Highly Decorated Officer By Day, 'Panty Thief' Rapist & Murderer By Night

TORONTO (AP) The Canadian military says it has taken the final steps to officially dismiss from the forces former Col. Russell Williams, who was convicted of murder and sexual assault.

The Department of National Defense said Friday that Williams's two medals and an official document confirming his appointment were retrieved from his family, completing the process of cashiering him out the military. 
Williams was sentenced last month to life in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, two sexual assaults and 82 counts of breaking-and-entering, during which he stole undergarments from women and young girls. His sentence carries no possibility of parole for 25 years.

Williams was a rising star in the military before he was charged earlier last year.

Convicted murderer and rapist Russell Williams was profiled on NBC's Dateline in a two-hour episode aired Friday, February 18, 2011 at 9 p.m. Co-host Keith Morrison examines the life of the former colonel and commander of Canadian Forces Base Trenton. NBC says the special includes interviews with family, friends, neighbours, and a former Canadian Forces commanding officer, who says forgiving Williams would be difficult to ever do.  He was always someone I could go to talk to about any situation, I am going to miss that. I am going to miss him.

In October 2010 the Canadian military commander plead guilty to raping and murdering two women, a disturbing case that has gripped the country.

Staring at the floor, Col. Russell Williams also plead guilty today to assaulting and raping two other women and to more than 80 home burglaries and stealing female underwear, lingerie and shoes, some of which he hid in the home he shared with his wife.

He commanded Canada's most famous Air Force base until he was charged earlier this year and relieved of duty. The 47-year-old officer received an automatic sentence of life imprisonment, with a possibility for parole after 25 years.

It took more than 30 minutes for a clerk to read all of the charges against Williams, who silently bowed his head in a packed courtroom in Belleville, Ontario, The Globe and Mail reported.

The shocking case has damaged military morale and fueled speculation that Williams could be a serial killer.

The elite pilot with a distinguished military career had flown Canadian politicians and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II across the country and overseas.

After being arrested in February, the 23-year veteran ultimately admitted to raping and strangling to death Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38. He also told investigators details from 82 break-ins across surrounding residential areas.

Comeau, a military flight attendant who had flown with Williams, was murdered Nov. 25, 2009. Lloyd, a 27-year-old Ontario bus company worker, disappeared Jan. 28, 2010 and was found weeks later after Williams led police to where he'd dumped her body near a rural road, the Toronto Sun Reported.

Prosecutors showed photographs Williams had taken of himself after breaking into homes, including images of the commander wearing women's lingerie and, in one case, of him lying on a 12-year-old girl's bed, using her underwear to masturbate.

He kept a log of his break-ins and stored "trophies" from the two murders in the basement ceiling of his Ottawa home, the Sun reported.