Canadian True Crime - 51 The Crimes of Russell Williams - Part 1

Episode Date: September 15, 2019

Welcome back to a new season of Canadian True Crime!In 2010, 27 year old Jessica Lloyd was reported missing from her home in Belleville, Ontario. She hadn't shown up for work, and the last time anybody heard from her was a late evening text message the night before.A week after Jessica disappeared, the OPP called a man in for questioning. What he revealed to police over the next 10 hours would not only come to shock the nation, but many thousands of employees of the Canadian Forces to their core. The man sitting in front of police admitting to a string of escalating offences against women - some horrifically violent - was the LAST person they expected to apprehend.Find out more about:The Mob Reporter - watch the Russell Williams interrogationAll Crime No Cattle podcastWant to support my sponsors? Here's where the discount codes are:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/sponsorsCredits: Research and writing: Gemma HarrisAudio editing: Erik KrosbyEditing, narration, music arrangement, audio production: Kristi LeeDisclaimer voiced by the host of Beyond Bizarre True CrimeTheme Song: We Talk of DreamsOther credits and sources can be found on the page for this episode at https://canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes/2019/9/12/51-russell-williams Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone, welcome back to Canadian True Crime. Thank you so much for your patience as I took a break over the summer to rest and recharge and spend some time with my family. I really appreciate it. This is part one of a two-part series and it's been a long time coming. Part two will be available on October the 1st but patrons will receive it this week without any of the ads for just two dollars a month so there's two options for you to hear part two. This podcast contains course language, adult themes and content of a violent and disturbing nature. Listener discretion is advised. This story takes place in Ottawa the capital city of Canada located on the eastern border of Ontario next to Quebec. With about 900,000 residents the city is the political hub

of Canada and offers many historic sites like Parliament Hill as well as its own Notre Dame Cathedral. The Rideau Canal is another well-known landmark spanning over 200 kilometres. In summer boats cruise the canal system and in winter it turns into the world's largest and longest outdoor skating rink. Ottawa isn't high on the list of Canadian cities with high crime rates but in late October of 2008 the Ontario Provincial Police issued a press release to the city's residents. Since May of that year there had been several break-ins and burglaries reported with most of them taking place in the eastern suburb of Orleans but these weren't ordinary break-ins and thefts of your typical valuables like jewellery, big ticket appliances, credit cards or

cash. A fetish burglar was breaking into empty homes and stealing women's underwear. At the same time similar incidents had been occurring in nearby Tweed a village of 1600 people about two hours drive southwest of Ottawa. Between September 2007 and May 2008 there had been 22 incidents reported in Tweed alone. The OPP took the report seriously and initiated a surveillance operation but not only did the break-ins and thefts continue they escalated. No longer satisfied with just stealing women's underwear the intruder took to stealing sex toys and leaving notes for the victims of his break-ins and then in September of 2009 things took an even more dangerous turn when two separate women in Tweed reported that a masked man had broken into their homes. They told harrowing

stories of him tying them up stripping them naked and forcing them to pose for photographs before fleeing the scene. Police didn't have any leads to allow them to identify or apprehend the offender. As 2010 began the community thought things had calmed down and that the violent home invasions had stopped well at least they hoped they were wrong. In late January of 2010 27 year old Jessica Lloyd was reported missing from her home in Belleville Ontario about an hour and a half drive southwest of Ottawa. Jessica had failed to show up for her job and the last time anybody heard from her was a late evening text message the night before. In the days following Jessica's disappearance police found tire track impressions and boot

prints in the snow near her house. There were also witness reports of an SUV seen parked near the property just before Jessica went missing. A week after Jessica disappeared the OPP called a Tweed man in for questioning. What he revealed to police over the next 10 hours would not only come to shock the nation but many thousands of employees of the Canadian forces to their core. The man sitting in front of police admitting to a string of escalating offences against women some horrifically violent was the last person they expected to apprehend. This is Christy and you're listening to Canadian True Crime Episode 51. David Russell Williams or Russell as he would be known was born on March the 7th 1963 in the town

of Bromsgrove in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom. His parents were Christine and Cedric Williams Cedric went by his middle name of David. In October of that year when Russell was still a baby the Williams family immigrated to Canada and settled in Deep River Ontario a town of about 5,000 people. David got a job at a prominent nuclear research laboratory in nearby Chalk River. Two years later Russell's brother Harvey was born. Following their move to Canada the Williams family became friends with another family Jerry and Lynn Sovka but David and Christine Williams marriage soon soured and when Russell was six years old his parents divorced. Meanwhile the marriage of their family friends Jerry and Lynn Sovka also broke down. In an interesting turn

of events David Williams began a relationship with Lynn Sovka and Christine Williams went on to marry Jerry Sovka the couples essentially switched. Russell took the surname of his new stepfather and was known as Russell Sovka. Jerry Sovka was a highly educated engineer who was offered a job at Ontario Hydro. The new blended family relocated to Scarborough a suburb east of Toronto that overlooks Lake Ontario. Russell started piano lessons and after school he earned some pocket money delivering the Globe and Mail newspaper. Former neighbors reported that his mother Christine had a domineering personality and ensured her two sons participated in a wide range of extracurricular activities including tennis and sailing. Russell went to high school at Birchmount Collegiate and

was by this time an accomplished musician taking the place of skilled trumpet player in the school band. Russell had a wide-ranging love of music especially jazz which extended into his adult years. Russell was described by a classmate as a dedicated student and very musical but also quiet and not the type who enjoyed partying. In 1979 when Russell and his brother Harvey were still in high school their stepfather Jerry Sovka got a job overseeing another nuclear reactor project in South Korea and the family moved there but within a year 17 year old Russell and 15 year old Harvey moved back to Canada. Russell was enrolled into Toronto's Upper Canada College an elite private boarding school. He didn't have a lot of friends and a fellow

