TORONTO – The judge at the trial of two men accused of killing a young Toronto woman five years ago and then burning her body is to begin his legal instructions to the jury today.
Dellen Millard and Mark Smich have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the presumed death of 23-year-old Laura Babcock. Babcock’s body has not been found.
In its closing address on Wednesday the Crown said a “mountain” of circumstantial evidence points to Millard and Smich killing Babcock at Millard’s home some time after 8 p.m. on July 3, 2012 and then disposing of her body at Millard’s farm near Waterloo, Ont.
The prosecution alleges Babcock was killed after becoming the odd woman out in a love triangle with Millard and his girlfriend.
Smich’s lawyer told the jury on Wednesday that his client had no motive to kill Babcock because he was never part of a love triangle and all the Crown has is a rap song in which Smich says he killed a girl and burned her body.
Millard, who represented himself, told the jury in his closing address Tuesday that several witnesses testified to having seen or heard from Babcock after July 4, 2012.