Cold cases put in national spotlight

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This article was published 10/02/2010 (5945 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ontario police spearheading a broad investigation of a military commander facing murder and sexual assault charges said Tuesday they’re fielding calls from other forces and families of victims of crime about so-called cold cases.

Col. Russell Williams, 46, is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, of Belleville, Ont., and Cpl. Marie France Comeau, 38. Williams is also charged with forcible confinement, break and enter and sexual assault after two women were allegedly attacked during two separate home invasions in the Tweed area in September.

CFB Trenton’s top commander is also charged in two sexual assaults in Tweed in September.

A career military man who’s been stationed in various cities across Canada and internationally, Williams was arraigned and remanded into custody Monday and is scheduled to appear in court again via video Feb. 18.

The investigation will also probe possible links to unsolved Manitoba crimes.

Sgt. Kristine Rae of the Ontario Provincial Police said investigators will contact police here about unsolved crimes in the jurisdictions where Williams lived.

In 1990, Williams was posted to 3 Canadian Forces Flying Training School in Portage la Prairie, Man., where he served for two years as an instructor.

Williams was also posted to Shearwater, N.S., in 1992, and also worked at 412 Squadron in Ottawa, Camp Mirage in Dubai, and went to the Canadian Forces language school in Gatineau, Que.

"Part of the investigation will be to look at any other areas (Williams) may have been and any unsolved crimes to see if there’s any similarities," she said.

"Anything from our investigation that might assist someone else’s crime, obviously we’re going to share that."

The Winnipeg Police Service said its investigators are aware of the case, while the RCMP did not say if Williams is being pursued as a person of interest in any historical cases.

There is at least one high-profile missing persons case from around the time Williams was in Manitoba.

Janice Louise Howe, 35, went missing on Aug. 28, 1992, after driving off from her parents’ Winnipeg home in a blue 1985 Olds Ciera.

The car was found the next morning about 30 kilometres east of Kenora. The car’s rear floor mat and a tarp were missing from the trunk.

Lloyd’s body was found in Tweed on Monday. Comeau, who was based at CFB Trenton, was found dead in her Brighton home in November.

Other forces are looking at unsolved crimes, said Rae, who wouldn’t reveal which forces, citing the need to protect the investigation.

"Whenever you have two homicides and two home invasions and sexual assaults it’s prudent to ensure that if there’s any other investigations that have gone unsolved to see if there’s any similarities. That’s just good policing," she said.

Unsolved crimes that have similarities to the Williams’ case will likely be reviewed but the main focus of the investigation is on the four cases he’s charged in, said Rae.

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.

Rae said she expects the investigation will be a lengthy one.

There are three unsolved homicides in Halifax during the period from 1992 to 1994, when Williams was in the city, but Palmeter said "nothing so far has been provided to us to suggest any link to those files."

 

— The Canadian Press, with files from Gabrielle Giroday