boarder at the college remembers Russell once being locked in his room by other students as a prank. He eventually escaped by tying his bedsheets together and climbing out the window but despite these pranks in the final years of high school Russell's peers elected him as a prefect for his boarding house a responsibility he enjoyed. In 1982 Russell enrolled in a four-year degree at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus to study economics and political science. During his time at college Russell who was still going by the name Russ Sovka had little contact with his family and several people who knew him reported that he looked lonely. Despite this he was a known prankster and became experienced at picking door locks when accessing other people's

dorm rooms to execute his pranks. He was also known to hide in cupboards and closets for hours to surprise his unsuspecting roommates as well as playing other pranks like cling wrapping toilet bowls. During his time at college Russell was known to his friends and roommates as a meticulous and controlling neat freak who assigned tasks to all his dorm mates earning him the nickname of Sarge. The few college friends he had noticed that Russell didn't talk about his family at all. By this stage his mother Christine and her husband Jerry Sovka were living in Hawaii and his father David Williams had relocated to New York. Russell's friends thought it was odd that he didn't return home for holidays or weekends. He always preferred to just stay on campus.

The University of Toronto Scarborough campus wasn't without scandal during Russell's time there as a student. In January of 1983 the campus newspaper published a story about a student who'd been attacked in the parking lot dragged into the valley and raped and then serial killer Paul Bernardo later admitted to raping at least a dozen women in Scarborough at that time. As you recall from episodes one and two of this podcast Paul and his wife Carla Hamalka were later convicted of killing three school girls in the early 1990s including Carla's younger sister. There's nothing to suggest that Russell Williams was responsible for any of the sex attacks being reported in Scarborough but it is a bizarre coincidence that Russell Williams and Paul Bernardo were students

at the Scarborough campus at the same time and Paul also studied economics and graduated the year after Russell. During his time at college Russell met a female Japanese student which soon developed into a serious relationship. According to the book Evil in Plain Sight by David Gibb Russell was smitten with his new love interest but his friends soon noticed that Russell's girlfriend dictated the terms of the relationship including how often they would see each other. The normally controlling Russell uncharacteristically gave into his girlfriend's demands in an effort to please her and spend time together but after being together for a couple of years she ended the relationship. Russell's friends could see he was devastated by the breakup

but he wouldn't discuss what happened or how he was feeling even though those around him could see he was clearly heartbroken. At some point he changed his name back to the name he was born with Russell Williams. When he graduated from college in 1986 he announced to his friends that he wanted to get into the military. They were surprised as he'd only just graduated with a degree in economics and politics. As an undergraduate Russell had dabbled in learning to fly a plane and took lessons at Toronto's Buttonville airport. One particular friend later told CBC News that he suspected that Russell may have been living out a top gun fantasy referencing the hit 1986 movie about US fighter pilots. True to his word the following year Russell completed his basic training in

Chilliwack BC. Now in his mid-20s he was a young lieutenant who was in the process of finishing up his basic flying course at Canadian forces Base Moose Jaw Saskatchewan. On a visit to Calgary he met a woman called Mary Elizabeth Harriman who was five years older than him and had also grown up in Ontario. There was an instant attraction between Russell and Mary Elizabeth. They were both heavily into fitness and healthy living with organised type A personalities and they were also both focused on building their careers. Mary Elizabeth had a degree in nutrition and an MBA. Amazon a career trajectory that would lead her to a leadership position at the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Their relationship blossomed and Russell regularly

drove the 13 hour round trip from Moose Jaw to Calgary to see his new love interest. The couple had an easy way of relating to each other and enjoyed playing golf. Mary Elizabeth was described as a sweetheart of a lady and a friend would later describe her relationship with Russell saying of anybody they were the ones who had their act together quote they were a successful nice couple the kind of people you would leave to watch your house. In 1990 Russell officially earned his wings and began his flying career in the Canadian forces. Early in the following year he was promoted to the rank of captain while assigned as a rookie flight instructor at a Canadian forces flying school in Manitoba. Russell and Mary Elizabeth were comfortable

in their lives by now sharing an apartment with a cat they'd gotten together. On June the first 1991 the couple married in an intimate ceremony at an art gallery in Winnipeg. According to friends the couple made a decision not to have children one friend said that Russell told him he didn't want to put a kid in the kind of world we were living in. In 1992 the newlyweds left Manitoba when Russell was posted to Shearwater, Nova Scotia. He was assigned to work in Electronic Warfare and Coastal Patrol where he flew the CC-144 Challenger an aircraft that had been used to transport VIPs and dignitaries around Canada. Within two years he was flying those dignitaries himself. In 1994 Russell was posted to 412 Transport Squadron in

Ottawa and began flying dignitaries in the CC-144 Challenger. Russell would go on to fly members of the British Royal Family as well as Jean Cretien, the then Prime Minister of Canada, the Canadian Governor-General and several foreign dignitaries. In 1995 Russell and Mary Elizabeth purchased a home on Wilkie Drive in the Ottawa suburb of Orlins, a part of town that was home to many military families. The couple and their beloved cat settled in and enjoyed gardening together at their new home. Mary Elizabeth often travelled with her career but whenever she returned her husband would greet her with affection in the driveway and carry her bags into the house. To neighbours the couple were the picture

of domestic bliss but also quite private. They kept to themselves and weren't known for socialising with neighbours. In November of 1999 Russell was promoted to the rank of major and moved to a new division in a leadership position. Two years later Russell's mother and stepfather divorced. This was his mother's second divorce and Russell was quite upset by it, despite being 38 years old by this time. His brother Harvey would later say that the divorce of Christine and Jerry Sovka caused a deep rift between himself, Russell and their mother, which they later made efforts to repair. In 2004 Russell graduated with a Master of Defence Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. In June of that year he was promoted

