We attempt to find answers to questions that still linger today - how did he remain above suspicion for so long and what drove him to commit these heinous crimes? We also put into focus the lives of the victims he targeted and confront the societal failures that put these women in danger.
Using footage from the interrogation and insider access from Williams' friends, colleagues, victims, psychological experts, and members of the investigative team including Jim Smyth - the celebrated detective who elicited Williams' confession - we will offer unprecedented insight into how a high-ranking military officer became a notorious sexual deviant and murderer.
The Canadian Armed Forces serve by the ethos of honor, courage, respect and trust. So, when former Air Force Colonel Russell Williams was convicted of the first-degree murders of Jessica Lloyd, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, the sexual assaults of two others, and 82 counts of breaking and entering, it was the ultimate betrayal of every single one of these values he'd once sworn an oath to uphold.
A model officer and an elite pilot, he commanded the respect and loyalty of the thousands of soldiers who served under him. He was widely regarded as an upstanding citizen, a good boss, and a caring husband to his wife Mary-Elizabeth. Russell Williams was a man you could trust. But behind the meticulously constructed facade of honor, Williams was struggling with horrific sexual urges that would destroy lives and ultimately lead to his own downfall.
As he began to play out his fantasies, his crimes quickly escalated from spying on girls and young women, to stealing their underwear, to bizarre sexual assaults, which he photographed, catalogued, and documented with the attention to detail befitting a man of his military achievement. Undetected by the police, his deviant behaviour spiralled further out of control and he committed two two violent rapes and murders, holding his victims captive and filming them as he subjected them to unspeakable cruelties.
Colonel Russell Williams double life came crashing down around him on February 7th, 2010 in a 10-hour interrogation where, in order to minimize the impact on his wife, he confessed to his crimes in matter of fact and devastating detail.