'We need to get our stories straight,' Dellen Millard wrote girlfriend after Laura Babcock disappeared
Shannon Martin | CBC News | Posted: November 23, 2017 1:26 AM | Last Updated: November 24, 2017
Crown rests its case against Dellen Millard and Mark Smich, each accused of 1st-degree murder
The jury at the Laura Babcock murder trial saw some of the 65 handwritten letters accused killer Dellen Millard sent to then-girlfriend Christina Noudga, where he detailed "the night Laura disappeared."
"It is a very real possibility you will be called as a witness," Millard wrote in one letter the jury saw today. "Whatever you may believe you need to put aside. This is what happened…"
Millard then writes, "Laura was over doing coke with Mark in the basement. We went to say goodnight to them. You saw her alive with Mark with coke."
Millard then goes on to describe a scenario where Babcock overdosed.
The letters, bound into binders for jury members, were presented through the Crown's final witness, a retired Hamilton police officer who found them scattered in Noudga's bedroom in April 2014.
Millard, 32, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, 30, of Oakville, Ont., are accused of first-degree murder. Both have pleaded not guilty. Millard is acting as his own lawyer, while Smich has counsel.
Babcock disappeared in July 2012 and her body has not been found. The 23-year-old Toronto woman kept in constant communication with family and friends prior to her disappearance. Her phone records and bank accounts have remained untouched.
Many of the letters presented to the jury were blacked out in sections, but Crown Jill Cameron read excerpts out loud.
In one letter, Millard said, "What I've written to you is a rough draft ... we need to get our stories straight."
He added, "You said you wanted to be a secret agent, you can be mine ... here's your chance to be a covert operative."
'Destroy this letter to protect me'
Over the last five weeks, the Crown attempted to paint a possible motive for Babcock's alleged murder: a love triangle involving Millard, Babcock and Noudga, that Millard vowed to undo.
Court has heard Millard met Babcock in 2009, and dated briefly though several witnesses testified they were still sleeping together in the months before she disappeared.
At the same time, Millard was in a relationship with Noudga — though he's made it well known during the trial he was romantically involved with a number of women at the same time.
Previously, at the Laura Babcock murder trial:
- Day 15: Millard's mechanic testifies about incinerators
- Day 16: No plan to start cremation business, Millard's uncle tells trial
- Day 17: Smich's ex-girlfriend saw incinerator in use
- Day 18: Millard asked friend to keep tabs on Babcock, jury hears
- Day 19: Jury sees photo of handgun purchased by Millard
Read CBC News's full coverage as the trial continues.
In his letters to Noudga, he repeatedly professes his love for her and urges her to keep their communication secret.
In one of the final letters read to the jury, Millard wrote, "That stuff I wrote before ... that was just brainstorming. Forget it."
He ended it, as he did many of his letters to Noudga, "Destroy this letter to protect me."
Crown wraps case
Neither Millard or Smich's lawyer, Thomas Dungey, cross-examined the retired police officer who presented the letters in court today.
The Crown rested its case against the co-accused without calling Noudga as a witness, though her connection to Millard and Babcock was frequently scrutinized at the trial.
Justice Michael Code told the jury Millard and Smich's legal team are being given the weekend to consider whether they will call witnesses.
The trial resumes Monday at 10 a.m. ET.
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