again to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and in July he was appointed Commanding Officer of 437 Transport Squadron at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, also known as CFB Trenton, a senior ranking post that he would hold for the next two years. Situated between Ottawa and Toronto CFB Trenton is Canada's largest military airbase covering 960 acres. It functions as a hub for the country's foreign and domestic air transport operations in Afghanistan and Haiti and is home to Canada's disaster assistance response team. The base is also the military location where bodies of Canadian forces personnel killed in Afghanistan are returned. Russell and Mary Elizabeth's marriage continued to be as successful as their careers. Russell was by all accounts a considerate and

attentive husband. When Mary Elizabeth's father passed away in July of 2004, Russell surprised her by thoughtfully having her late father's World War II medals professionally mounted and framed. But his new posting to CFB Trenton posed a logistics issue for the couple. Trenton was about three hours' drive from Ottawa, a commute that would be far too long. So not long after Russell's promotion, the couple purchased a waterfront cottage in the village of Tweed, almost two and a half hours' drive from their main home in Orleans, but only a 45-minute drive from Trenton. The plan was that Russell would live in the cottage on Cozy Cove Lane in Tweed during the week and Mary Elizabeth would remain at their main home in Ottawa with their cat. On weekends, they would

reunite. Mary Elizabeth would join Russell at the cottage or Russell would return back to Ottawa. Russell's new next-door neighbour in Tweed observed how happy he and Mary Elizabeth appeared at the cottage. He said he always saw the couple out walking hand in hand or just hanging out in the garden together. In May of 2005, Russell had the honour of flying Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip from the UK to Canada to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Russell Williams was becoming a big deal in the Canadian military. His high-profile assignments continued and after Hurricane Katrina devastated the US states of Florida and Louisiana in August of 2005, he transported red cross-workers and relief

supplies via jet. A couple of months later, in December of that year, Russell was deployed for a six-month military tour of the Persian Gulf. He served as the commanding officer for the theatre support element at the secret Canadian military base known as Camp Mirage. The logistics facility, believed to be located in the United Arab Emirates, supported Canadian forces operations in Afghanistan. Despite Russell's keen interest in physical fitness, he was said to suffer from chronic joint pain. Prescription painkillers didn't fully alleviate this and Russell told his wife that walking late at night helped alleviate his back pain before going to bed. Those who knew Russell were familiar with his tendency to go for walks around the neighbourhood late at night to

manage his pain. In the fall of 2007, several properties in Tweed were robbed. One of the properties was Russell's next-door neighbours. Another property was owned by a family who had arrived home after being out for the day. When they entered their home, they noticed a tall man in their house who quickly ran away as the family entered. The family didn't notice anything missing from the home, so initially chose not to report the incident to police. But 10 days later, when they heard of another break-in in the area, they changed their minds. The family had two 11-year-old twin daughters and, while they didn't initially notice anything missing, they later discovered that 14 pieces of clothing had been stolen, including nine pairs of their underwear.

The following year, 2008, between March and December, a spate of break-in enters occurred in Ottawa, often in homes belonging to families with teenage daughters. Police received reports from residents that someone had either attempted to or were successful in gaining entry to their homes and that women's underwear and sex toys were being stolen. In two instances, female residents from separate homes had every single stitch of their underwear and bras stolen. In another instance, a family with three girls aged between 12 and 21 years old not only had underwear stolen, but photos belonging to them were found laid out on their bedroom floors. And when the 12-year-old daughter logged into her computer the next day,

someone had typed up a Word document and typed the word Merci, the French word for thank you, leaving it open for her to see on the screen. That same person had also opened a folder on her computer that contained photos of the 12-year-old and her family. Just a few months later, in January of 2009, Russell was posted to the Canadian Forces Language School in Gatineau, Quebec for a six-month period of French language training. The Ottawa River separates Ottawa, Ontario and the province of Quebec, so Gatineau was only about a half-hour drive from the suburb of Orleans, the primary residents of Russell and Mary Elizabeth. And after that, he was promoted again to Colonel, the highest rank of senior officer in the Canadian

Army. Meanwhile, the residents of the suburb of Orleans in Ottawa were still uneasy. The break-ins and thefts of women's underwear continued in the first half of that year and well into the month of June. One family was returning home in January after being out of town for a few days. When they got in, the 15-year-old daughter noticed that around 50 pairs of her underwear, dresses, bathing suits, tank tops and many of her photos, including modelling headshots, were missing. When the OPP arrived to examine the house, they found evidence of dried semen on top of the daughter's dresser from where her underwear had been stolen. But unfortunately, the sample was not considered suitable for DNA analysis at the time. Following this incident, the 15-year-old was so

scared about sleeping in her bedroom that for the next three months she slept in the spare room with her dog. Police continue to investigate the series of fetish break-ins occurring in Ottawa and Tweed, but only as separate incidents. Somehow, the fetish break-ins occurring in Tweed weren't connected with those in Ottawa. Given the two different locations, police assumed it was the work of two different people. In July of 2009, at a large ceremony attended by his family, as well as military and political dignitaries, Colonel Russell Williams was sworn in as Wing Commander at CFB Trenton, meaning that he would be the public face of the Trenton base, a rare, highly prestigious and visible role. The man who appointed Russell, retired Lieutenant General Angus

