RUSS WILLIAM – CANADIAN MONSTER

This is a gritty true story, so if you’re squeamish, please don’t read it.

I have just finished reading a biography of a most monstrous man in Canadian history, a man named Russ Williams. Russ was commander in chief of the Canadian armed forces, and about 4 years ago, he rented a second home in Tweed, Ontario, leaving his wife behind in Ottawa. Herented this home because it was conveniently located near his headquarters in Trenton. He is a 46 year old man who had a brilliant military career, rising in the ranks to a full Colonel, handsome, and to all appearances, completely normal.

An R.A.F. pilot, he flew the Prime Minster on official visits abroad, and also piloted Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth on one of her visits to Canada.

Nobody can explain what triggered his crime wave which began 3 years ago, when he started breaking into empty homes and stealing women’s lingerie. He did this over and over again. He took videos of himself naked on the girl or women’s bed, masturbating into their panties. Absolutely bizarre behaviour.

Then it wasn’t enough – he broke into a young girl’s home, wearing a balaclava helmet, overcame her, tied her up and forced her into grotesque sexually explicit poses while he took photographs. He didn’t rape or physically harm her, other than initially when he had to subdue and tie her up.

His aberration accelerated, and his next victim was tortured and raped for hours before he killed her, and the same thing happened to his next female victim. He disposed of her body by placing it in a remote area.

Finally he was caught because his SUV left distinct tire marks in the mud outside his second victim’s home.

Now here’s the curious thing – once he was apprehended, he confessed to all his crimes, handed over all the lingerie, led the authorities to where he’d put his second victim’s body, and gave them access to all the hundred of hours of videos and photographs he’d taken of his own crimes! Mind you, in confessing, for the sake of his wife, he glossed over the premeditation aspects of his crimes which were all very cleverly planned and executed with military precision, in order to make out that they weren’t premeditated when in fact they were.

You could say he was a psychopath or a sociopath, but strangely enough he was neither. A psychopath or a sociopath has no conscience – he did. He regretted his actions, and had even shown mercy to his first victim whom he’d bound and blind folded, when she complained she had a headache! He apologized for hitting her on her head during his struggle to subdue her, went into the bathroom and got her some asperin. He apologized profusely to his victim’s families in court, and also wrote them letters telling them how badly he felt about what he’d done, and wept in court.

Russ Williams is an enigma to all the mental experts who examined him. He himself cannot explain what triggered these monstrous acts, and didn’t seem to be able to control them, even though he felt ashamed of himself for having committed them.

You could say his acts of contrition were contrived to get himself a lesser sentence, but he knew his fate was sealed – he’ll be in prison for the rest of his life, in an 8 x 10 cell, under full surveillance 24 hours a day, and allowed one hour of walking alone around the prison yard. He was so aware of this, he attempted suicide when he was in jail, prior to his sentencing. So it would seem that he genuinely was sorry for what he’d done, and was acutely embarrassed by it.

He genuinely loves his wife, (they have no children) and as soon as he knew the gig was up, he immediately transferred all his assets to her. The Crown is appealing against that, and all his victims or their families have sued him in court.

His wife was also victimized poor soul. She had no idea all this was going on so we can only imagine the horror she must’ve felt when her husband’s actions came to light. Ostracized by the same society she’d once shone in, she wants to divorce him, and requested to the Court that the divorce would go through privately, so his victims wouldn’t know how much money she would get from the divorce. Her petition was denied, so chances are she will be tied to him legally for the rest of her life in order to protest her assets. I’m sure she will have moved away from Ottawa.

The final indignity for Russ Williams is he was stripped of his rank, his medals were torn, and military personnel went into his home, taking away his uniforms and any or all military regalia he owned, which were then incinerated.

He has lost everything and the questions remain: Why? What triggered these monstrous uncontrollable urges, turning an upright, brilliant, successful man into a perverted monster?