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Dellen Millard charged with two more murders, further complicating Bosma case

The operator of a boat charter service spoke to police about blood found on a boat rented by Dellen Millard

The so-called Kijiji killing, one of the most mystifying murder cases in Canada, has gotten even stranger.

What started out as the inexplicable death of a man trying to sell his truck via online classifieds ad has blossomed into a case involving an alleged staged suicide and the disappearance of a young woman police now believe is dead.

Police in Ontario announced Thursday they've tied all three deaths to one man but aren't prepared to connect-the-dots publicly, leaving people to speculate.

The announcement was followed on Friday by the court appearance of a new face in the case, a woman who is reportedly Dellen Millard's girlfriend.

21-year-old Christine Noudga of Toronto was charged with being an accessory after the fact in Bosma's death. The Crown alleges she helped Millard and Mark Smich, his acquaintance and co-accused, escape after the alleged murder.

Noudga appeared in court Friday, shackled and biting her lip in nervousness, CBC News reported.

Millard and Smich were charged last year with first-degree murder in the death of Tim Bosma of Ancaster, Ont., who disappeared last May after taking two men for a test drive in his truck.

The burned remains of his body were found a week later on an Ontario farm owned by Millard.

[ Related: Who is Dellen Millard, charged in Tim Bosma killing, 2 others ]

News reports of the killing also prompted questions about the June 2012 disappearance of Toronto resident Laura Babock, Millard's reputed former girlfriend.

Police also reopened the file on the apparent suicide of Millard's father, Wayne, the owner of an aircraft-maintenance company, who died of what looked at the time like a self-inflicted gunshot wound in November 2012. His then 26-year-old son, who lived with his father, inherited the Waterloo, Ont.-based business.

On Thursday, Ontario Provincial Police announced they'd charged Millard and Smich with the first-degree murder of Babcock. It's not clear whether Babcock's remains have been found.

Millard is also charged with first-degree murder in the death of his father.

The investigation, dubbed Project Capella, was carried out in co-operation with police in Toronto and Hamilton, Ont., the OPP said in a news release.

The two men appeared in court earlier this week to hear the additional charges.

Police have said almost nothing about how or even whether the Bosma, Babcock and Wayne Millard's killings are linked.

As many as 120 investigators worked on Project Capella, executing more than 15 search warrants and evidence production orders and following up on more than 700 tips, The Canadian Press reported.

Millard's lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, would not comment on the fresh charges but insisted he would "defend the case zealously," CP said.

Although Babcock, 23, has been described as Millard's former girlfriend, police have said she worked as a prostitute in the months before she disappeared. She was reported missing by her ex-boyfriend, Shawn Lerner, who said that before Bosma's death he gave police phone records showing several of her last calls were made to Millard, the Toronto Star said.

Rather than clarifying the case, the fresh charges raise more questions.

What prompted police to lay murder chargers in Wayne Millard's death after it was ruled a suicide and his remains cremated?

If Babcock's remains have not been found, how can police lay murder charges?

“There have been quite a few murder convictions without a body," Osgoode Hall Law School professor Alan Young told the Star. "Circumstantial evidence is used to prove death and the killing."

[ Related: Dellen Millard’s livestock incinerator among new clues in death of Tim Bosma ]

Babcock's family is not completely convinced she's even dead, despite the murder charge.

"As you can imagine, this is any parent's worst nightmare," the family said in a statement reported by CBC News. "It's been two years since she's been gone but a glimmer of hope remains — we want proof."

And the lingering question, which has been there since this whole bizarre saga started last year, remains: Why two men would want abduct and kill Tim Bosma, a complete stranger whom they met via Kijiji?

The strain was evident Friday when Bosma's wife, Sharlene, and his parents, Hank and Mary, who were in court to witness Noudga's appearance.

“I always say that everybody has so much that they can take, and I’m reaching the limit,” Sharlene told CBC News. “And I just hope that this is it. That we’re done now. I’m not sure that I can take any more surprises.”