Millionaire businessman's son killed him as he slept and pretended it was suicide to inherit fortune
Wayne Millard's death initially recorded as self-inflicted but police launched murder probe after son was convicted of two other killings
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Your support makes all the difference.The son of a wealthy Canadian businessman murdered his father while he slept and framed it as suicide to inherit his multi-million-dollar fortune.
Dellen Millard, 33, shot aviation company boss Wayne Millard in the head and later told police his father had been struggling with depression and alcoholism.
The 71-year-old’s death in November 2012 was initially recorded as suicide but on Monday his son was found guilty of the killing, his third conviction for murder.
“I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Dellen Millard killed his father by shooting him in the left eye as he slept,” said Ontario Superior Court judge Maureen Forestell. “I can find no theory consistent with innocence.”
Millard wept as the ruling was delivered in a packed courtroom, CBC reported. The parents of his two other victims, Laura Babock and Tim Bosma, were among those watching.
Bosma’s disappearance in May 2013 triggered a series of police investigations that ultimately led detectives to re-examine Wayne Millard’s apparent suicide.
Dellen Millard and his friend Mark Smich had met Bosma, 32, at his family home in Hamilton, Ontario, after responding to an advert for a truck he was selling.
Bosma agreed to go with the pair on a test drive and was never seen again.
The truck was later traced to land owned by Millard’s mother and gunshot residue and traces of his blood were found inside, making him and Smich prime suspects in the murder investigation.
Police then began probing the disappearance of Babcock, Millard’s ex-girlfriend, a year earlier.
They learned she had been involved in a love triangle with Millard and another woman, Christina Noudga. In one text about Babcock, Millard wrote: “I will remove her from our lives.”
The bodies of Babcock and Bosma were never found. Police believe they were burned by Millard, who owned an incinerator.
Millard and Smich were found guilty of Bosma’s murder in 2016 and convicted of Babcock’s killing in 2017.
Prosecutors alleged Millard murdered his father because he feared millions of his inheritance would be lost in the family’s aircraft maintenance firm, Millardair, which he quickly wound down following the killing.
After Wayne Millard was found dead at his Toronto home, his son told police he had “carried some great sadness with him throughout life”.
Millard said he had been at Smich’s house on the night of his father’s death, but phone records showed he had travelled to his father’s home.
His DNA was also found on the gun used to kill his father.
Millard will be sentenced for his father's murder on 16 November. He is already serving consecutive life terms for the other killings.
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