will not color Canadians' opinion of the military. I think the Canadian public has had quite enough of the scandals that have gone down in the RCMP in recent years. The new RCMP commissioner recently announced that the RCMP will no longer investigate their own wrongdoing, with some exceptions. Whoopee. It will take a lot more than that for the faith of Canadians to be restored. There is a lesson in this for the military. This could be the beginning of a major political controversy, with consequences for the military, such as funding cuts. The Harper government must be aware of the brewing political storm.

With regard to the previous paragraph, the question of a cover-up by the military will no doubt be asked, over and over and over. How could they not have known? There is almost no way for them to come out smelling like a rose after this. If they deny any knowledge of this man's activities, many won't believe them. If they admit to prior knowledge, this will cast them in a very poor light. They might as well drop the "this is one man" line, and change their PR tactics right now. He is one man, but a very senior one, at a very large base with a crack anti-terrorist team. He is one man who travelled with our leaders and the Queen. How could that special ops unit have missed this? And what does that say about their abilities?

 

[Hazel]

Where are my manners?
:Welcome-12-june: pinkeyesucks! :Welcome-12-june:

kinda wish i was but i am not.

maybe you know something we don't. I just don't believe too much in coincidences