later talked about why he was selected, describing him as unusually calm, very logical, very rational and fast and productive. You have to be good with people and you have to be a good leader, you have to be good with administration, you have to be good with the media and good with the public, and it all has to come together in a package that gives us confidence that you will do well, and Russ had that package. At the ceremony, Russell told the crowd, I look forward to meeting many more members of the community and strengthening that relationship. These are exciting times for the Air Force. I'm confident that the team here is up to the task, and I look forward to getting right into that work. In his new role as Wing Commander,

accommodation was provided on base for him, but Russell decided to stay in their cottage on Cozy Cove Lane in Tweed. On September 16, 2009, just weeks after Russell was sworn in as Wing Commander, a 21-year-old woman and her infant returned to their home in Tweed between 9.30 and 10pm. A publication ban is in place to protect her identity, so she's known as Jane Doe. Once she was inside the house, Jane locked the front door, but did not check the back patio door because she believed it was still locked from the previous night. Jane, her boyfriend and her eight-week-old daughter had only recently moved into the rental property. Jane's boyfriend was a truck driver who worked out of town during the week, so he wasn't home on this particular night.

Jane put her daughter to bed, and at around 11pm decided to turn in herself. The next thing she knew, Jane woke up to the feeling of someone very strong holding down her head. It was dark, and a man was laying on top of her, realizing with horror that this wasn't a dream and terrified for herself and her baby. Jane asked the intruder if he was going to kill her. The man said no. He told her he'd seen her from his boat and thought she was cute. He asked Jane how long she'd lived in the home and who her daughter's father was. Jane told the intruder she'd lived there about a month, but refused to say anything about her partner or the person who was her father's daughter. Jane had no idea how long she was held down, but to her it felt like forever.

The intruder told Jane it was 1am and then asked where her baby's father was. Jane didn't answer the question. Over the next two hours, Jane was in constant fear for her life and mentally prepared herself not to survive her ordeal. The attacker moved her to the side of the bed, sat on her backside, and put his hands on her back. He then struck her hard three times on her head, instructing her to stay quiet and not to look at him. Jane told the intruder that he didn't seem like the type to do this kind of thing, noticing that he seemed to become nicer after she said this. The intruder tied Jane's hands together with a pillowcase shaped into ties and led her into the living room, repeatedly saying that he needed control over her to allow

her to walk into another room. Hoping that the intruder would leave if he felt she was unattractive, Jane commented that having just had a baby, she felt she didn't look her best. This had the opposite effect. The intruder responded that Jane was perfect and sweet. Jane heard him take something from a bag and he guided her back to her bedroom. Jane asked what was happening, the intruder responded, you'll see. He told Jane he wasn't going to hurt her or her baby before putting a pillowcase over her head. But this made her claustrophobic, so he instead used it to blindfold her. The intruder then slid the right side of Jane's tank top down, revealing her right breast. She heard him take a photo. He then slid her top down to her waist

and touched both of her exposed breasts while taking more photos. The intruder left the room, but Jane had no idea where he was or what he was doing. When he returned, Jane heard him open her dresser drawers. It sounded like he was going through her bras and underwear. He then took all the sheets off Jane's bed. The intruder removed Jane's pants, instructing her to spread her legs. As she laid there distraught, he took photos of her vaginal area, but reassured her that he wasn't going to hurt her and that he would leave. After what seemed like an eternity where Jane feared for her safety and her life, the intruder told her to count to 300. She got to 70 and stopped, but the intruder was still there

and told her to keep going. When Jane counted to 200, she yelled out and listened for a response. There was nothing. She managed to undo her blindfold and called 911 at approximately 3.15am. Officers arrived and quickly checked the area, including the nearby lake for boats, but found nothing. Jane had not heard any cars or boats leave her area after the intruder told her to continue counting. Jane didn't suffer any physical injuries during the attack. Despite not having seen the face of her attacker, she told police that he was likely between 30 to 50 years of age and to her he seemed like a dad. She said he was of average height and build. He didn't have any facial hair or anything covering his face. She also told police that the man was wearing

hiking boots and a tight sweater, which she ripped at one point when she grabbed at it. Jane also noted that the man breathed loudly and tried to make his voice sound deep. She noted that he had a ring on a finger of one of his hands and said that he smelled dirty. Jane also described the camera her attacker used as being fancy, not a regular digital one. She noted that it had a strap and the flash seemed brighter than normal. Jane thought her attacker took about seven photographs in total. When the OPP forensic unit arrived at Jane's home later that morning, they noted that her attacker had entered the home through a screen head cut on one of the side windows. They noticed that Jane's bed had no sheets or blankets and the duvet on the floor

had been stripped of its cover. The two pillowcases he cut to tie Jane's hands and blindfold her were located in her daughter's bedroom and some of her underwear was missing along with a baby blanket. Officers swabbed both Jane and her bedroom for DNA. They managed to get a sample from the back of her neck, which was later determined to be a partial male DNA profile that was suitable for analysis. Over the course of the morning, police stopped and spoke to motorists traveling along a nearby main road in Tweed, but no one had seen or heard anything unusual in the days or hours prior to the attack. A police canine unit also searched the area, but failed to come up with any significant leads. The day after the attack, Jane moved to nearby Belleville with her boyfriend

and daughter. Terrified, she refused to return to Tweed. Despite a thorough investigation over the following weeks and months, police were unable to identify Jane Doe's attacker. Larry Jones was a longtime resident of Tweed and a next door neighbor of Russell and Mary Elizabeth, who lived on the same street, Cozy Cove Lane. Larry recalled that on September 30th, two weeks after the attack on Jane Doe, police were conducting inquiries in his neighborhood. Russell wasn't home at the time, so when Larry saw police knocking at his front door, he approached them to let them know. An officer looked at the mailbox and saw the name Russell Williams on it, and commented that it was the same name as the commander of CFB Trenton.

