An aviation empire heir has been found guilty of murdering his lover and burning her body in an incinerator.
Dellen Millard, of Toronto, Canada, killed 23-year-old Laura Babcock in 2012 after his girlfriend became increasingly jealous over their relationship, prosecutors said.
Babcock’s body was never found but the court heard that Millard, and accomplice Mark Smich, destroyed her remains in an incinerator, CBC reports.
Police later discovered that a note on Smich’s iPad which read: ‘The b***h started off all skin and bone, Now the b***h lay on some ash stone,Last time I saw her was outside the home,And if u go swimming u can find her phone.’
Aviation empire heir Dellen Millard was found guilty of first-degree murder over the death of Laura Babcock
Victims: Millard’s ex-lover Laura Babcock (left), 23, was last seen alive in June 2012; his father, Wayne Millard (pictured right with Dellan as a boy), was found dead from a gunshot wound in November 2012
Babcock’s body was never found but the court heard that Millard, and accomplice Mark Smich, destroyed her remains in an incinerator (pictured)
BAbcock’s former boyfriend Shawn Lerner accused police of ignoring Babcock’s missing person case because she was a mentally unstable drug user who also dabbled in the sex trade.
Both Millard and Smich, who were also found guilty of murdering a man selling a truck and incinerating his body in 2013, were convicted of first-degree murder – which carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Millard is also accused of murdering his own father Wayne – whose death was initially ruled a suicide. The case is due to be heard next year.
Millard is the scion of a failed aviation company, Millardair, which was started by his grandfather, retired pilot Carl Millard, in 1954. The charter airline went out of business in 1990.
The Millards also owned an airline maintenance venture, which Wayne Millard headed from 2006 until his death in 2012.
The court heard that in 2012, Millard had a girlfriend, Christina Noudga, but was also sleeping with Babcock, an escort.
Mark Smich stood in front of the incinerator in what prosecutors say was the night Babcock’s body was burned inside
Police also found more photos from that evening on Millard’s phone which appeared to show bones inside The Eliminator (pictured)
Babcock and Millard’s jealous girlfriend had an ongoing feud. By April that year, the drama had obviously become too much for Millard.
He texted his girlfriend: ‘First I’m going to hurt her. Then I’ll make her leave,’ read his message. ‘I will remove her from our lives.’
Millard told the court he hadn’t been serious and was just trying to appease his girlfriend.
One June 30, Babcock and Millard exchanged text messages.
Two days later, Millard purchased a 32-caliber gun, according to the gun seller.
Cellphone records show that Babcock and Millard met a few days later on July 3, near the Kipling subway station.
They then moved to Millard’s house – where cell records show that Smich was also in the vicinity.
It’s the last time Babcock was seen alive. Her last call was made to her voicemail at 7.03pm that evening.
Prosecutors say that the following day, Smich sent a photograph of a large object wrapped in a blue tarp which they believe was the victim’s body.
Tim Bosma, pictured with his wife and daughter, left his home in May 2013 in the company of two strangers who asked to test drive his pickup truck
Babcock, a University of Toronto graduate, had been a promising student but had struggled with her mental health and drug abuse before she was killed
On July 5, the incinerator arrived at his hangar at the Region of Waterloo International Airport.
A couple of weeks later, on July 23, Millard texted Smich, telling him that the ‘BBQ’ has ‘run its warm up, it’s ready for meat.’
Later that evening, a grinning Smich posed for photos in front of the incinerator. Police also found more photos from that evening on Millard’s phone which appeared to show bones inside The Eliminator.
But experts were not able to confirm they were human because of the poor quality of the images.
If anyone asked about the incinerator, Millard told them he was starting a mobile pet cremation business with his veterinarian uncle, Robert Burns – who later testified they’d never even discussed such a business and calling the idea ‘absurd.’
The day after the photos were taken, Smich made up the rap about the murder, and the court saw video of him rapping about burning the body and throwing Babcock’s phone in a body of water.
Cops later found some of Babcock’s belongings at Smich’s house.
Both Smich’s lawyer and Millard, who represented himself, denied killing her and say the Crown have not proved she is dead.
The court heard that in 2012, Millard had a girlfriend, Christina Noudga (pictured with him) but was also sleeping with Babcock, an escort
Smich (pictured) and Millard denied killing Babcock and say the Crown have not proved she is dead
Babcock, a University of Toronto graduate, had been a promising student but had struggled with her mental health and drug abuse before she was killed.
After falling out with her family, she bounced from place to place, with her dog for company. When she failed to find a job, she became an escort in June 2012.
Following their convictions on Friday, the victim’s father Clayton Babcock, welcomed the news.
‘We just sat through a six-week funeral for our daughter Laura. You all know what a wonderful woman she was, as well as all the pains and struggles that she faced.
‘You also know about the evil beings that took her life, and if society’s lucky, we will not see them again on the streets.’
‘Like any parent that loses a child, we can only move forward with the thoughts of what might have been,’ he added.
Millard announced, before the verdict was read, he planned to appeal if found guilty.
In his youth, Dellen Millard attended an elite private school in Toronto, where he reportedly shocked his classmates by eating dog treats in the hallways.
On his 14th birthday, Millard made international headlines when he became the youngest person in Canada to complete solo flights in both a plane and a helicopter.
Aside of his hereditary passion for aircraft, the young aviator also owned a collection of cars, which he souped up and raced. After his father’s shooting death, Millard took over the struggling family business, but it went under a short time later.
Millard was been charged with murder in the deaths of Tim Bosma, his own father and his ex-lover
But Millard still had substantial assets by the time he was arrested, with at least four valuable properties registered to his name, including his grandparents’ million-dollar home in a Toronto suburb, a $1.4million apartment building, a farm and a condo in downtown Toronto, CBC reported.
Dellan Millard, sporting his signature pink Mohawk on his head, was arrested May 11, 2013, just five days after the disappearance of Tim Bosma, who had put up his Dodge Ram pickup truck for sale online.
Two men, believed to be Millard and Smich, answered the ad and arrived at Bosma’s Ancaster home for a test drive. Bosma never made it back home to his wife, Sharlene, and his young daughter.
Two days after his disappearance, Tim’s truck was found inside a trailer parked at his mother’s home.
When police searched Millard’s 45-hectare farm and discovered the missing man’s badly burned body.
Trailblazer: On his 14th birthday, Millard became the youngest person in Canada to complete solo flights in both a plane and a helicopter
Boss: Wayne Millard (left), pictured in 1999 with his son, was the owner of an airline maintenance venture
Sharlene Bosma sobbed after learning of the inexplicable murder of her husband: ‘I am broken because part of me is gone.
‘It pains me to do so, but I must ask for your support and prayers for the hours and the weeks and the months and even the years that lie ahead for us, because this will never really be over for us.
‘We know, and take some comfort in that Tim has touched so many people.’
Police believe the pair used the livestock incinerator dubbed the Eliminator to dispose of the victim’s remains. Millard had no animals on his property.
In 2012, his father Wayne Millard was discovered dead in his Etobicoke home from what was believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the left side of his head.
The death was ruled a suicide and Mr Millard’s body was cremated.
On the occasion of his father’s passing, Dellan Millard wrote a touching obituary in which he described his late parent as a humanitarian and a passionate animal activist.