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Dellen Millard, accused in Tim Bosma death, faces 2 more murder charges

Tim Bosma's accused killer, Dellen Millard, has now been charged with killing his father and Toronto woman Laura Babcock.

Millard's co-accused in the Bosma case, 26-year-old Mark Smich of Oakville, Ont., also faces a first-degree murder charge in connection to the death of the 23-year-old Babcock, who went missing in the summer of 2012, OPP announced Thursday.

Millard, 28, is also facing a charge of first-degree murder in connection to the death of his father, Wayne Millard. The elder Millard's death was originally ruled a suicide.

Millard and Smich have been in jail since being arrested last year and charged with first-degree murder in Bosma's death. The Ancaster, Ont., man disappeared after taking two men on a test drive in a truck he had for sale.

Christina Noudga, 21, of Toronto, has also been charged with being accessory after the fact in connection to Bosma’s slaying. She was arrested in the Greater Toronto Area on Thursday and has since been transported to Hamilton, police say. Toronto police officers and Hamilton forensics investigators were on scene at Noudga's family home in Toronto Thursday afternoon.

Paul Mergler, Noudga’s lawyer, told CBC News he is not speaking with the media. "I can’t tell you you anything at this stage," he said.

Babcock's death is now being considered Toronto's 55th homicide of 2012, while Wayne Millard's death is the 56th, Toronto police Staff Insp. Greg McLane said during an afternoon news conference. The new charges were formally laid against Millard and Smich in a Toronto courtroom Thursday.

"Now that the cases are before the criminal courts, police will not be making statements or taking questions," McLane told reporters.

"The investigation is continuing into all three matters until all investigative leads have been followed," he said.

Before he died, Wayne Millard was starting up Millardair MRO, described as "a new provider for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul service." Millard Air was incorporated in 1963 and eventually had a fleet of 21 planes. The charter airline was based at Toronto's Pearson airport, operating until it went into bankruptcy in 1990.

The elder Millard's body was found in November 2012. Police have not revealed what specific information led to the additional murder charges. Police reopened the case last fall.

Toronto police have said that Babcock and Millard were "romantically linked" but not in a "traditional dating relationship."

Det. Mike Carbone told CBC News last June that Babcock was known to be involved in the sex-trade business for several months prior to her disappearance, but he added that, as far as he knew, Millard was not involved in the sex-trade business. A farm owned by Millard in Waterloo Region was searched by police last last fall in relation to Babcock's disappearance.

The Babock family told CBC News that they are "completely devastated."

"We are heartbroken, still with today's news we don't feel any further ahead than we did yesterday," the family said. "As you can imagine this is any parents worst nightmare. It's been two years since she's been gone but a glimmer if hope remains, we want proof."

A former acquaintance of Millard's, who says she had attended almost two dozen parties at his home in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke, told CBC News that Millard and Noudga were dating.

"But [Millard] and Laura [Babcock] were just fooling around," she said. "He kept Laura around and gave her drugs."

The source asked CBC not to use her name because she said she was "terrified" of Millard. She described many of his parties as fuelled by cocaine and the drug MDMA and recalled several times when large brawls broke out.

"It's disturbing," she said. "I've been alone in a house with him."

Bosma, 32, went missing on May 6, 2013. He had advertised a black Dodge pickup truck for sale online. His wife, Sharlene, last saw him leave with two men to take the truck for a test drive. Police announced a week later that he was dead, and that investigators had found his burned remains at a Cambridge-area farm.

The case has inspired international interest and outpourings of sympathy from across the country. Sharlene Bosma has started a charity, Tim’s Tribute, for victims of crime and their families.

The Bosma family released a statement saying they were informed about the additional charges against Millard and Smich.

"We extend our most sincere condolences to the Babcock family. The eight days we searched for Tim were eight days of indescribable emotions," the statement reads.

"We can only imagine what the last almost two years have been like for the Babcock family. Our prayers are with those that are hurting with this news today."

Toronto and Hamilton police are still heading up their respective investigations into the deaths of Bosma, Babcock and Millard's father, but the three cases have now been streamlined under the OPP's Major Case Management (MCM) system. The MCM system is used so that valuable information that links multiple cases can be shared between police forces when “serial predators and offenders are concerned,” said OPP spokesperson Pierre Chamberland.