Larry told police that it wasn't just the same name, but the same person. The officer responded, Oh really, you're not kidding. Well then, I guess we don't have to look at him. Do you have a passion project that you're ready to take to the next level? Square Space makes it easy for anyone to create an engaging web presence, grow a brand and sell anything from your products to the content you create and even your time. When I launched this passion project six years ago, I needed some kind of online hub to manage all the non-podcasting tasks that come with podcasting. I chose Square Space because it's an all-in-one platform that seamlessly helps me achieve multiple goals. It's important to have a website that looks good,

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powerful insights I can get from the analytics tools, helping me better understand who's visiting the site, where they came from and how they're interacting with it. Do you have a passion project or business idea or something to sell? Go to squarespace.com slash ctc for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, use offer code CTC to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com slash ctc with offer code CTC, and get your passion project off the ground today. That night, tweed resident 46-year-old Laurie Massacotti was getting comfortable under a blanket to watch TV and relax. She was a busy mother of three who lived on Cozy Cove Lane. She had spent

most of the day cleaning her home and rearranging furniture and plants. She was exhausted, and her favorite thing to do to unwind at the end of the day was to watch her favorite late-night TV shows, but it didn't take long before she nodded off, the TV still blaring. When Laurie stirred from her sleep on the couch a while later, she could hear the TV in the background, but she felt disoriented and struggled to get up. She felt a feeling of heavy pressure on her neck and chest. Laurie realized she was having difficulty breathing and, in a moment of panic, thought her house was on fire. The house wasn't on fire. Laurie realized she was being smothered under her blanket. It immediately became apparent that a man had broken into Laurie's home and was

trying to choke her as he repeatedly punched her in the face. As the intruder restrained her, as the intruder restrained Laurie face down on the couch, he told her to be quiet. Laurie assumed it was a robbery and told her attacker where he could find her jewellery, but he wasn't interested. Over the next three and a half hours, a terrified Laurie was blindfolded and had her hands bound behind her back with zip ties and a pillowcase. The intruder demanded to know if she was looking at him. Laurie replied she wasn't, to which he responded threateningly, you don't want to see me. Laurie told the intruder that her head hurt from being punched, she was surprised by his reaction, which was to lead her to the bathroom to get Tylenol.

Then, as he brought her back to the couch, he rubbed her head softly, adjusted her blindfold and apologized for punching her in the head. Laurie could hear her attacker pulling the blinds down in the house. Then she felt a wave of terror when she felt a knife pressed against her. Her attacker told her to stay still and through heavy breaths told Laurie that he needed to take pictures of her. Even though she was still blindfolded, Laurie could tell her attacker was taking photos from various angles, given the bright red light of the camera flash she could see through her blindfold. The intruder forced Laurie to sit on the couch, where he then tore her clothes from her body with a knife and forced her to pose naked for a stream of photos. Laurie's attacker gave her explicit

instructions about how to pose, repeating the threat, don't make me make you. Laurie was terrified that she was about to be sexually assaulted, but was shocked when the intruder stated, I'm not going to rape you Laurie. She was shocked when he called her by her name, which he continued to do repeatedly. Did she know this guy? At one stage, the attacker touched Laurie sexually and she asked him to stop. She was surprised and immensely relieved when he did it she asked and stopped, but the photos continued. Laurie asked her attacker why he was doing this. He responded, so I can get on with my life. Then Laurie heard the sound of a zipper and she again started to panic, certain that a gun was being produced. The attacker reassured

her that it was just his camera bag and let her feel the strap of the bag against her face. Eventually at around 4.30am, the intruder fled. In shock that she was still alive, but terrified that the intruder might return, Laurie waited another half an hour before calling 9-1-1. Despite earlier having her clothes sliced from her body, there were no nicks or scratches on her skin. Police noted that the point of entry to her house was a screen cut on a rear window and before the intruder left, he had also stolen a pair of her underwear. In her interview with police that day, Laurie said, quote, I thought he was going to kill me at any given moment. It was just like a horror movie and I

didn't know what was going to happen in the next scene. I was panicking and I just said, please, please, I don't want to die. I was begging on the lives of my children, it was just like a bad dream. Laurie later told police that despite what had happened, the intruder seemed like a nice person. In her interview, she was dumbfounded when police told her that a similar attack, the one on Jane Doe, had occurred only two weeks earlier. Laurie was in a state of disbelief and anger that police hadn't warned local residents to be on high alert. By this stage, 58 break-ins and thefts of women's underwear had been reported to police in the Tweed and Ottawa areas. Many of these occurred in houses on Cozy Cove Lane in Tweed,

the same street as Russell and Mary Elizabeth's Cottage. The attacks mostly happened on Friday and Saturday nights. The person responsible became known locally as the Tweed Creeper. Anne Marsanne Cook had heard about the break-ins occurring in nearby Tweed. She lived in a 150 year old farmhouse off Highway 37 near Belleville, located about half an hour's drive south of Tweed, on the way to Trenton Base, where she taught music. In October of 2009, Anne was getting ready to attend a party for her 48th birthday. Her husband was away at the time, and Anne had run home to change before heading back out for the evening. But when she went into her bedroom, she saw open drawers. Immediately, she realised that someone had broken into her house and rifled through her

stuff. The drawer usually contained sex toys, but it was now empty. Aghast with embarrassment, Anne contacted a male neighbour to come over to ensure the property was secure. Anne and her neighbour discussed whether to report the theft and decided not to. She was mortified enough as it was and didn't want to suffer the additional indignity of what the police would surely consider a waste of their time and resources. As a safety precaution, Anne locked every door and window of her home and stayed at her neighbour's house that night. But when she returned home the next day, she was horrified to discover that every single piece of underwear she owned was gone. But there were no signs of forced entry. Anne spotted her computer monitor. A message typed into a word document

in large font and left on the screen read quote go ahead phone the police I want to show the judge your really big dildos. The terrifying message made it clear that when Anne had arrived home the previous day, the intruder had been somewhere inside the house. It also meant had been hidden, but able to hear her entire discussion with her neighbour about whether they should call the police and now didn't hesitate to report the break in. A forensic team searched the farmhouse, but the only clue they recovered was half a fingerprint which didn't belong to either Anne or her neighbour. Anne was convinced it was linked to the assault she'd heard about in Tweed. But it shocked her to discover that Belleville police weren't aware of the breakings in neighbouring

