Burlington murder victim Tim Bosma’s pick-up truck was found with a smashed side window, blood stains and a burned out interior not long after he disappeared.
Detective Constable Laura McLellan testified Feb. 11 that she photographed both Bosma’s pickup truck and the trailer in which it was held in May of 2013.
The murder trial of Dellan Millard and Mark Smich entered its eighth day with police evidence dominating the crown’s case.
McLellan details crime scene
- bloodstains were found on the inside of the cabin, along with a bullet shell casing.
- the seats of the truck had also appeared to be burned.
- bloodstains were also found on the passenger side door, wheel-well, as well as underneath the truck.
- blood was also found on the muffler and tarp the truck was sitting on.
Cellphone data
The crown spent the majority of the morning trying to pinpoint the location of Millard and Smich around the time of the murder.
Phil Wilkinson, an OPP cell data analyst, was recalled to continue his testimony of cell phone activity between the accused activity between May 7 and May 10, 2013.
Bosma disappeared on May 6 after heading out to test drive his pick-up truck with two men interesting in buying it. He was officially reported missing on May 7.
The communications analysis uses “pings,” or cellphones communicating with the closest available tower when a call or text message is placed, to explain the nearest vicinity of an individual relative to their time of communication.
Wilkinson explained the communication consisted largely of text messages, though some phone calls had been made.
Accused located near Millard farm
The exhaustive presentation included the cellphone activity of Millard, Smich, and Christina Noudga, Millard’s girlfriend, pinging off cell phone towers across the GTA and Halton regions.
A Rogers tower ping placed Smich near the Millard farm on May 9. Shortly after, Smich and Millard pinged off a tower closer to the Millard hanger.
The remains of Bosma’s body were discovered on the farm on May 13.
Another notable exchange occurred between Ravin Pillay, Millard’s lawyer, and Wilkinson about Smich’s cellphone being turned off on May 6.
Wilkinson explained the various scenarios a cellphone could stop communicating with a tower, including battery removal or the phone’s airplane mode.
Smich’s phone was “flooded” with messages once it had been turned back on.
Millard has also been accused of murdering 23-year-old Laura Babcock, who went missing in July 2012, as well as his father, Wayne Millard, who died by way of gunshot to the head in an apparent suicide in November 2012.
The trial will continue over the next few months.
