Thandi, Baljit

The Murder of Baljit Thandie

Baljit Thandie, 32, and her mother Avtar Kaur, 60, were stabbed to death by Thandie’s 29-year-old husband Dalwinder Singh on January 12, 2018.

The Laura Babcock Case

Map of Laura Babcock Case

Video of Laura Babcock Case

Sources

Millard tells Laura Babcock murder trial he was in open relationship, had no motive to kill, CBC, Dec. 5, 2017

A good guy emerges at grim trial into Laura Babcock’s murder: DiManno, Toronto Star, Oct. 24, 2017

‘Crying all the time,’ jury hears of Laura Babcock’s struggles with mental health at murder trial, CBC, Nov. 1, 2017

Dellen Millard and Mark Smich Guilty of Murdering Laura Babcock, The Toronto Tribune, Dec. 16, 2017

Laura Babcock, a 23-year-old University of Toronto graduate and aspiring actress, was described by friends as bubbly and fun-loving.

Although her body was never found, Dellen Millard, 32, and Mark Smich, 30, were found guilty of her 1st degree murder on December 16, 2017. The two had already been convicted for the murder of Tim Bosma and were sentenced to serve 25 years each before they are eligible for parole. Their sentences for the murder of Laura Babock will run consecutively, meaning they must serve 50 years before they are eligible for parole.

2008-09: Laura Babcock & Dellen Millard

Laura Babcock met Dellen Millard, a young millionaire and heir to Millardair, an aviation company based in Waterloo, at Toronto’s Brunswick House pub in late 2008 – early 2009. They dated for awhile, ultimately becoming friends and occasional lovers.

2010: Laura Babcock & Shawn Lerner

Laura met businessman Shawn Lerner who she dates for about 18 months before breaking up at Christmas in 2011. Laura and Lerner become very close friends and he will later play an integral part at her murder trial.

2011-2012: Laura’s mental health spiral

During a hospital visit in August, 2011, Laura told healthcare workers she cried all the time and suffered from anxiety and depression. She also mentioned having an intense fear of death that could last for months at a time. She admitted to self-harm.

By April, 2012, Laura had been to the hospital over a dozen times with mental health issues.

2012: The love triangle – Dellen Millard, Christina Noudga & Laura Babcock

In the meantime, Dellen Millard developed a relationship with new girlfriend, Christina Noudga, who became jealous of his relationship with Laura.

On February 26, 2012, Noudga texts Laura: Happy birthday. A year ago today was the first time I slept with Dellen.

Laura replies: That’s fine, I slept with him a couple of weeks ago.

After the exchange between his ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend, Millard sends the following text to Laura: You are harmful to me. please don’t try to contact me until you’ve made some huge leaps of self discovery. as i said before, good luck with life.

Millard would later say in court that he and Noudga had an open relationship and that she was aware he slept with other women. However, a text that Laura sent to a mutual friend, Andrew Michalski, tells a different story. She wrote the following: ya dells (Dellen) def not a fan of me. He told me he told xtina (Christina) when he slept with me before. Erg these ppl cause [so] much unwanted drama for me. and bring me into it.

On April 17, 2012, Millard texted Noudga that he was going to take care of Laura Babcock by writing: first im going to hurt her. Then I’ll make her leave. I will remove her from our lives.

June, 2012: Shawn Lerner steps in to help Laura Babcock

By June of 2012, Laura was homeless and working for Last Minute Escorts in downtown Toronto. She and her dog, Lacey, couch surfed as she looked for a permanent place to stay.

Lerner put Laura up in a west end motel for a few nights and gave her an iPad so she can search for apartments. He would later say that Laura had told him about her escort work, but she seemed new to it and told him there was no sex involved.

“The way she explained it to me, it was sort of . . . men looking to have a pretty girl on their arm,” he said at trial, “She may have believed it. I was obviously not convinced that might be all there was to it.”

Friends said that Laura had also developed a cocaine habit at this time.

July, 2012: Dellen Millard murders Laura Babcock, Mark Smich helps to dispose of her body

In the days before Laura’s disappearance, she and Millard’s cell phones made contact over 100 times. Then on evening of July 3, 2012, Laura traveled to the Kipling subway station where Millard picked her up and drove her to his home in Etobicoke. Her phone ceased all activity about an hour later.

Millard’s friend and accomplice, Mark Smich, received a text from Millard around 7:30 p.m. that read: I’m on a mission, back in 1 hr.

