The Disturbing Evidence in the Case Against the Men Accused of Murdering Tim Bosma

Tim Bosma was 32 when he was murdered in May 2013, having gone missing after taking a pickup truck he was selling on a test drive with two buyers. The body of the married father of one was later found burned beyond recognition. His remains were returned his wife Sharlene in a small wooden box.

Dellen Millard, 30, and Mark Smisch, 28, are accused of killing Bosma and are currently standing trial. They have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

The closely-watched case, which began February 1, is expected to resolve much of the mystery surrounding what happened—including why Bosma was targeted and what exactly happened to him on the night he died.

Here's what we've learned from the trial so far:

Crown attorney Craig Fraser laid out the prosecution's case on Day 1 of the trial, telling jurors what they could expect the evidence to show.

He said Bosma and the accused were complete strangers, but the murder plot was premeditated. Millard had reached out to several people advertising vehicle sales, said Fraser, and contacted Bosma on May 4.

Fraser told the court Bosma was shot soon after the May 6 test drive of his black Dodge Ram was underway. His body was burned in an incinerator meant for farm animals located near an Ayr airplane hangar for Millardair, Millard's airline company.

The prosecution reportedly has a video recording showing Millard and Smith at the hangar early on May 7, 2013. Fraser said Millard warned his employees, "No one goes to the hangar today," via text message.

Fraser said Bosma's pickup truck was discovered on his mother's property in Kleinburg, Ontario, on May 12. It was hidden inside of a trailer, said Fraser, adding Millard and his girlfriend Christina Noudga moved it there.

The truck appears to be a key piece of evidence in the case. According to the Hamilton Spectator, its interior had been gutted. Fraser told the court it contained Millard's fingerprints (both inside and out), gunshot residue, a used cartridge, and Bosma's blood. The truck keys were found in Millard's SUV, a GMC Yukon, Fraser said.

Millard's girlfriend, Noudga, has been charged with accessory to murder and is expected to be a witness in the case.

According to Fraser, a search of her property by police in April 2014 turned up the video of Millard and Smich at the airport hangar. It also produced letters from a jailed Millard asking her to compel another witness to change his testimony.

Fraser reportedly read aloud a quote from one of the letters, which Noudga had been instructed to burn:

"If he knew his words were going to get me a life sentence, he would change them. Show him how he can, and he will change them."

Noudga has been accused of helping Millard relocate the pickup truck to Millard's mother's property and the incinerator to a forested area on his family farm close to the airplane hangar.

Both Bosma's widow Sharlene and the couple's tenant Wayne De Boer testified to seeing two men drop by May 6 to meet Bosma and check out the truck.

Sharlene broke down on the stand while telling the court how her husband had asked her if he should go on the test drive with the men, the Toronto Star reported.

"I said, 'Yes, you should, because we want the truck to come back,'" she said.

Bosma had remarked that it was strange that potential buyers were coming to see the truck "this late" in the evening, she added.

De Boer told the court he recalled seeing two men come see the truck. They approached the house on foot, claiming a friend had dropped them off and gone to Tim Hortons. One of the men was tall and clean-cut, while the other was described as being shadier and quiet.

Both De Boer and Sharlene Bosma testified that the encounter was weird.

As Bosma left with the two men, De Boer told the court he quipped, "That might be the last time we see him."

A man who worked for Millard testified to discovering Bosma's truck at the airline hangar days before the police found it on Millard's mother's property.

Arthur Jennings told the court he was very familiar with the description of the black Dodge Ram and was shocked to see it parked on green tarp inside the hangar May 8, 2013. It had no license plates, and the interior had been removed save for the back seat.

Jennings told the court he said, "Oh my god, could that be the truck?" The next day he took photos of the truck and reported his findings to Crime Stoppers.

When they confirmed it was Bosma's truck, he said he balked at giving the location to police.

Jennings said he witnessed his son-in-law, who also worked at the hangar, having an argument with Millard over the truck.

By May 10, the truck was gone as was a car trailer parked on the lot. That's when Jennings said he decided to report what he'd witnessed to police.

A fingerprint expert told the court Millard's thumbprint was a match for one found on the rear view mirror of Bosma's pickup truck. Fingerprints, he said, are still the most reliable form of identifying someone.

Bosma's cell records led investigators to a prepaid phone, registered to Lucas Bate.

The prepaid had made calls to a man named Igor Tumemenko, who told cops he'd taken two men on a test drive for a truck he was trying to sell.

Tumemenko, who identified Smich as one of the two passengers he took for a test drive from a photo lineup, told the court he mentioned being familiar with diesel engines from his time in the Israeli army. He said the shorter of the two men, who was sitting in the back, asked what he'd done in the army, to which he responded, "You don't want to know."

He testified that the men exchanged a glance.

Tumemenko gave cops a description of the men once they tracked him down through the cell records; he'd noticed that one of them had the word "ambition" tattooed to one of his wrists.

The cops testified that they received tips about Millard having the same tattoo. They went to visit him on May 10, at which point they noticed he was in possession of a bag they were told to watch out for, and they arrested him later that night.

A bodyshop owner told the court he received a call from Millard on May 8—he wanted a red paint job on a black truck.

Police were eventually led to the truck, the court heard, by a neighbor of Millard's mother. While chatting about the case to a reporter, the neighbor noticed that the trailer in a photo the journalist showed him was the same as the one parked next door.

Cops also discovered the name Lucas Bate had been created to purchase the prepaid phone. They found the phone's movements were similar to those of Millard's on the night of Bosma's murder.

A man told the court he was dirt biking near Millard's farm on May 10, 2013, when he noticed an incinerator sitting on a trailer along with a large propane tank and a nearby excavator. Thinking it odd, he took photographs and later told the cops of his findings.

Police found the incinerator May 16, 2013. The prosecution said parts of Bosma's body, including bone fragments, were found inside of it.

The court heard a receipt for an incinerator was found in Millard's SUV. Dated June 21, 2012, it was registered to Millardair—the bill was for more than $15,000.

While testifying on the third day of the trial, homicide detective Paul Hamilton was asked to identify Millard—the man he'd met at the Millardair airport hangar during the investigation.

He pointed out Millard in the courtroom. In response, Millard smiled and waved his hand.

According to media reports, jurors responded by raising their eyebrows while Bosma's family expressed disgust.

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