Col. Russell Williams has pleaded guilty to more than 80 criminal charges, including the first-degree murders of two Eastern Ontario women and the sexual assaults of two others.
On Monday morning, Williams appeared in a Belleville, Ont., courtroom to enter pleas to the dozens of charges against him.
First he pleaded guilty to the murder of Jessica Lloyd and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, at the start of the hearing that began at about 10 a.m.
Then the judge read out the remaining 80-plus charges against him, which included two charges of sexual assault and dozens of break-and-enter offences. The 47-year-old Williams, previously the commander of CFB Trenton, pleaded guilty to them all.
Colonel targeted younger women
After entering the guilty pleas, the Crown prosecutor began reading an agreed statement of facts into the court, providing details on the types of women Williams targeted.
Williams would stake out the homes of young, attractive women, before breaking in and stealing their lingerie and other items.
He often modeled the lingerie he stole and fondled himself while in the homes he broke into. The prosecution said it has thousands of pictures that Williams took of himself wearing women's underwear.
Proceeding with sentencing
Over the rest of the week, the court will hear victim impact statements and the judge will then hand down a sentence to Williams.
"This is stage one of a process that will take at least three or four days, from what we're told right now," CTV's Richard Madan told CTV's Canada AM from outside the Belleville courthouse on Monday morning.
Arrival at the courthouse
Williams, a career soldier and former commander of CFB Trenton, arrived at the Belleville, Ont., courthouse at about 7:45 a.m. on Monday morning.
Madan said Williams was wearing a dark blazer and appeared to have a fresh brushcut. He was escorted by several OPP officers who whisked him into the courthouse behind a barricade that has been put in place to shield Williams from the public.
About two hours after he arrived in Belleville, Williams was brought into the courtroom, which is filled with reporters. Madan said reporters from CBS News and the New York Times were in Belleville on Monday, a testament to the wide interest in a case involving one of Canada's most senior soldiers.
Journalists and members of the public began filing into the courtroom in the mid-morning. Madan said they began lining up at 5 a.m.
A separate room has been set up for members of the media to follow the proceedings on a video feed.
Jessica Lloyd's mother, Roxanne, was among the people who arrived at the courthouse on Monday. She carried a large picture of her daughter with her.
Jessica Lloyd's brother, Andy, was also in the courtroom with several other family members.
The arrest and the investigation
Last winter, Williams made headlines after he was charged in the deaths of Lloyd and Comeau.
Lloyd worked co-ordinating school-bus schedules in Napanee, Ont.
Comeau was a flight attendant at CFB Trenton. Court documents allege that Williams broke into Comeau's home about 10 days before she was found dead.
He was also charged with two separate sexual assaults against two different women in Tweed, Ont., a small town located about an hour north of CFB Trenton, where the colonel owned a cottage.
Two months after his arrest, Williams was further charged with dozens of break-ins that occurred in Tweed, Belleville, Ont., and also in Fallingbrook, a suburb in east-end Ottawa.
Williams is also facing a $2.45-million civil lawsuit from one of the women he is accused of attacking. That case is separate from the criminal charges he will plead guilty to on Monday.
