Dateline: Conduct Unbecoming - 5 harrowing details the Russell Williams case, revisited

Dateline episode, Conduct Unbecoming, revisits the story of Colonel Russel Williams, who once left the entire nation stunned.

Williams, who was a decorated Canadian Air Force commander, a man who is trusted by the prime minister and other royals, turned out to be a serial predator and murderer. His secret life was marked by obsession, control and violence under the guise of a crisp army uniform.

From 2007 to 2009, William invaded almost 40 homes multiple times, stealing women's lingerie. He deemed these as the trophy and collected the photographs and videos of the same, further spiralling into the obsession, transforming him into a murderer.

Read on to know the 5 most disturbing details of the haunting case, as shown on Dateline.

Here are the 5 harrowing details of the Russell Williams case as explored in Dateline: Conduct Unbecoming

The crimes began with the theft of undergarments

Initially, what seemed like petty burglaries in several houses in the town of Tweed, Ontario, turned out to be a more sinister obsession of a man who was a decorated Colonel in the day and a perverted thief at night. As mentioned, this was the time from 2007 and 2009 when he broke into around 40 houses multiple times to steal women's lingerie, cataloguing and photographing them as his trophy.

Parallely, he piloted Queen Elizabeth's aircraft.

During the same time, he was also getting recognized and rising in his armoured position of Base Commander at CFB Trenton, Canada's largest military airbase. His role was such that he was believed to be the most trusted officer and also piloted the aircraft with Queen Elizabeth II and the Canadian Prime Ministers in it. However, the truth was that he was secretly breaking into homes of his neighbourhood, assaulting women and living a double life.

The transition from fetish to murder

This was not the end for William, as his crimes eventually escalated from voyeurism and fetish-driven thefts to sexual assault and murder. In late 2009, he attacked his subordinate, Cpl. Marie-France Comeau brutally killed her. Months later, he abducted and murdered Jessica Lloyd, another 27-year-old woman from Belleville. He was so unaware of the consequences of his acts that he was also recording him with chilling coldness.

The police, while investigating the case, conducted a five-hour police interrogation that turned a composed colonel into a hysterical and furious killer, confessing his crime right away. Detective Jim Smyth of the Ontario Provincial Police said on Dateline Interview that they used calm and methodical questioning while presenting evidence like tyre tracks and boot prints to prove his crimes. This was when his confidence dissolved and transformed into despair, realising his reality coming out in the open.

In 2010, on October 21, Williams was sentenced to two life terms, as shown on Dateline. Military institutions immediately erased his name from honour rolls and plaques. His uniforms and decorated badges were destroyed, and medals stripped away. On the other hand, those who were his victims, for them, justice came with deep scars.

This is how, Dateline episode titled Conduct Unbecoming didn't just recount his crime but also explored how a man could collapse to become a predator and eventually a murderer as a result of an obsession.

Edited by Nimisha

Help Us Improve