Closing arguments in Babcock trial

Too many coincidences to be anything other than murder, prosecution says

TORONTO — Two men planned for months to kill a young Toronto woman who disappeared five years ago and then tried to cover up their crime by burning the evidence, court heard Wednesday.

The prosecution in the first-degree murder trial of Dellen Millard and Mark Smich gave its closing argument by going over a “mountain” of circumstantial evidence in the presumed death of 23-year-old Laura Babcock. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

“Her last footprint was in their company. Think about the improbability of coincidence. It’s almost too many to count,” said Crown attorney Jill Cameron. “That is no coincidence, that is murder.” Millard and Smich killed Babcock at Millard’s home some time after 8 p.m. on July 3, 2012 — the pair stopped texting each other and everyone else for about four hours, Cameron said.

“It doesn’t matter how they killed her. We will never know. They killed her and then they tried to cover it up by burning her body and they sure seemed pleased about doing it,” Cameron said as Babcock’s mother wiped away tears.

“They took pictures and didn’t destroy them. They kept her possessions as if they were collecting trophies. Fortunately for us they didn’t do a very good job of covering up their crime.”

Cameron said Babcock’s footprint, both real and digital, vanished on July 4 when her phone went dark.

After the two killed Babcock, Millard wrapped her body in a tarp, dumped it in his father’s minivan and drove to his hangar for some work and then on to his farm to hide the body, Cameron said.

Millard sent Smich a text with a picture of a large, wrapped blue tarp next his dog, Pedo, on the afternoon of July 4. “This was Laura’s body,” Cameron said. The planning began in April 2012 when the feud between Millard’s girlfriend, Christina Noudga, and Babcock reached its zenith, she said. Court has heard the pair were fighting over Millard.

Millard and Smich spoke extensively by text about a homemade incinerator that they were never able to get working, she said.

After that failure, Millard ordered a commercial incinerator called The Eliminator and the two spoke about testing it with “bones.”

The machine arrived on July 5, but wasn’t operational until July 23 with both men working on it to get it installed on a trailer, she said.

The Crown pointed to the photo of a smiling Smich in front of The Eliminator taken with Millard’s phone that night, then the image of what two experts say are bones inside the machine.

“Given the mountain of evidence you have heard, those aren’t deer bones,” Cameron said.

“That is a picture of Laura Babcock after these two got through with her.”

Earlier, Smich’s lawyer told the jury his client had no motive to kill Babcock because he was never part of a love triangle the Crown has said was behind her death.

Thomas Dungey said there’s not one iota of evidence that his 30-year-old client killed Babcock. “Mark Smich had no involvement with the disappearance of Laura Babcock,” Dungey said in his closing arguments. “There is no evidence to where she is or what happened to her.”

Dungey argued that Smich had no reason for what he’s accused of doing.

“Who’s involved in this love triangle? Allegedly Christina Noudga, Dellen Millard and Laura Babcock,” Dungey said. “Not Mark Smich. He’s not even part of the triangle, not part of the whole motive.”

Court has not heard evidence of any texts or communication between Smich and Babcock, Dungey said. And Smich didn’t buy the incinerator the Crown alleges the accused used, Millard did, he said.

The Crown’s case is based on circumstantial evidence with no concrete proof about Babcock’s presumed death, Dungey argued.

The judge is to begin the charge to the jury on Thursday.