Tweed. They hadn't received any communication from the Ontario Provincial Police or OPP about any fetish breakings or burglaries and they certainly hadn't issued any warnings about public safety. Later that month the OPP had a suspect in their sites and were confident that they'd found their man. On October 29th 2009 they executed a search warrant on the Tweed home of 65-year-old Larry Jones, Russell's neighbour and the man who'd spoken to police only a month earlier about the attack on Jane Doe. Larry had come to the attention of police as a result of the recent attack on Laurie Mazzacotti who lived on the same street, Cozy Cove Lane. Laurie and Larry had actually met each other several years beforehand and knew each other.

Soon after Larry's assault she contacted police claiming that Larry's voice was the same as her attackers, but she was mistaken. Police seized Larry's computer but there was nothing on it that connected him with the crimes. Police got a DNA sample, it didn't match. Larry took a polygraph test and passed. Larry Jones was cleared, but not before going through something he later described as emotionally and mentally distressing, a nightmare, being accused of being the Tweed creeper. Regardless the police were back to square one. Just weeks later 37-year-old corporal Murray Franz Como had just returned home from a three-day work trip. She lived alone with her two cats in Brighton, a town of 11,000 people on the

northeast shore of Lake Ontario, about 25 minutes drive southwest of Trenton base. Murray Franz Como was third generation military. Her father Ernest served in the Canadian forces and her grandfather was also a decorated World War II Spitfire pilot. The military was in her blood so to speak. She was born in Quebec and growing up she lived on numerous military bases around the world, her family following Ernest in his various postings to different locations. Murray Franz had a large but close extended family of aunts and uncles in Quebec and also New Brunswick where she also spent time as a child. At age 26 Murray Franz joined the army. She had a warm and friendly personality, a strong work ethic, never complained and always had a smile on her

face. She worked at bases across Canada, Germany and in Afghanistan as a forklift operator and traffic technician but Murray Franz's real love was travel. In 2009 her dream came true when she took on the role of military flight attendant with a squadron at Trenton base. The job offered the perfect combination of a military role and the opportunity to continue to travel and not only that in September of 2009 Murray Franz was assigned to accompany Governor General Michelle Jean on a trip to Afghanistan, a prestigious assignment. A man called Ellen, a close friend and former partner of Murray Franz, spoke of her excitement and enthusiasm for her job, telling the Globe and Mail that she'd found her calling, quote, she had no worries and everything

was going well. He later told TV program 48 hours, quote, her goal was to travel around the world. She was like the most beautiful flower you could imagine. In November of 2009 Murray Franz returned home from her three-day work trip to India, Japan and Singapore where she'd been accompanying then Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. When she went into her bedroom to start unpacking she discovered that some of her underwear had been stolen. She assumed her new boyfriend Paul who also worked at the Trenton base had committed this violation of privacy but when she confronted him he denied it. A few days later on the night of November 22nd Murray Franz and Paul were chatting on the phone before bed. The conversation came to an end and they agreed to meet the following

night for dinner but she didn't show up. Concerned Paul drove to Murray Franz's house and spotted her car in the driveway. He got into her house looking for her and when he made his way into her bedroom he discovered her body in bed with a twisted duvet covering her. Paul immediately called the police. In a search of the house police discovered the backed patio door was open. A tie and a trail of blood stains were found on the basement floor including a partial boot print in Murray Franz's blood. Her blood was smudged on the wall near the base of the stairs in the apartment. There was a dent in the drywall and other signs of a struggle. Murray Franz's blood was also found on the upstairs landing, on the light switch, the handrail and on her bedroom carpet.

A photo on the wall of the en suite bathroom was smashed. Initially there were reports that police suspected it was a suicide. Then likely when they realised they were dealing with a murder they still didn't know the reasons why so for some reason told the public there was no need for concern. The popular theory was that it was related to domestic violence but none of the evidence incriminated either Murray Franz's friend and former partner Alan or her current boyfriend Paul. What was evident was that Murray Franz had put up a fight for her life and had been badly beaten. She had bruises on her arms legs and head. There were remnants of tape on her face suggesting to investigators that her nose and mouth had been covered. There were also wide

ligature marks on her wrists made perhaps by a rope at least a half inch wide. Murray Franz Como was buried at Ottawa's National Military Cemetery on December the 4th 2009. At her funeral her family referred to her as our beautiful angel. The congregation heard that her role as a flight attendant in the Canadian forces was a dream. The Padre told mourners that Murray Franz lived life to the fullest quote her great sets of adventure brought her to travel alone around the world but also to become more involved in this vast world. Needless to say Murray Franz's family friends and colleagues were devastated at the sudden loss of someone they adored but who also loved her job and had a promising

career that was cut short. In a memorial Facebook page set up to honour Murray Franz her brother wrote quote I don't know if the next months will be as difficult as the last I do know however that you are smiling now and this eases my anger and aunt wrote Murray Franz my angel you will always have a place in our hearts watch over the members of your family we love you very much. Murray Franz's family chose to keep her tragic death from her 90 year old grandmother out of concern for the older woman's welfare nothing good could come of telling an elderly woman that her ambitious successful and vivacious granddaughter had met such a brutal and terrifying end. In the meantime news had started getting around that Murray Franz had endured a shocking