The next day, the iPad Shawn Lerner had given Laura is renamed “Mark’s iPad” through a connection to Millard’s computer and Millard takes a cell phone picture of an object wrapped in a blue tarp at his farm in Waterloo. Later that day, he orders a rush delivery order for a new mattress.

Millard had previously instructed his mechanic, Shane Schlatman, to order a commercial farm animal incinerator which arrives at the Waterloo hangar on July 5th, and Schlatman, Millard, and Smich build a trailor to move the it to Millard’s farm in Waterloo.

On July 14, 2012, both Lerner and Laura Babcock’s family file a missing person’s report with police. Lerner would later say the police did not seem concerned about Laura’s disappearance, even less so when they learned about her mental illness and escort work.

On July 23, 2012, Millard texts Smich “Bbq has run its warm up, it’s ready for meat,” and then does a Google search on temperatures for cremation. He takes pictures on his phone that include Smich with the incinerator that evening. Objects seen in the incinerator are described as human bones by a forensic expert later at trial.

July 27, 2012: Dellen Millard tells Shawn Lerner that he should” have no reasonable expectation” of finding Laura Babcock

In late July, Laura’s last phone bill arrived at her parent’s house. Her worried parents contact her friends, one of whom is Lerner, who noticed the last calls made on Laura’s phone before it went dead were to Millard.

Lerner texted Millard: I’m not looking to point a finger at anyone but we’re concerned about Laura and it looks like you were the last person to correspond with her.

Millard ignored the his first few texts, but finally responded that he didn’t know where she was.

Lerner asked Millard to discuss the situation in person, and on July 27th the two met up at Starbucks. Millard told Lerner that Laura was a cocaine addict and was hounding him to get drugs. Millard said he “vehemently” refused the request, adding that Lerner should “have no reasonable expectation of finding her.”

August, 2012: Mark Smich confesses to murder

Smich invited friends Desi Liberatore and David Cronin inside the garage at his mother’s home in Oakville to smoke pot. Smich rapped lyrics for the men that police would find later written on Laura’s old iPad.

The bitch started off all skin and bone/ Now the bitch lay on some ashy stone
Last time I saw her’s outside the home/ And if you go swimming you can find her phone.

The men would later testify that Smich then confessed that he “killed a girl, burned a body, and disposed of it in a lake.”

May, 2013: Dellen Millard & Mark Smich charged with 1st degree murder of Tim Bosma

It wasn’t until after Millard and Smich were charged with the murder of Tim Bosma that police opened an investigation into the disappearance of Laura Babcock and reopened an investigation into the death of Wayne Millard, Dellen Millard’s father, who’s death had been ruled a suicide.

Dec. 2013: Police find Laura Babcock’s belongings at Mark Smich’s home

On a search of Mark Smich’s home in Oakville, police find Laura’s red duffel bag with an ID tag handwritten by her, and the black iPad that was given to her by Lerner and renamed Mark’s iPad after she was killed.

June 1, 2018June 2, 2018

Bosma, Tim

The Murder of Tim Bosma

Tim Bosma went missing from his Ancaster home after accompanying two men on a test drive of a truck he was selling. He never returned. Dellen Millard and Mark Smich killed him in a field not far from his own home minutes after the truck pulled out of the Bosma driveway.

The Tim Bosma Case

Video of Tim Bosma Case

Sources

, Dellen Millard,

Laura Babcock

Mark Smich,

June 1, 2018June 2, 2018

Millard, Wayne

The Murder of Wayne Millard

Wayne Millard was allegedly murdered by his son, Dellen, in what was first thought to be a suicide. Police reopened the investigation into his death, and the disappearance of Laura Babcock, after Dellen Millard was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Tim Bosma.

The Wayne Millard Case

Video of Wayne Millard Case

Sources

Dellen Millard faces photos of his dead father, Wayne, as 3rd murder trial begins, CBC, May 31, 2018

Wayne Millard had made plans to celebrate girlfriend’s birthday days before his death, trial hears, The Canadian Press, May 31, 2018

Christie Blatchford: Victim had found love before his death, Millard’s trial hears, National Post, May 31, 2018

