Co-operation among police forces led to arrest

By Tony Spears, Ottawa Citizen
February 10, 2010

OTTAWA — Ontario Provincial Police had three victims, all women — a corporal found dead at her home, and two victims of terrifying home invasions and sexual assaults. It would take a fourth victim — and astonishing co-operation among local, provincial and military police — before detectives caught the first glimpse of an elusive suspect.

Jessica Lloyd, 27, was the last link in a chain that police believe stretches back to two September sexual assaults in Tweed, Ont. Lloyd was last seen alive Jan. 28.

Lloyd's disappearance was being investigated by Belleville Police. Northumberland OPP and military police were looking into the murder of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, whose body was found Nov. 25. With three police forces involved, there was the risk that the search for a suspect would be derailed by inter-departmental rivalry and bickering.

It had happened before. In 1996 Justice Archie Campbell released a damning report into the botched investigation of the Paul Bernardo case, whose 18 victims were scattered throughout several police jurisdictions.

"Because of the systematic weaknesses and the inability of the different law-enforcement agencies to pool their information and co-operate effectively, Bernardo fell through the cracks," Campbell wrote. He said systems must be put it place "to co-ordinate and manage the work of the different agencies."

Belleville Police Chief Cory McMullan said Campbell's report resulted in the major case management model police used in this investigation.

Used throughout Ontario, the model "provides us with a process for recording information, organizing and analyzing it, following up on tips and leads, and prioritizing those," McMullan said.

When Lloyd was reported missing Jan. 29, McMullan — who immediately began to treat it as suspicious "because it was out of character for her" — had offers of assistance from detectives in Kingston and Stirling-Rawdon township.

CFB Trenton used search-and-rescue aircraft to look for the woman and on Jan. 31 the OPP added their own aerial power.

At this point McMullan said her detectives approached the OPP "to discuss any potential links with any cases they had been working on."

The provincial force was struck by similarities between three of their open files — the Comeau homicide and the two Tweed assaults.

Charges against CFB Trenton base commander Col. Russell Williams for two counts each of murder, sexual assault, break and enter, and forcible confinement, came in connection with all four cases.

"Belleville police, OPP, working together — that's what culminated in the arrest," said OPP spokeswoman Kristine Rae.

That proved literally true the night of Feb. 4, though police have kept mum on what exactly was revealed during a Belleville police and OPP roadblock of Highway 37 near Belleville.

Rae said only that the roadblock had been set up to canvass for information, in the hope that some driver would be able to offer a clue to Lloyd's disappearance.

A cryptic release said Williams "came to the attention of police as a result of information gathered" during canvassing.

Rae also lauded military police for their co-operation.

Members of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) had investigated the deaths of Comeau — who served under Williams at CFB Trenton but was killed in her Brighton, Ont. home — and Lloyd in collaboration with the OPP.

Spokeswoman Paule Poulin said CFNIS investigates "serious and sensitive matters" involving military personnel in Canada and overseas, but deferred comment on the investigation to OPP.

CFNIS has Ontario detachments in Ottawa and CFB Borden, near Barrie.

CFNIS handled 346 cases in 2008, the last date for which information is available. The total included 24 death investigations. Poulin said the military investigates all "non-natural" deaths.

Rae said OPP will be looking at other unsolved crimes and into Williams' past addresses, but that the investigation is "focused on making sure everything's prepared for court."

She said OPP had not connected the four women's cases to any other open files.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service