Canadian men found guilty of murder in online truck case

Dellen Millard, 30, and Mark Smich, 28, were both found guilty in Bosma’s 2013 death.

Tim Bosma disappeared on May 6, 2013 after taking his pickup truck on a test drive with a prospective buyer.

His disappearance sparked a massive police hunt and social media campaign, as his community rallied together to bring him home.

The search involved more than 150 police officers, but no trace was found of Tim Bosma until weeks later when his body was found “burned beyond recognition”.

The judge declared both Millard and Smich will receive the automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole until 2038.

The jury has reached a verdict.

“Tweets” coming from inside the courtroom after the reading of the verdict shared “there was not a dry eye in the courtroom”, and that “cheering erupted upon hearing the Guilty Verdict”.

Dellen Millard shook his head at Sharlene Bosma as he was led back into court for sentencing Friday.

Two men arrived that evening, a little after 9 p.m. By the end of the evidence, nobody disputed it was Millard and Smich who arrived and quickly checked out the truck before climbing inside for a test drive. Video taken around the same time shows Millard and Smich inside the hangar.

Smich and Millard still face charges of first-degree murder in connection with the case of 23-year-old Toronto resident Laura Babcock, who disappeared in 2012.

They read dozens of text messages between the two plotting to steal a Dodge Ram 3500 truck and heard of their plans from their friends, including Andrew Michalski, who said after Millard had arranged test drives with two truck-sellers, he asked which one he should steal from, “the asshole or the nice guy?”

With his friend at the wheel and Bosma in the passenger seat, Smich testified that he got out of the truck early on and followed the two men in Millard’s truck.

The two men had been charged with first-degree murder, but Goodman had given them the options of finding either or both of them guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter instead.

Bosma lived in the Ancaster part of Hamilton, while Smich resided in Oakville and Millard in Toronto.

Millard’s ex-girlfriend, Christina Noudga, is expected to stand trial in November for being an accessory to Bosma’s murder after the fact.

It took close to three years for their case to go to trial, which began on February 1, 2016 and spanned more than five months.

Smich, who testified in his own defence, claimed he wasn’t even in the truck when Bosma was shot.

Leitch said Millard was the mastermind and Smich was his right-hand man.

In his closing arguments, Pillay argued that Smich, desperate for money, pulled a gun on Bosma, who was fatally shot by accident as he tried to fend off his attacker.