From: jcs
On January 28, 2010, at around midday, Andy Lloyd received a call from his mother stating that his 27-year-old younger sister, Jessica Lloyd, had not shown up for work and was unresponsive to calls or texts [01:42:00]. Andy immediately drove to her isolated home on Ontario’s Highway 37 but found she was not there [01:56:00]. There were no signs of a break-in, but Jessica was known for leaving her doors unlocked [02:03:00]. All her personal items, including her phone, passport, and driver’s license, were still inside the premises [02:06:00].
Investigation Launched
Given Ottawa’s reputation as Canada’s safest city with a remarkably low crime rate, local authorities had ample resources to launch a missing person’s investigation immediately [02:12:00]. The investigation included an entire division from the Ottawa Police Force, over 2,000 members of the public, and even a specialist search and rescue unit from the Canadian Air Force [02:23:00].
The news of Jessica’s disappearance spread rapidly through the media [02:31:00]. On the second day of her disappearance, an anonymous public member provided crucial information [02:36:00]. They reported driving past Jessica’s house at approximately 3 AM the night she disappeared and noticing an SUV parked in a field nearby [02:40:00]. The witness found this unusual as they had driven past the premises thousands of times without seeing such a vehicle [02:52:00].
Key Evidence
Police immediately canvassed the area and found tire tracks in the field, along with boot prints leading up to Jessica’s house [03:03:00]. These became the first two significant pieces of evidence in the investigation [03:11:00].
Authorities then set up six roadblocks in the surrounding area, stopping every SUV to find a match for the tire tracks [03:17:00]. Over the next four days, more than 200 vehicles were stopped without success [03:25:00]. However, on February 4th, at around 7:30 PM, Colonel Russell Williams’s sports utility vehicle was stopped [03:37:00]. He was polite and nonchalant during what he believed was a routine traffic stop, and was sent on his way after only 90 seconds [03:44:00]. Unbeknownst to him, he was placed under immediate police surveillance because his tires matched the tracks found near Jessica Lloyd’s house [03:53:00].
Interrogation of Colonel Russell Williams
On Sunday, February 7th, Colonel Williams received a call from Ottawa police headquarters, requesting his presence to answer questions related to an ongoing investigation [04:03:00]. The Colonel agreed to visit the station immediately, telling his wife he would be back for dinner [04:13:00]. He arrived shortly before 3 PM and was greeted by Detective Sergeant Jim Smith, a trained polygraph technician and senior investigator from the policing behavioral sciences unit [04:24:00].
During the interrogation, Detective Smith purposefully refrained from addressing Williams by his formal military title, instead using his first name, “Russell” [05:05:00]. This strategy aimed to strip away Williams’s confidence and increase visible signs of fabrication in his body language and intonation, while decreasing his cognitive stamina [05:10:00]. Williams claimed he was at home most of the day on the Friday Jessica disappeared, suffering from a stomach flu [12:23:00].
The police presented Williams with a photocopy of a boot print taken from his footwear, claiming it was identical to the impression found at Jessica Lloyd’s house [21:54:00]. The detective emphasized that Williams’s vehicle drove up to the house and his boots walked to the back of the house on the night of January 28th and 29th [22:32:00]. Detective Smith pressed for honesty, stating that the situation was “getting out of control really fast” [22:46:00].
Confession
The detective then informed Williams that a search warrant was being executed at his residence in Tweed, his vacation home, and his vehicle had been seized [24:12:00]. He also falsely claimed that DNA from Marie France Como’s body would likely be matched to Williams by the end of the evening [24:40:00]. (The transcript notes that DNA from Marie France Como was not admissible due to decomposition, and only one sexual assault victim had male DNA, which was from a less severe attack [19:32:00]). Detective Smith emphasized that Williams’s credibility was gone once the forensic evidence solidified [25:33:00].
Williams eventually asked if he should tell them where Jessica was [28:20:00]. The detective asked if Jessica was somewhere easily found, or if they would have to search [28:32:00]. Williams struggled, stating “It’s hard to believe this” [29:27:00]. He eventually revealed he was “struggling with how upset my life is right now” [30:05:00].
After further prodding about minimizing the impact on his life by telling the truth, Williams began to reveal details about Jessica’s location [30:40:00]. He indicated she was near where she lived, and would be fairly easily seen if one walked there [31:51:00]. He stated she had been there for over a week [32:55:00].
Williams confessed that he saw Jessica on her treadmill in her house on a Wednesday night [34:13:00]. When he noticed she wasn’t there on Thursday, he entered her house, looked around, and left [34:26:00]. When she came home, he went back in through the back patio door while she was sleeping [34:43:00]. He also confessed to the murder of Marie France Como, stating he entered her house through an open basement window while she was away [35:10:00]. When she returned home, he went back in late at night while she was on the phone [35:23:00]. She discovered him in the basement when her cat, fixated on him, wouldn’t come upstairs [35:32:00]. When she spotted him, he subdued her with a flashlight, tied her up, and strangled her [36:10:00].