Serial killer Dellen Millard will spend at least 75 years in prison after being handed a rare third consecutive life sentence for first-degree murder Tuesday.
Convicted of killing his father, his mistress and a total stranger – all in a period of less than a year – the 33-year-old Etobicoke man will be 102 years old before he is eligible for parole.
On Tuesday, Toronto police homicide Detective Sergeant Mike Carbone described Mr. Millard as a “very sophisticated” killer.
“He was able to go between being a very normal person to being a very diabolical and violent individual,” he said.
The sentencing marked the end of a five-year court saga that began in May, 2013, when Mr. Millard was first arrested, along with his friend Mark Smich, in the death of 32-year-old Tim Bosma.
Mr. Bosma did not know his killers, but they had set their sights on a pickup truck the young Ancaster, Ont., father had posted for sale online. When he took them out for a test drive around 9 p.m. on May 6, 2013, they shot and killed him, then burned his body in a massive animal cremator owned by Mr. Millard. On the side of the 6,000-pound machine was painted its brand name: the Eliminator.
Mr. Millard was 27 at the time and heir to his family’s aviation company, Millardair. In addition to a hangar at the Waterloo airport, he owned two luxury homes, a condominium in Toronto and a farm near Cambridge, Ont.
It was only after his high-profile arrest by Hamilton police in the Bosma case that Toronto investigators realized the wealthy playboy’s suspicious ties to two earlier cases in their jurisdiction might have been overlooked: the death of his father, Wayne Millard, in November, 2012, and the disappearance of Laura Babcock in July, 2012.
The elder Millard’s death – a gunshot through the eye as he lay in bed – had been ruled a suicide at the time. But seven months later, after the 71-year-old’s body was cremated, forensic investigators discovered that the gun found beside his bed had been purchased on the black market – and had Dellen Millard’s DNA on it.
Ms. Babcock’s disappearance had been written off by police that summer as a case of a runaway escort. She’d been struggling with mental-health issues and was couch surfing at the time. Although her phone bill showed the last eight calls she made were to Mr. Millard, with whom she had been romantically involved, investigators had never followed that up.
Later, after Mr. Millard’s arrest in the Bosma case, detectives discovered a chilling text he’d sent to his girlfriend, Christina Noudga, after she learned he’d been cheating on her with Ms. Babcock: “First I’m going to hurt her. Then I’m going to make her leave.”
The promise, Ms. Noudga replied, made her feel “all warm on the inside.”
In April, 2014, Toronto police announced Mr. Millard would be charged with these murders as well, with Mr. Smich named as a co-accused in Ms. Babcock’s death. It is believed that her body, too, was burned in the animal cremator.
Mr. Millard and Mr. Smich were convicted in both cases and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences (or 50 years before parole eligibility) each for the deaths of Mr. Bosma and Ms. Babcock. Both men have filed appeals.
In September, Mr. Millard was additionally convicted in his father’s death. Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell ruled Tuesday that this mandatory life sentence will also be served consecutively, bringing his total sentence to 75 years before parole eligibility.
It is currently the longest term of parole ineligibility in the Canadian criminal justice system and has only been handed down in two other cases. This is the first time it has been delivered in Ontario, assistant Crown attorney Jill Cameron said.
In her decision, Justice Forestell said the chance of rehabilitation for Mr. Millard – who she noted had a “privileged” upbringing by two loving parents, including the father he murdered – is slim.
“While I accept that rehabilitation cannot ever be completely disregarded, the hope of the rehabilitation of Dellen Millard, in light of his pattern of offending, is so faint that it plays little role in the determination of a fit sentence,” she said.
Outside the courthouse, Ms. Cameron said the public should be relieved that Mr. Millard will “never see the light of day.”
“He killed three people for different reasons in the span of a year, and the public definitely has to be protected from a person like him,” she said.
With files from The Canadian Press
Molly Hayes