Family wonders if soldier involved in cold case here

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This article was published 12/2/2010 (3493 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE family of a Winnipeg woman slain nearly two decades ago is considering the possibility her death may be linked to Russell Williams, a military colonel recently charged with two deaths.

Glenda Morrisseau was 19 when she was beaten to death in Winnipeg in the summer of 1991. She disappeared July 17, 1991 from a Logan Avenue hotel and her body was found a month later in a St. Boniface industrial yard.

No one was ever arrested.

Morrisseau was slain during the two-year period Williams was stationed in Manitoba as an instructor at the Canadian Forces flying training school in Portage la Prairie.

Williams was arrested in Ottawa on Feb. 7 and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Marie Comeau, 38. He also faces charges of forcible confinement, breaking and entering and sexual assault related to attacks on two women near Tweed, Ont., last September.

He was the commander of the air force base at Trenton, Ont., but was relieved of the command after his arrest. He has not yet entered a plea to any of the charges and is considered innocent until proven guilty.

Glenda Morrisseau's niece said Friday the family was caught off guard about any possible connection to Morrisseau's death and hasn't decided whether to approach police about it.

"We are still sort of absorbing the news as it has been a huge shock," Roxanne Morrisseau said.

Glenda Morrisseau's name has appeared in a number of lists of cold cases police may probe for connections to Williams, but as of yet no officials have confirmed her case is being reviewed. Sgt. Kristine Rae of the Ontario Provincial Police said investigators are still dealing with the four cases in Ontario and have not started looking at any other unsolved cases. She could not say which police services had contacted OPP investigators in relation to other cold cases.

"The officers are still focusing on these four that we have... we haven't had the opportunity to look at anything else except what we're still dealing with," she said.

Rae said it would be a "long investigation."

"We expect this investigation, even after this core investigation is done, that it's going to take quite a few months to compare other cases," she said.

"We're tracking those calls (from other police services), so that when we do have the opportunity we can go back and check for any similarities from their cases to ours."

The Winnipeg Police Service and Manitoba RCMP have not said Williams is being treated as a suspect in any cold cases.

— Staff