The investigation that assisted the police in apprehending the offender guilty for the terrible rape and murder of two Canadian women, Jessica Lloyd and Marie-France Comeau, in Ontario, Canada, is the subject of NBC’s “Dateline: Conduct Unbecoming.” In contrast to Jessica, whose body was discovered more than a week after she went missing in January 2010, Marie was discovered dead inside her house in November 2009. We’ve got your back if you’re curious to learn more about the cases, including who the killer was. So let’s get started, shall we?
How Did Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau Die?
On March 19, 1972, Marie-France Comeau was conceived. As a traffic tech, she began her military career in its early stages by loading cargo and balancing the weight of aircraft. She started working as a flight attendant in 2008 after more than 10 years in the military, during which she was stationed in Germany, Dubai, and Afghanistan. Marie resided at an apartment at 252 Raglan Street in Brighton, Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada, as of November 2009. She worked as a flight attendant with the 437 transport squadron at CFB Trenton while serving as a corporal in the Canadian Forces.
Adam Frey, one of her former coworkers with whom she had worked for four months, remarked that the world would not be the same without her. She was a joy to be around, loved life, and appeared to get the best out of everything, he said. A Facebook page set up by her family in Marie’s honour was inundated with condolences and comments from soldiers stationed abroad to her Raglan Street neighbours. Kim Hill Chornaby, one of her acquaintances, stated that “she was an absolutely beautiful person and friend.”
She was always so upbeat and enthusiastic, and I am very heartbroken by this terrible event, Kim continued. Those who knew her and had the good fortune to call her a friend will always remember her smile. On November 25, 2009, at about 1:00 pm, Marie’s body was discovered inside her Brighton house. The tidy crime scene, devoid of forensic evidence or fingerprints, suggested the perpetrator was organised and familiar with the premises. She had been brutally assaulted, and the duct tape covering her face had caused her to suffocate, according to an autopsy.
On May 18, 1982, Jessica Elizabeth Lloyd was born at the Grace Hospital in Ottawa, Ottawa Municipality, Ontario, Canada, to the late Elwood Warren Lloyd and Roxanne E. McGarvey Lloyd. Jessica, the daughter of a member of the Canadian Navy, was raised on Uplands Base in Ottawa before the family relocated to the Plainfield region when she was eight years old. She attended Harmony P.S., Foxboro P.S., Quinte S.S., and Uplands Base schools. In 2003, she received a 3-year Diploma in Business Administration/Human Resources from Loyalist College.
Jessica used to work at Sears and Quinte Mall while she was in high school and college. She had been working for the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board for seven years at the start of 2010, spending the final three of those years as a transportation planner at Triboard Transportation Services in Napanee. She was a cheerful, kind, caring, happy, and fun-loving young woman who was fast with her witty one-liners, according to her friends and family.
Jessica was quoted as saying, “She was constantly putting others before herself,” by her lifelong friend Lisa Ray. Despite the way the town had come together, she was much liked. She had such a large group of friends, which suggests that everybody adored her. It was impossible not to love her. “I’ve never met anyone like her,” Lisa continued, “and I feel blessed to have had her in my life.” The emotional friend had given Jessica (Charlotte Jessica Ray), her six-month-old daughter’s name, according to the interview.
On January 28, 2010, at 10:36 p.m., Jessica sent a text message to a friend, which was the final communication from her. She spent the day with them watching television before leaving around ten o’clock. To let the friend know she was at home and getting ready for bed, she texted the friend. On February 8, 2010, the authorities in Tweed, Ontario, discovered she had been interred in a shallow grave at a remote location on Cary Road. The 27-year-old was brutally raped before dying from a strangulation and blunt force wounds to the head.
Who Killed Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau?
Jessica Lloyd’s coworkers and friends started hunting for her when she failed to show up for work on January 29. Even though her car, phone, and other personal possessions were inside her house, they discovered she was not there. In the afternoon, her family called the Belleville Police Service to report her missing. The police discovered tyre tracks in the field next to her house and footsteps in the backyard. About 100 metres north of her house, along the north tree line of her land, investigators found unmistakable tyre tracks in the snow.
The cops were able to focus on three automobiles thanks to the final piece of information. One patrol officer reported spotting an SUV of a similar type suspiciously parked in the field on 28 January at around 9 o’clock, and it was shortly discovered to be a Nissan Pathfinder. Between February 4 and the next morning, the authorities searched extensively for the tyre treads among all motorists using the roadway close to Jessica’s house with the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police.
On February 4, the authorities stopped a Nissan Pathfinder for interrogation while canvassing the area. After spending the day at the adjacent Trenton Air Base, Canadian Forces Colonel Russell Williams was in the driver’s seat and on his way home. Before letting the honoured soldier go, the officers questioned him routinely. The Colonel, however, aroused suspicion from them, and they followed him for two days before summoning him for questioning on February 7. By that time, the investigators had completed their investigation, gathered proof, and presented him with all the information.
According to police records, Russell was questioned starting at 3 p.m. for almost 10 hours before finally confessing to both killings. Additionally, he admitted to several break-ins, the stealing of women’s pants in the area, as well as two sexual assaults in Tweed. He drew them a map at the conclusion of the meeting to show them the location of Jessica’s grave, which was close to his weekend vacation property in Tweed. Russell’s Ottawa house was also investigated by the police, who discovered a variety of hidden mementos, pictures of him posing in the stolen pants, and pictures and films he had taken of his victims.
In addition to the murder accusation, two counts of sexual assault, forceful imprisonment, and breaking and entering were brought against Russell in connection with two different home invasions near Tweed, Ontario, in September 2009. In October 2010, he was found guilty of all charges and given two concurrent life sentences without the possibility of release for 25 years. He was also found guilty of 82 instances of burglary, during which he stole women’s pants, and sexual harassment.