sexual assault before she was murdered male DNA was found on the ensuite bathroom sink and also recovered from Murray Franz's fingernail and vaginal swabs. In the days following Murray Franz's death her family were touched to receive a letter of condolence from the base commander Colonel Russell Williams the commanding officer who once met Murray Franz on a flight wrote Murray Franz was a professional, caring and compassionate woman who earned the respect of all with whom she came into contact please let me know whether there's anything I can do to help you during this very difficult time you and your family are in our thoughts and prayers. It was a busy time both professionally and personally for Russell Williams

the day after Murray Franz Como's body was discovered Russell participated in a charity event at the base called Jail and Bale where he was mock arrested for being too young to be a wing commander and the next month Russell carried the Olympic torch when it arrived in Trenton en route to Vancouver for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics he told the local media that he was excited to be a part of it. In mid-December Russell and Mary Elizabeth moved from all lins to a newly constructed 2200 square foot home they'd purchased in another Ottawa suburb Westboro Mary Elizabeth would continue to live in Ottawa full time and during the week Russell would continue to stay at their cottage in Tweed which was closer to the base the plan was that

Russell would continue to return to their new home in Ottawa on weekends. In January of 2010 the Caribbean nation of Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake resulting in the deaths of up to 300 000 people with another 1.6 million left homeless. Russell was tasked with overseeing the deployment of plane loads of relief workers and supplies from Trenton base to Haiti to assist with the relief effort. In the presence of local media he took Canada's Defence Minister on a tour of the supplies before they were flown out. That same month Russell was awarded his first clasp which is an award that recognises military members with 22 years of faithful service to the Canadian forces and Canada. In January of 2010 the same month the future was looking bright

for 27 year old Jessica Lloyd who lived on Highway 37 in the town of Belleville about two and a half hours drive south from Ottawa driving through Tweed. Jessica's friends said she had a great sense of humour and a quick wit. Her father Warren was a 25 year veteran of the Canadian navy The family lived on CFB Uplands and now defunct base outside Ottawa until Jessica was eight years old. When her father retired they settled in Belleville but he passed away from cancer when Jessica was just 13. Jessica and her older brother Andy engaged in the typical good natured teasing expected between siblings but in reality they were very close as were all the extended family. Jessica was social, extroverted and popular but also down to earth. Friends, family and co-workers

appreciated her great sense of humour and quick wit. She couldn't wait to be a mother and even had plans to name her first son Ty after her favourite Toronto Maple Leafs player to hear Ty Domey. Three years earlier Jessica graduated with a diploma in business and human resources from Loyalist College and since then had been working for the tri board student transportation services. Jessica loved her job, had a strong work ethic and never came in late. Her hard work was paying off. Not only had she recently bought a new car but she also just purchased her childhood home in Belleville from her mother. On January 28th 2010 Jessica arrived home after being out visiting a friend in Kingston for the evening. She sent a text to a friend at 10 36 p.m.

But the following day she failed to turn up to work. It was out of character for her so her workplace contacted her mother Roxanne. When her brother Andy received a panicked phone call from their mother he raced over to Jessica's place. What he found didn't reassure him. His sister's car, cell phone and purse were all still at the house but there was no sign of Jessica. Over the next few days police launched a massive search for Jessica starting at her home. It was January but thankfully for forensic officers it hadn't snowed since Jessica disappeared and boot prints found in the snow in her backyard had been preserved as well as tire marks found in the field next door. Then a female police officer came forward to report that the day

before Jessica went missing she saw a suspicious looking vehicle resembling an SUV in the field next to Jessica's house. It was also noticed by two local men who drove past her house on the night she disappeared. As it was parked some distance back from the road and away from the nearest house which was Jessica's the men thought it was odd and when they saw the missing person posters for Jessica they contacted police. A Facebook group set up to help find Jessica soon had more than 45,000 members all wanting her to be found safe as soon as possible and willing to help out. Initially Balvol police didn't connect Jessica's disappearance to the murder of Murray Franz Como two months earlier. She lived in Brighton half an hour drive west of

Belleville where Jessica was. They also didn't connect it to the assaults on Jane Doe and Laurie Massacotti which happened in Tweed but when Belleville police reached out to the Ontario Provincial Police the link became clear. The police had to get to the bottom of that mysterious SUV that had left tire treads in the field near Jessica's house and on February the 4th they set up a checkpoint on Highway 37 close to where Jessica lived. They made it appear to be a drunk driving checkpoint but canvassed motorists on the nearby highway throughout the night until 6am the following day. One of the vehicles that was stopped during this routine check belonged to Russell Williams who was driving his Nissan Pathfinder instead of his usual dark blue BMW. He gave police

a story that he was in a hurry because he had a sick child at home. Without him knowing the police checked the wheelbase of his SUV and got a positive match. His tire tracks were a match for those found in the field near Jessica's house. This was one guy to keep an eye on. A police surveillance unit tailed Russell's Pathfinder to a car wash where they kept an eye on him as he cleaned and vacuumed his SUV. They tracked down who he was and realised he was a high ranking military officer commander of Canada's largest airbase and they realised he had no sick child. He had lied to them. Three days later Russell Williams was asked to go to the Ottawa police headquarters as they had a few loose ends to tie up. When he arrived he was asked to remove the boots he was

wearing. The police wanted to match them against the boot prints found in the snow near Jessica Lloyd's house and then he was led into the interrogation room. The conversation was started by Detective Sergeant Jim Smith. As you'll recall he was the detective who followed a hunch to a rural field where he discovered the body of eight-year-old Tory Stafford three months after she was kidnapped by a man and his girlfriend. Detective Smith questioned them both and got a confession from Terry Lynn McClintock. In the interrogation room Russell Williams appears confident and relaxed as he chews gum and answers the questions in a friendly but authoritative way. He takes his time answering the questions about what he was doing on key dates.

