Ontario police charged the senior officer at CFB Trenton, a career officer with 23 years in the military, with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two eastern Ontario women.

Wing commander Col. Russell Williams, 46, was arrested Sunday and charged in the death of 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd, whose body was found Monday off Cary Road in the Municipality of Tweed. Lloyd had been missing since Jan. 28 from her home outside Tweed.
Williams has also been charged in the death of 38-year-old Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, of Brighton, Ont., who was slain in her home on Nov. 25, 2009. She was a corporal in the Armed Forces and a flight attendant based at Trenton.

Col. Williams appeared in a Belleville, Ont., courtroom Monday and was formally charged with the murders of the two women and two counts of break and enter and sexual assault, related to two separate home invasions and sexual assaults in the Tweed area in September of 2009. He was remanded in custody and will appear by video on Feb. 18.

Police linked the two crimes to a single suspect due to similarities in the cases.

OPP reported Col. Williams first came to their attention in a "road side canvass" on Highway 37 on Feb. 4.

André Deschamps, chief of air staff for the Canadian Forces, issued a statement Monday that "although one is considered innocent until proven guilty, in light of the seriousness of the charges, and in consideration of the high level of responsibilities" attached to Williams's position, an interim wing commander for 8 Wing Trenton will be appointed to replace him.