WARNING: Story contains graphic content and images.
The depravity that consumed confessed sex predator and murderer Col. Russell Williams was laid bare Monday in image after image of a decorated military man dressed in little girls' underwear while masturbating.
A photographic record of an escalation from fetish break and enters to sexual assaults and murder was flashed on two courtroom TVs after the former airbase commander pleaded guilty to all charges against him.
Williams, 47, was a rising star in the military before being charged in February with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38.
The once celebrated commander was expressionless as he entered the court shackled at the ankles and handcuffed, wearing a dark suit and grey button-down shirt.
"Guilty, your honour," he said after the charges were entered.
Along with the two murder counts, Williams admitted to two sexual assaults, which involved forcible confinement, and 82 break and enters.
The photos shown in court graphically depicted Williams splayed on the beds of young girls and women, sometimes with stuffed animals or toys among the panties and bras he neatly laid out.
For two years starting in 2007, Williams would break into homes -- sometimes of people he knew -- and go through their closets and underwear drawers in search of sexual trophies.
Everything was obsessively photographed and documented in two hard drives that were found stored in the ceiling in the basement of his Ottawa home. The files and date-and-time-stamped photos were organized in a "complex" filing system so that his wife wouldn't find them, Williams admitted to police.
The former commander of Canada's largest airfield was so consumed with collecting underwear that he had to burn some of his trophies in a field to make room for more, according to an agreed statement of facts.
The pattern was often the same: Williams would take photos of open underwear drawers, closets and beds, then meticulously lay out the stolen underwear and lingerie on the bed, often photographing each individual piece.
The pictures then took a pornographic turn, as a grim-faced Williams donned girls' clothes and underwear -- some decorated with cartoon characters -- and took photos of himself, usually masturbating.
During one disturbing episode in November 2008, Williams stole into the room of a 15-year-old Ottawa girl. He took 91 pictures focusing on a pair of her panties.
Seventy of those photos were pictures of Williams wearing, licking or kissing the underwear. One showed him wearing the panties like a balaclava around his head, with only his eyes and nose visible.
He admitted to police he sought out homes where "attractive young women" lived, targeting those in their late teens to early 30s. He broke into at least a dozen bedrooms of girls under the age of 18, including one shared by 11-year-old twin girls.
The evidence included a photograph of himself in the bedroom of a 12-year-old girl whose parents he was friendly with -- the girl would often take care of the colonel and his wife's beloved cat.
He returned to the girl's room at least two other times, court heard, taking photos of himself masturbating on her bed and wearing one of the girl's skirts.
Court heard that Williams eventually grew bolder and started breaking into homes when the young women or girls were home.
In one case, he stripped down and entered a home naked while the girl was in the shower. She never saw him, but he went through her room and stole numerous pieces of underwear, the court heard.
One 12-year-old girl found a message from Williams typed on her computer screen -- "merci."
Police also found a profane letter Williams wrote on his computer to a 24-year-old woman from whom he stole over 186 pieces of clothing, including lingerie.
In the letter, Williams also lists all the break and enters he committed in Ottawa from May 2008 until June 19 that year, signing off as "JT." There's no indication the woman ever received the letter, according to the agreed statement of facts.
Williams's troubled exploits eventually escalated to sexual assault in September 2009. The woman was woken by Williams in the middle of the night while her baby slept in the next room.
She was tied up, blindfolded and stripped as Williams took pictures of her in pornographic poses. He touched her breasts but didn't attempt to penetrate her.
Williams reportedly came to the attention of police at a Feb. 4 roadside checkpoint -- just days after Lloyd was killed -- when his SUV's unusual tires were linked to tread marks at one of the crime scenes.
He faces an automatic sentence of life in prison, with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years.
The charges against Williams were so numerous, it took nearly 40 minutes to read them into the court record.
Canada's top soldier, Gen. Walter Natynczyk, said the military is working as "quickly as possible" to remove Williams from its ranks.
A formal conviction in the case -- expected after evidence supporting the 88 counts is officially entered into the court record -- will allow the military to begin the process to release him from the Canadian Forces, Natynczyk said.
Court heard Williams masturbated in the home of three girls -- ages nine, 11 and 13 -- which he called the "mystery little girls" because he couldn't identify them.
In 2008 he broke into an Ottawa home where a 24-year-old woman lived and stole 87 pieces of lingerie and underwear and a sex toy.
The entering of evidence at court was expected to last several days, after which victim impact statements will also be presented.
Outside court Lloyd's brother Andy said he's ready to give his statement to "let (Williams) and the courts know, and the parole board in 25 years, how this has affected us."
Lloyd's mother Roxanne entered the courtroom carrying a framed photo of her daughter. Several other family members were in the packed courtroom as well.
The stark contrast between the images of a successful military man and a depraved sexual predator has drawn intense public attention to the case.
Experts say the Williams case is distinct because it is unusual for panty thieves to escalate from break and enters to murder. It is also unusual for a man to turn to crime in his mid-40s.
Toronto criminal lawyer Adam Boni calls the now exposed double life led by Williams a "Jekyll and Hyde" scenario, something that hasn't been seen before in Canada.
Comeau was found dead in her home in Brighton, Ont., last November while Lloyd was found in nearby Tweed.
Comeau was a flight attendant at CFB Trenton and served aboard the same military VIP flights Williams piloted for much of the 1990s, ferrying the Governor General, the prime minister and other dignitaries on domestic and overseas trips.
Court documents show Williams is alleged to have burglarized Comeau's home some 10 days before she was found dead on Nov. 25. The information does not specify what was allegedly stolen.
Lloyd worked in Napanee, Ont., co-ordinating school-bus schedules.
The charges shook the Canadian Forces to its core, with officials left wondering how someone like Williams could have passed through the intense psychological screening members of the military are subjected to as they rise through the ranks.
The hearings continued Tuesday, during which details of the two murders were expected.
