David Russell Williams: From celebrated military hero to perverted serial rapist

David Russell Williams was an exemplary military officer who not only once commanded Canada’s largest air base, the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, and flew heads of state as an excellent Air Force pilot, but was also a serial rapist and murderer who committed 82 burglaries to steal women’s underwear, earning him the nickname “Tweed Creeper.” When his double life was exposed in 2010, it not only shocked the military and all of Canada, but also caused an international media spectacle. But who was David Russell Williams, behind whose clean-cut facade lurked a monster who raped and killed women? David Russell Williams was born on March 7, 1963, in the English town of Bromsgrove, the son of Christine Nonie and Cedric David Williams. After his family emigrated to Canada, they settled in Chalk River, where his father worked as a metallurgist at Chalk River Laboratories, a Canadian nuclear research laboratory. After his parents divorced when Williams was six years old, his mother married nuclear physicist Dr. Jerry Sovka, and the family moved to Scarborough. In Scarborough, Williams attended Birchmount Collegiate High School and later Upper Canada College. He was considered a model son, delivering Globe and Mail newspapers in his spare time to earn extra money and learning to play the piano. In 1979, his mother and her husband moved to South Korea, where Williams’ stepfather Sovka was working on another reactor project. Williams completed his last two years of high school as a boarding student at Upper Canada College while his parents lived in South Korea. After graduating from high school in 1982, he studied economics and political science at the University of Toronto, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986. Williams joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1987, where he enjoyed a meteoric military career. As a highly decorated pilot, he flew VIP aircraft for dignitaries and heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 2005. From July 2009, he commanded the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Canada’s largest military base, which is considered a hub for domestic and international flight operations. David Russell Williams’ perfidious double life only came to light in January 2010, when the Ontario Provincial Police, or OPP for short, discovered evidence linking him to the disappearance and death of 27-year-old student Jessica Lloyd. On January 28, 2010, 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd disappeared from her home in Belleville. Investigators found distinctive tire tracks in the snow near her property. A week after her disappearance, the OPP conducted a large-scale traffic check near her home and identified the tire tracks as matching those of Williams’ silver Nissan Pathfinder. On February 7, 2010, Williams was questioned by police about his tire tracks at his newly built residence in a suburb of Ottawa. During questioning by OPP Detective Staff Sergeant James Smyth, Williams finally confessed to his crimes within 10 hours and revealed his role in numerous burglaries and sexual assaults, including the murders of Lloyd and Corporal Marie-France Comeau. During the interrogation, Williams was wearing the same boots he had worn on the night of Lloyd’s disappearance. These matched the footprints in the snow outside her home that investigators had secured. He also gave investigators clues about evidence in his home, including hidden mementos, photographs, and video files of his crimes. The subsequent investigation revealed further confessions and uncovered extensive notes and photos in his home. It became known that he had broken into at least 82 homes to steal women’s and girls’ underwear—an obsession that eventually led to sexual assaults and later to rape and murder. Williams, who had been married to Mary Elizabeth Harriman since June 1, 1991, was considered not only a model husband but also an impeccable military officer until his arrest, later turning out to be a true sex monster. On January 28, 2010, at around 1 a.m., he broke into the Belleville home of Jessica Lloyd, whom he tied up, raped multiple times, and forced to pose for photos before driving her in his silver Nissan Pathfinder to his cottage on Cosy Cove Lane in the village of Tweed. There, he continued to torture Jessica until he strangled her after almost 24 hours of torment. He initially hid her body in his garage before disposing of it in the woods near Tweed on the night of February 2-3. Two months earlier, on November 23, 2009, Williams had broken into the Brighton home of Corporal Marie-France Comeau, who was under his command. Williams repeatedly beat and raped 38-year-old Comeau for over two hours until he wrapped tape around her face, causing her to suffocate. He recorded his actions on video and in photos. He wrapped her body in a bedspread and placed it on the bed in the bedroom, where it was discovered 30 hours later. After her death, as Corporal Comeau’s commanding officer, he wrote a letter to her father expressing his condolences for her death. Prior to this murder, Williams had attacked two women in Tweed on September 17 and 30, 2009. One of them was Laura Massicotte, the other woman was not named. Both women were tied up by Williams and forced to pose naked. Between September 2007 and November 2009, there had already been a series of burglaries in Tweed and the surrounding area. Women’s underwear was stolen in these burglaries. The burglar was given the name “The Tweed Creeper,” who even stole underwear from 9- and 12-year-old girls. Investigators later found over 1,400 items of clothing, over 3,000 photos, and countless video clips on two computer hard drives in Williams’ house and cottage. These showed Williams’ compulsive fetish for stealing and wearing women’s underwear. He loved to pose in it. Williams was remanded in custody on February 8, 2010, and attempted to take his own life over the Easter weekend in April 2010. He had inserted a toilet paper roll into his throat in order to suffocate himself. However, his suicide attempt was thwarted by a guard. Williams showed no emotion during the trial. On October 18, 2010, Williams pleaded guilty in court and was sentenced on October 22, 2010, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years. After his conviction, he was expelled from the Canadian Armed Forces and stripped of all military ranks and awards. His uniform and medals were destroyed, and his vehicle was scrapped. After the Kingston prison closed, Williams was transferred to the high-security Port-Cartier prison in Quebec. In May 2012, the Canadian Armed Forces mistakenly published a book with a photo showing Williams in the background and ordered the destruction of the entire print run. This marked the definitive end of Williams’ once successful military career, and he now spends his days behind bars.