Tim Bosma murder investigators muse about existence of third suspect

The ongoing investigation into the death of Tim Bosma may be closer to completion than previously believed, after police mused openly about the possibility that a third suspect does not exist.

Two men have already been arrested in connection to the death of Bosma, an Ancaster, Ont., father who disappeared after taking two men out on a test drive and was found dead a week later. Dellen Millard, 27, and Mark Smich, 25, have been charged with first-degree murder.

Hamilton police allege the two suspects set up a meet with Bosma to test drive his Dodge Ram truck on the evening on May 6. The pair arrived at the home on foot and left in the truck with Bosma in the passenger seat.

Police say it appears Bosma was killed a short time after the test drive began. His body was found on farmland belonging to Millard about a week later, burned beyond recognition.

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But one nagging question remained unanswered: the identity of a third suspect believed to have followed the test drive in a separate vehicle.

Police say surveillance video from the night of the disappearance captured images of a GMC Yukon belonging to Millard following the truck some time after it left Bosma's home. Investigators said they were looking for a third suspect who may have been driving the Yukon.

But on Thursday, Det. Sgt. Matt Kavanagh told the Toronto Star there might not be a third suspect. Kavanagh told the newspaper is it possible one of the suspects jumped out of the Dodge Ram at some point to pick up the Yukon.

“That is possible right now, yes, but I’m not going to commit either way,” he said.

The possibility that a third suspect does not exist wouldn't change the police's narrative drastically. At one point they had said they didn't know how many people were in the second vehicle, suggesting they could be looking for as many as three other suspects.

They later cut that number down to one, but didn’t offer information about how they knew the car contained only one driver, or their suspicions about where that person went afterward.

At the centre of the investigation has always been the Number 2. Two suspects met with Bosma. Two met took the test drive. Two men showed up on foot to test drive a different truck the previous day.

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Investigators now say at least three people selling Dodge Ram trucks online were contacted by Millard's cellphone. One of them missed the meeting, one of them felt spooked during the test drive and one of them, Bosma, ended up dead.

“How you can feel, that you meet somebody and somebody disappears after a couple of days? How do you think I felt?” the spooked man told the Star. His identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.

The charges against Millard and Smich have not been proven in court.

As for the possibility of a third suspect, Kavanagh says they have no leads on who that might be. If it is determined there isn't a third suspect, Bosma's family is that much closer to a conclusion.

And that would be some small piece of welcome news, to be sure.