Panty fetish began in my 20s, Col. Williams told police

BELLEVILLE, Ont. – Col. Russell Williams admitted he developed a fetish for stealing women’s underwear in his 20s or 30s but said he’s not sure what triggered it, court heard Tuesday.

WARNING: Graphic details from this court case may disturb some readers.

Williams, during his confession to police, insisted he didn’t act on those urges until 2007, when he began breaking into homes and photographing himself wearing stolen lingerie while masturbating.

Disturbing and graphic evidence presented in a Belleville, Ont., court over the past two days documents the escalation of that fetish, from panty raids to sexual assault and murder.

Williams, 47, pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of first-degree murder, two sexual assaults and 82 break and enters. He was formally convicted Tuesday on all charges.

Williams also told police he wanted to plead guilty to minimize the impact on his wife and to avoid large legal bills.

Video of Williams’ confession was expected to be shown in court Wednesday.

He was a rising star in the military before being charged in February in the killings of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau.

The police found him through a roadside canvass just days after Lloyd was killed, matching his vehicle to tire tracks found at the Lloyd crime scene.

Williams faces life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Court heard earlier Tuesday that Lloyd complied with every perverted command Williams made during her rape and captivity, but he killed her anyway.

At one point Lloyd makes a simple request of her captor — “If I die, will you make sure to let my mom know that I love her?”

That heart-wrenching detail, read aloud in court, left many in the room sobbing loudly.

Lloyd, 27, was the second and final murder victim of Williams, and her ordeal — like that of an earlier victim — was videotaped by the former air base commander.

No photos or video taken of his two murder victims will be shown in court.

The Crown has instead chosen to outline for the public what is contained in the photographs and videos, while keeping the images under wrap.

Earlier Tuesday court heard Comeau begged Williams to have a heart and spare her life.

Williams used his authority as commander of Canada’s busiest air base to learn Comeau’s schedule and address.

The 37-year-old flight attendant, who was under Williams’ command, had caught his eye during a military flight.

Last November, Williams broke into her home, beat her and brutally raped her several times.

Comeau fought back throughout the ordeal and when it was over said to Williams, “have a heart please… I’ve been really good … I want to live.”

Williams ignored her pleas, placing duct tape over her nose and suffocating Comeau.

He told police he felt Comeau could help link him to sex assaults in the area if she had been allowed to live.

On Tuesday court heard graphic details of the attack on Comeau.

After learning that she lived alone, Williams broke into her home, returning a week later to hide in the basement until she fell asleep.

Comeau went down to the basement to look for one of her cats, which was staring at Williams as he hid behind the furnace.

His face was covered and she screamed at him and called him a bastard, prompting him to strike her several times on the head with a flashlight.

When she fell, he restrained her as she bled badly from head injuries, court heard.

He bound her naked body to a post and took two photos, which show her face and mouth covered with the duct tape he brought, and her body bound in rope.

Williams took her to the bedroom and repeatedly raped her, videotaping and photographing it all.

As Comeau’s commanding officer at CFB Trenton, Williams later wrote a letter to her father offering condolences for her death.

Crown prosecutor Lee Burgess said the descriptions alone of the acts depicted in Williams’ video and photos of Comeau were “disturbing enough” without showing them in court.

The decision comes a day after the once celebrated military commander was publicly shamed with the release of photos he took of himself in girls’ and women’s underwear, often masturbating.

Prosecutors say those images were made public to show Williams’ progression from being a panty thief to sexual assault and ultimately murder.

“I’ve been doing this job for 20 years,” Burgess said outside court.

“This is the most awful case I’ve ever been involved in.”

Months before the murders came two sex assaults, and the court heard details of those as well Tuesday.

One woman begged Williams not to post the pornographic photos he took of her on the Internet.

In that case, Williams broke into the woman’s home and struck her on the head with a flashlight, hoping it would knock her out.

When it didn’t, he tied her up, blindfolded her and cut off her top and bra with a knife.

Before he left, he forced her to pose kneeling, with her head down, taking graphic photographs of both of them.

The woman called the police after he left, so terrified that she wet herself.

Williams was brought to the courthouse Tuesday through an entrance covered by a large tarp, dressed in a black suit and a light coloured striped shirt.

The eastern Ontario courtroom is being guarded by more than a dozen police officers.

Roxanne Lloyd, the mother of Williams’ second murder victim, arrived at the courtroom today as she did on Monday, clutching a framed photograph of her daughter Jessica.

She later ran out in tears.