WAYNE C. MILLARD
Obituary (written by Dellen Millard)
Wayne C. Millard has passed. He is survived by son Dellen Millard. For those who wish to gather in fond memory of Wayne, there will be a reception from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 15, 2012 at Vinsanto Ristorante, 28 Roytec Road, Vaughan, ON. What few words could make comment here… His hope was for a time when cooperation would be the norm and competition was only friendly. He was frugal with himself and generous to others. The only people he feared were racists. He would answer a question with a story. He stepped carefully while advocating carefreeness. He could read and write five languages. He was patient and stubborn. He admired Christ, Gandhi and Lindbergh. He believed animal welfare was a humanitarian effort. He was a good man in a careless world. He was my father. A Master Pilot… Many who knew Wayne Millard, knew him as a pilot. Rightfully so, as he defined himself by the responsibilities of the trade. I now carry his pilot’s license in my wallet. It’s a good photo. Beside it are noted the type certificates he held. It’s a long list from B747s and B757s, to DC3s and L101s, to BH47s and HU500s. For Father piloting wasn’t just his job, it was his freedom. A Humanitarian… Wayne supported, organized, and helped fund many missions on behalf of animal welfare. Sponsor a Dog, the Canadian Flora & Fauna Society, Canadian Wildlife Film Productions, the Sea Shepherd Society and the Toronto Humane Society, only to name a few. He saw a future for mankind where we do not pollute our environment or subjugate animal lives to our industry. He was a man of vision. Yet To Be Realized… His last, still unlaunched, animal welfare mission is accepting donations to the ‘Elizabeth Glass Animal Welfare Fund’, 5 Maple Gate Court, Etobicoke, ON M9C 2K4. He believed we can make a difference in the world. With Wayne in my heart, I believe we must.

Wayne Millard, 71, had just begun massive construction on the largest hangar at the Waterloo International Airport where he planned to relocate Millardair MRO – an aircraft maintenance and services business – he owned and was president of in 2012. That all came to an end when his son, Dellen Millard, found his dead body in his Etobicoke on November 29, 2012.

That day, police received a call from Wayne’s ex-wife and Dellen Millard’s mother, Madeleine Burns, who reported that “her husband had passed away” and “there was blood all over.” Both Millard and Burns were on the scene when police and paramedics arrived at the residence. Paramedics would later testify that Millard seemed very calm.

Wayne was found lying on his side on his bed with his right arm underneath his head and his left arm outstretched. His head rested on a bloodied pillow with curious black, sooty marks on it. The coroner would later find a gun inside a Lululemon bag wedged between the bed and the dresser. Although the gun was the one that took Wayne’s life, there was no way the dead man could have put it there, proving someone else moved the gun after his death.

Wayne’s death was ruled a suicide with cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound through the eye. Experts agree that it is very rare for people to choose the eye as the spot to pull the trigger in suicide cases.

MillardAir & Three Generations of Pilots

Wayne’s father, Carl, founded MillardAir in the 1960s as a charter airline flying out of Toronto Pearson International Airport. By 1990, the airline had gone bankrupt and was transformed into an aircraft maintenance/services business.

Wayne became president of the company in 2006 after the death of his father, and in 2012, was on the cusp of rebuilding MillardAir as a new company when he died.

Previously an airline pilot, Wayne married Madeleine Burns, a flight attendant for Air Canada, and they had one son together, Dellen Millard. Millard had a privileged upbringing and, at 14, became the youngest person to pilot a helicopter and airplane on the same day.

After Wayne and Madeleine divorced, she moved to Kleinburg. Millard would later say his parents’ divorce was emotionally devastating to him.

Before his death, Wayne had begun a relationship with a woman named Janet Campbell, who would later testify that although Wayne suffered from back pain, he was excited about his burgeoning business and not depressed.

Tim Bosma & Laura Babcock

Before Wayne’s death, 25-year-old Laura Babcock had gone missing in July. Babcock was a former girlfriend of Dellen Millard’s. Then on May 6, 2013, Tim Bosma went missing after accompanying two men to test drive a truck he was selling.

Dellen Millard and his accomplice, Mark Smich, were arrested, tried and convicted of the first-degree murder of Tim Bosma. Investigators then decided to reopen the case of Wayne’s death, as well as the disappearance of Laura Babcock.

In 2017, Millard and Smich were both convicted of the first-degree murder of Laura Babcock and sentenced to another 25 years on top of the 25 years they were already serving for the murder of Tim Bosma.

May 18, 2018June 2, 2018

Babcock, Laura

The Murder of Laura Babcock

Laura Babcock was murdered by her ex-boyfriend and occasional lover Dellen Millard on July 4, 2012. His motive was to appease his current girlfriend with whom Babcock had exchanged insulting texts.