After the search for Tim Bosma ended tragically with the discovery of his remains in Waterloo, police now say they are investigating a murder.
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After the search for Tim Bosma ended tragically with the discovery of his remains in Waterloo, police now say they are investigating a murder.
“This is now a homicide investigation,” Hamilton Det.-Sgt. Matt Kavanagh told a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
He revealed Bosma’s body was “burned beyond recognition” and a cause of death has not yet been determined.
Dellen Millard, the 27-year-old man in custody in connection to the case will have his charges upgraded to first-degree murder on Wednesday when he appears in Hamilton court, the detective said.
Millard was previously charged with forcible confinement and theft of Bosma’s truck 2007 black Dodge Ram 3500 following the Ancaster man’s disappearance on May 6.
Kavanagh said based on video evidence they now know when Bosma left his home with two males to test drive the truck, a second vehicle — which may have been an SUV — followed them.
It is now confirmed Bosma’s black pickup truck was found inside a trailer that police say is registered to Millard’s company parked at his mother’s home in Kleinburg.
“I believe he died shortly after he was abducted,” Kavanagh said.
Based on the new evidence, they are now considering at least three suspects, including Millard, in the murder.
Kavanagh said he still cannot say what motive the suspects may have had in kidnapping Bosma — who he said was targeted.
“I wish I could. I don’t know the motive at this time,” he said. “This has been a terrible crime.”
Kavanagh would not confirm where Bosma’s remains were found in Waterloo.
Police have executed two search warrants in the Waterloo Region and officers were seen at both a farm property owned by Millard and the Waterloo Regional Airport hangar where Millard’s aviation company is headquartered.
A forensics team continues to work on the case, Kavanagh said, as the search turns to finding the other suspects involved with help from police forces across the GTA.
Kavanagh said there are search warrants being executed on three vehicles in the Hamilton region.
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On Monday, the search had extended to a rural farm property owned by the Millard family.
Several vehicles including Hamilton police cruisers and a forensics van were seen at the field at 2548 Roseville Rd. in North Dumfries Township, where a laneway leading to a large wooden barn was cordoned off with yellow police tape.
Monday marked a week since Bosma’s disappearance and it remains a mystery what anyone would have wanted with the 32-year-old father or his truck.
Police say Bosma posted his truck for sale online and was contacted by two men in their mid-20s, who arrived at his home on foot. After leaving with them for a test drive, he never returned.
Just a day earlier, police allege the same men arrived at an Etobicoke business to test a newer Dodge Ram model, but returned that man and departed.
Millard himself appears to have already owned a Dodge truck.
A cherry red 2005 Dodge Ram 3500 was registered to Millard Holdings Ltd., an amalgamated company formerly helmed by his late grandfather, Carl Millard, and father Wayne Millard.
On Monday, Hamilton police confirmed a large covered trailer they say is registered to Millard’s company was found in Kleinburg, Ont. with a black pickup truck inside. Police did not say whether the truck is Bosma’s as they sought a search warrant.
A neighbour who lives next door to the Tinsmith Crt. address where the trailer was found said it first appeared in the driveway late Thursday. The home belongs to Millard’s mother, Madeleine Burns, who is listed as the sole owner.
“It was suspicious in that it was parked right up against the garage,” said Frank Cianfarani, who called the police to have them check out the trailer.
Kavanagh said Tuesday Burns has nothing to do with the case.
In court documents, Millard is listed as living on Maple Gate Crt. in Etobicoke, which was transferred from grandparents Carl and Della to Dellen and his father in April 2008.
He was also listed on a Derry Rd. W. home in Mississauga alongside his father in April 2008. That property was sold for $795,000 in June 2012, several months before his father’s death.
Millard purchased a rural Waterloo Region property on Roseville Rd. in 2011 for $835,000. That property is also being searched, Hamilton police confirmed Monday night.
According to Paradakar, Millardair performed aircraft maintenance with several staff at the Waterloo hangar, which was modernized after the company moved from a Pearson airport hangar in 2012.
But a Transport Canada spokesperson confirmed the company’s certification as an approved maintenance organization was cancelled this past February at the company’s request.
The maintenance and manufacturing branch of the government department oversees standards for aircraft operations in Canada and gives approval to do specific maintenance work.
It is not clear what work Millardair was continuing to do at the hangar.
Pictures posted to a Facebook page between March 2010 and February 2012 show Millard working on several cars inside what appears to be an airport hangar. A video posted March 2012 on the same page shows Millard inside a small helicopter, its propellers rotating as it sits on the tarmac.
On Monday afternoon, forensic identification officers were seen entering the hangar and taking photographs around the perimeter as a police van remained parked outside the building’s door.
With files from Kamila Hinkson, the Hamilton Spectator and the Waterloo Region Record
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