The third week of testimony in the Dellen Millard and Mark Smich trial focused on information gathered at Millard’s North Dumfries farm.
Millard and Smich are charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Hamilton resident Tim Bosma. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Thursday’s testimony began with a forensic anthropologist explaining what was found in a large cremator intended for animals.
The cremator, sold as ‘the Eliminator’, was found on Millard’s farm on Roseville Road, just south of Kitchener.
The Crown contends that Bosma’s remains were taken to that farm after being burned in the Eliminator at the Region of Waterloo International Airport.
Dr. Tracy Rogers said that on the night of May 11, 2013, she got a call from Hamilton Police who wanted her opinion on whether or not the burned bones found in the Eliminator were human.
After examining the photographs sent to her, she said that she believed the bones were human and not animal.
Further examination confirmed that they were indeed human, she said.
The court was shown a series of photos. Rogers explained that they were arm and hand bones.
Rogers then told the court that on May 13, 2013, she was brought out to the farm to examine the animal cremator in person.
Jurors then heard that inside the device, Rogers found fragile pieces of bone and bone fragments, which she helped to remove.
She told the court about the painstaking process to clean out the Eliminator; using a brand new vacuum, which was purchased by police to seize the tiny bone fragments she couldn’t remove by hand.In total Rogers found 58 bone fragments in the cremator, from various parts of the body.
Following Rogers’ testimony, five different witnesses explained what they had observed around Millard’s farm.
Evan Snider leased land from Millard to grow cash crops on the property.
Police called Snider on May 13, 2013. They brought him to the farm to identify the parameters and asked him to point out if he noticed anything awry with the property.
Snider told the court that he noticed a cremator sitting in the laneway, and that he had never seen it before.
One of the farm’s neighbours, Armin Seibert, took the stand describing how he saw flashlights being used late one night, but couldn’t pinpoint the exact day in early May.
Another witness and neighbour Steve Henhoeffer, went on to paint a picture of what he noticed around 6 a.m. one morning. He said he noticed smoke coming from the Millard farm, which he found odd for that hour.
He also told the court that he had never seen smoke coming from the property before.
One of the final witnesses of the day, Jason McGrath told the jury that he hunted on the Millard property with the permission of Evan Snider.
McGrath said that he had been turkey hunting at the Roseville Road farm the weekend of May 4 and 5, 2013, and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.
He went back the following weekend. It was then that he discovered the incinerator in the bush, accompanied by a policeman.
The jury will be back in court when testimony continues Monday.
