Russell William was born in England, and immigrated to Canada during his childhood. His father worked as a scientist at a nuclear power research facility in Canada, while Williams attended the prestigious Upper Canada College boarding school.

He completed his education at the University of Toronto Scarborough. In 1987, he embarked on a military career, with assignments at various bases including Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, and Shearwater, Nova Scotia, before being stationed in Ottawa. Additionally, he developed the skill of flying at Toronto's Buttonville Airport.

In 1987, Williams joined the Canadian Forces, and in 1990 he received his flying wings. He was promoted to captain in 1991, and spent time posted to the 412 Transport Squadron in Ottawa, where he transported VIPs, including high-ranking government officials and foreign dignitaries. In November 1999, Williams was promoted to major and was posted to Director General Military Careers in Ottawa.

In 2004 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and soon after he was appointed commanding officer of 437 Transport Squadron at CFB Trenton, Ontario.

Williams was sworn in as the Wing Commander at CFB Trenton in 2009, which is Canada's busiest military airbase.

Williams flew Canadian Forces VIP aircraft for heads and state and dignitaries, and often flew Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, the governor-general, and the Prime Minister of Canada.

Williams often spent time at a cottage he owned in the village of Tweed, Ontario, at 62 Cosy Cove Lane. His full-time residence was in Trenton, Ottawa, which was 53 kilometers away.

In 2007, Russell Williams began his (documented) crime spree, which involved breaking into houses and stealing women's panties, bras, and lingerie. He committed these crimes close to home, and break-ins escalated around his residence on Cozy Cove Lane - both on his street and the surrounding neighborhood.

He was pretty greedy: taking 68 pieces here, and a whopping 186 pieces of clothing from another home. Williams stole 87 pairs of underwear from a single underage girl. Williams took photos of himself masturbating in their homes, while dressed in his victims underwear and lingerie. He would place his collection in boxes or bags hidden in his home.

Williams stole around 1,400 pieces of clothing, most of it underwear and lingerie.

Williams grew his collection of undergarments so much so, that he had to burn batches in a field to make room for more. He did this at least two times in a rural area outside Ottawa.

Before leaving one crime scene, Williams typed a one-word message on young girl’s computer: “Merci.”

During a lingerie robbery, Williams wiped a girl’s make-up brush on his erect penis. The brush was left in her room for her to use again.

Williams took copious and detailed notes of his burglaries, and eventually, his rapes. As his crimes escalated, his documentation included photographs as well as harrowing videos.

Over the course of two years, he violated women in Ottawa and the eastern Ontario towns of Belleville, Brighton and Tweed.

Williams would bring his video camera to his victims homes to create his own twisted home movies. He would force the women to model lingerie, then rape them, all the while filming his sick torture sessions.

Williams had a bag full of zip ties, a camera, duct tape, and a flashlight - items he used during the murders of his two victims.

He used the duct tape to viciously tape his victim's mouth, and then her nose, so she could not breath.

During the assault of another victim, Williams tied her to her bed, raped her, and drove her back to his cottage, using the duct tape to cover her eyes for the entire trip.

Williams used zip ties as torture devices. In one instance, he affixed two zip ties around his victim's neck and stated: “If I feel something don’t like, I pull on that and you die, got it?” He then forced her to perform oral sex, all the while filming the assault — the camera only inches from her petrified face.

Williams wore a ski mask, while hiding behind the furnace in the basement of his first murder victim’s home.

Williams took thousands of disgusting photographs of himself at crime scenes wearing women's lingerie, and masturbating on their beds. He kept these photos in a file folder, and all were date stamped.

In addition, he broke into the bedrooms of girls as young as 9 - modelled their underwear for his camera, while lying in their beds naked, masturbating in their rooms.

Some of the photos featured Williams in lingerie, as well as parts of his Canadian military uniform.

Williams loved two main poses: an over-the-shoulder glance, and a military-type stance.

He stored evidence of the murders and break-ins on two hard drives, hidden above the ceiling in the basement of his Ottawa home.

On January 28, 2010, Williams broke into his second murder victim's home on Highway 37 in Twede, which was a 20-minute drive from his cottage. He drove his Nissan Pathfinder to the scene of the crime.

Two local men drove by at 3 am and noticed an SUV parked in a field next to an isolated house. It was an odd sight for the area, and they found it strange.

Days later, the entire town was on alert, searching for a missing young woman who was one of Williams's victims. The two men who had noticed the oddly parked SUV realized it was the same area and reported it to the police. Officers searched the secluded area and found boot prints and tire tracks.

The Ministry of Transport and RCMP experts informed the police that the tracks were likely made by one of three types of vehicles, and the tires were identified as Toyo Country HTs.

Officers then set up roadblocks around Highway 37, checking the tires of cars. Within three minutes, Williams approached in his Nissan Pathfinder, which was one of the three likely vehicle types. His tires matched the Toyo HTs. Williams told the police at the roadblock that he was the base commander at CFB Trenton and often traveled the road but denied knowing Lloyd. However, the officers, who were also investigating Comeau's death, didn't believe him.

Williams was then placed under surveillance, unbeknownst to him.

They followed him to Ottawa, observed him vacuuming his car at a car wash, and, as he drove away, impounded the trash can to search for evidence. Days later, they called him in for questioning.

In addition to the tire tracks he left around the area of his murder victim's home, Williams had left rather distinctive boot prints in the snow. The police took impressions for the investigation.

Unbelievably, Williams wore the exact boots to the station when the police called him in for questioning regarding the recent murders in Tweed.

While there, he declined the opportunity to call legal representation, joking he only had a realty lawyer.

Williams cordially gave over his blood and fingerprints, and brazenly let detectives photocopy the sole of his boots.

In probably the best interrogation of all time, Detective Inspector Jim Smyth tells Williams: “Your vehicle drove up the side of (victim)’s house. Your boots walked to the back of (victim)’s house.”

His initial denial morphed into a full declaration of his guilt.

Williams has been stripped of his military rank as a colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, and awards he won over the years.

He has also been stripped of his Queen's commission, meaning he is no longer an officer.

It has been said that this action is unprecedented in Canadian military history.

His uniform and medals were ceremoniously burnt, and he received no severance pay.

At one point, Williams tried to kill himself in prison. His would-be suicide note was written in mustard.