Detective Smith probed Russell about other attacks on women in the area. Russell played cat and mouse during the interview ducking and weaving the line of questioning but he appeared relaxed. He was then asked about how he heard about the death of Murray Franz Como. The following clips have been edited for clarity. Now I'm not not going to walk you through November but I'm going to take you to a date that's probably pretty fresh in your mind the day that Murray Franz Como. Do you remember how you found out? I do. Yeah I was sent an email. Well as soon as the the ob staff and the base

learned they told me. Okay. So I got an email I can't remember if it was late at night or in the morning but certainly I saw it. I want to say first thing in the morning because I had just come back from Ottawa. I was in Ottawa for. And how did you know Murray Franz Como? I'd only met her once. She was on a crew I was on just after I got to the base. Okay. So I can't remember I think it was a one day trip. I did a number of trips in Canada transporting our you know troops sort of first lake out of Edmonton. Okay. Do you know roughly when that happened? Though we were on the same crew? The time you met her the one time there yeah.

It was soon after I got to the base so I don't remember exactly but I would say in the first couple months so August, September. Okay. Now you got that email notifying you that something happened. Do you have any kind of a clear recollection as to how your schedule was going that week? On the night that Murray Franz Como was murdered Russell told police that he had dinner with Mary Elizabeth in a Westboro restaurant in Ottawa and then he drove back to Tweed. He admitted that he regularly drove along Highway 37 but denied having any contact with any of the women in question in any form including Jessica Lloyd. Detective Jim Smith brought it back around to the topic at hand. So if we were to you know do a similar investigation

in your background is there anything you can think of that anybody may have misinterpreted or anything in your history that somebody might say Russell Williams did this? No. Okay. Be very boring. What's that? It'll be very boring. All right because essentially that's what I'm looking at is it Russell agreed to provide fingerprints, blood samples and shoe impressions to assist with the investigation. Detective Smith asks Russell if he's worried about any of the matching the crime scenes. No he says confidently. Detective Smith then brings up the tyre prints and tells Russell that they match the tyres on his Nissan Pathfinder. Really he replies in a dismissive way but by now it's clear that his guard of confidence has started wearing down.

His seating position is much less relaxed and he's staring intently at Detective Smith. He shows Russell the footwear impression of the prints near Jessica Lloyd's house. He says that footwear impressions are almost like fingerprints. Compare. Yeah these are identical. Your vehicle drove up the side of Jessica Lloyd's house. Your boots walked to the back of Jessica Lloyd's house on the evening of the 28th and 29th of January. Okay you want discretion we need to have some honesty okay because this is this is getting out of control really fast Russell okay really really fast this is getting beyond my control

all right I came in here a few hours ago and I called you the way I called you today because I wanted to give you the benefit of doubt but you and I both know you were at Jessica Lloyd's house and I need to know why. Russell takes the time to look over the fingerprint comparisons intently. You can hear his deep heavy breathing as he contemplates his next move while Detective Smith continues to talk to him trying to persuade him to talk. It was evident that Russell realized the net was closing in in terms of his involvement in Jessica's disappearance. Russell, what are we going to do?

Call me Russ please. Okay are we going to do Russ? This is where we'll leave it for part one. In part two we'll find out where the questioning goes and what really happened to Jessica Lloyd. Part two will be released on October the 1st as per my usual release schedule. Patrons at the $2 a month level or higher will receive the episode this week without the ads so to get it early and ad-free go to patreon.com slash Canadian True Crime. Thanks for listening and a huge thank you to Gemma Harris for writing this case. The audio clips were courtesy of the Mob Reporter channel on YouTube which is an excellent channel I've been following for a while now

and is run by a professional crime journalist. The channel offers real life breaking news, law enforcement and crime themed videos from around the world so check out the Mob Reporter on YouTube. Other sources used in this episode include the investigative journalism of Michael Friskalanti of McLean's Magazine as well as the book Evil in Plain Sight by David A. Gibb. Today's podcast recommendation is All Crime No Cattle hosted by Shay and Erin from Texas. I met them in person at the True Crime podcast festival and have been loving their show ever since. Here they are. Hi True Crime fans, I'm Erin and I'm Shay. We host All Crime No Cattle, a conversational podcast which focuses on True Crime stories from the Lone Star State.

We strive to bring you a balanced and well researched story about Texas cases big and small. We do the research so you don't have to. We also end every episode with a good news story just to remind everyone that real life isn't quite as depressing as True Crime can make it out to be. New episodes drop every Thursday and you can find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. All Crime No Cattle because crime is bigger in Texas, y'all. It's time for the Patreon shoutouts. Please bear with me on this one. I'm trying to catch up on a backlog. Thank you to Neetsey F, Holly D, Taylor M, Letty M, Thomas C, Sylvie P, Noah C, KTC, Kent F, Carly D, Tony T, Rohit S, Janice M, Lena E, Marija G, Lindsay H, Isabel J,

Megan P, Celine D, Dawn J, Deb G, Tyler A, Adrian M, Jessica O, and Kelly N. Thank you all so much for your support. This episode of Canadian True Crime was researched and written by Gemma Harris, edited by me and Audio Production was by Eric Crosby. The host of the Beyond Bizarre True Crime podcast voiced the disclaimer and the Canadian True Crime theme song was written by We Talk of Dreams. I'll be back with part two on October the 1st. See you then.