Outside the courtroom, people are hugging each other, from the top OPP officer on the case to the young woman who cleans the courthouse bathrooms. The only person who appears unhappy is Millard’s blond mystery friend. She is talking on her phone, visibly distraught and more animated than she has ever been.
—
WHEN COURT RESUMES FOR the sentencing, Millard and Smich are asked if they have anything to say. Both decline to comment. Justice Goodman calls their crime “incomprehensible and unimaginable” and praises the Bosma family for its strength of character. Despite the despicable and callous actions of Millard and Smich, he says, Tim Bosma’s memory and spirit cannot be taken away. Then he turns to the two convicted men.
“You are both sentenced to an automatic mandatory term of imprisonment for life, or at least until 2038.”
Millard had tried to make eye contact with Sharlene Bosma as he entered the courtroom for sentencing, prompting jeers from onlookers. But on his way out for the last time, he keeps his eyes straight ahead. Smich bows his head, something he has never done before.
A few minutes later, in the park across the street, Sharlene Bosma, surrounded by microphones and cameras, reads from a statement she has prepared. It is a hot, humid, late spring day, and she is wearing a long white eyelet skirt and black blouson T-shirt. She is glad that the trial is done, that this chapter is over, that she no longer has to sit in the same room and breathe the same air as Millard and Smich. “For Tim’s murderers, their life sentence begins now,” she says. “Ours began over three years ago when they murdered Tim.”
As Sharlene speaks, with Hank and Mary Bosma, Tim’s sisters, and her own family behind her, passing cars honk in support and a crowd gathers to watch. Although the pain of losing Tim will never go away, Tim’s friends and family have learned to laugh again and to enjoy what they still have, she says. Later that night, they will celebrate, drink champagne, and remember Tim.
The next day, The Hamilton Spectator publishes a revelatory interview with Hank and Mary Bosma. Mary uses an expression few would have dared utter in her presence when she tells journalist Susan Clairmont that Tim’s murder was a “thrill kill” and that his killers were “upping their game.” Hank reveals that he was not always as composed as he looked. There were times, he says, when he wanted “to jump out and kick the living daylights out of” Millard and Smich.
At first, when the Bosmas contemplated their son’s death, they were haunted by horrific possibilities. “That was the hardest part,” says Mary. “Not knowing his last moments, how he died. Did he suffer? Did they torture him? Did they burn him alive?” When they eventually learned the Crown’s theory, that Tim was shot in his truck shortly after leaving his house, “the weight just went off our shoulders,” says Hank.
The Bosmas, like so many of the strangers who have followed their case, still ponder the question of what turned Millard and Smich into thrill killers, what toxic combination of nature and nurture produced two young men whose ambition in life was to target, murder, and incinerate a fellow human being. While more facts are bound to be revealed at the Laura Babcock and Wayne Millard trials, the full truth may never be known. Those with genuine insights into Millard’s and Smich’s backgrounds may choose, as they have until now, not to share their knowledge. How the two friends became monsters may remain as unknowable as what happened inside Tim Bosma’s truck.
What can be known, and what this book has told, is the story of just some of the people—family, friends, police officers, lawyers, expert witnesses, jurors, and judge—who all did their part to ensure that justice was done for Tim Bosma.
The mystery of Tim Bosma’s disappearance made headlines across Canada.
Dellen Millard photographed on the day of his arrest, May 10, 2013, four days after the murder of Tim Bosma.
Mark Smich under police surveillance, the week before his arrest on May 22, 2013.
Mark Smich with Marlena Meneses at the wedding of Smich’s sister, May 19, 2013, less than two weeks after Bosma’s murder.
After the arrest of Dellen Millard, Toronto Police released a notice for missing person Laura Babcock, who disappeared in July 2012. Both Millard and Smich face first-degree murder charges in the death of Babcock, who dated Millard.
The Eliminator, bought by Millard in 2012, was used to incinerate the body of Tim Bosma.
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Tracy Rogers climbs inside to retrieve as much of Bosma’s remains as possible, both for the prosecution and his family.
Bosma’s Dodge Ram 3500 was examined at an OPP facility in Tillsonburg, Ontario. It was found in a trailer in the driveway of Dellen Millard’s mother, Madeleine Burns, in Kleinburg, Ontario.
The Millardair hangar at Waterloo International Airport became a storage facility for Dellen Millard’s alleged thefts. Millard and Smich transported the Eliminator and Bosma’s body here.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Lynett)
Dellen Millard’s defence team, Nadir Sachak and Ravin Pillay, were a contrast in courtroom styles.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Lynett)
Mark Smich’s legal team, Thomas Dungey and Jennifer Trehearne, used a cutthroat defence, blaming Millard as the shooter.
(Courtesy of author)
Christina Noudga (centre) with lawyer Paul Mergler and her mother. Noudga’s attire and her courtroom behaviour caused a stir.
(John Rennison, The Hamilton Spectator)
Detective Greg Rodzoniak (left) and Staff Sergeant Matt Kavanagh head into court on February 9, 2016 in Hamilton.
(Courtesy Mike Burgess)
The prosecution team addresses the media after the guilty verdict. Assistant Crown attorneys Craig Fraser (left), lead prosecutor Tony Leitch (centre) and Brett Moodie (right) were methodical and relentless in their pursuit of a first-degree murder conviction.
(Courtesy Mike Burgess)
A tearful but composed Sharlene Bosma, with Hank Bosma (right) and family behind her, addresses media and supporters after the verdict. “For Tim’s murderers, their life sentence begins now. And ours began over three years ago when they murdered Tim.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Starting at the very beginning, I’d like to thank Kevin Libin at the National Post for publishing my first article on the Millard family and Millardair. The Post’s crime reporter Adrian Humphreys generously provided his insights and input.
It goes without saying that I am grateful to everyone who talked and wrote to me to share their knowledge of events and how they unfolded. Some of those many people are named in this book. Others preferred to remain unnamed. All were a big help and should not be blamed for any mistakes or inaccuracies. Those are all on me.
Special thanks to kickass researchers Sylvia Nowak and Lynn Wiegard; photographer Mike Burgess, a man of many skills; and “Ms. Sherlock,” an online sleuth whose breadth of knowledge covers everything from airport regulation to dairy barns to mojito making. “Civilians” James Andrew and Ron Verbeek put together trial documents and Tweet sheets that were an invaluable public resource, and that I relied on time and again in pulling everything together.
The staff at the Hamilton courthouse deserve a huge shout out for being so efficient and helpful in providing the media with trial exhibits almost daily. My colleagues in the press corps always had each other’s backs. Extra thanks to Alex Pierson and Sam Pazzano for the many rides and rush-hour conversations en route back to Toronto, and to Nicole Lampa and Molly Hayes for favours rendered.
At Penguin Random House Canada, assistant editor Justin Stoller was a huge help at deadline time. And it was a pleasure to work with publishing director Diane Turbide for the first time since the old McGill Daily days. Alex Schultz was the best copy editor ever, solving my tense problems and so much more.
Thanks, too, to Tycho Manson for introducing me to Iain MacKinnon, who is always soothing, supportive, and succinct with his legal advice.
I am grateful as always to my family and friends for their patience and encouragement
as I worked on this project.
And finally, I am in awe of the Bosma family for the inspirational manner in which they coped with an unimaginable crime. If you would like to know more, please visit the website for TimsTribute.ca, the charity founded by Sharlene Bosma after her husband was murdered.
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