Houseguest Mark Smich (above) and his host Dellen Millard are charged with the murders of Tim Bosma and Laura Babcock. Dellen Millard is also accused of murdering his father Wayne. They are pleading not guilty to all the charges. (Photo: Facebook)

Since I wrote my Grid article on the Toronto Police investigations into the murders of Wayne Millard and Laura Babcock, a number of facts have come to my attention.

Mark Smich and his girlfriend, whose name cannot be printed due to a publication ban, were living in the basement of Wayne MIllard’s Etobicoke home for several weeks (at least) before he was allegedly murdered. They were not in a separate apartment, but right in the same house.

In the past, Dellen had had other friends live in the basement, and although his father was not happy with this communal living situation, he never kicked anyone out. Instead, Wayne used tactics like not stocking the fridge in the hopes that this would make the basement a less attractive crash pad.

After Wayne MIllard was allegedly murdered, Dellen; his mother, Madeleine Burns; and his ex-fiancee were all present as police investigated the death that night. Smich was not there.

The Hamilton Spectator reported last month that Wayne was killed with a trafficked gun.

If you have more information, please contact me at ann.brocklehurst@gmail.com.

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Yes, seriously, this is my early Mother’s Day question for you.

Whenever I read or write about a murder case in the headlines, I’m always perplexed when someone’s default reaction is to express sympathy for the killer’s parents. This is because I have the opposite reaction. I start by assuming that if a child turns out to be a murderer, it’s because mom and/or dad did something very wrong.

Yes, yes, I know there are exceptions, but they are so very rare that they prove the rule. And I challenge you to provide just one example of this mythical well raised murderer. Unless severe mental illness is involved, killers do tend overwhelmingly to come from highly dysfunctional family backgrounds.

I realize that just in making this point, I’m out of step with the times. The fashionable opinion seems to be that you can’t blame parents for their kids’ behaviour, life’s a lottery and so are children, yada yada yada. But it’s difficult to reconcile this theory with all the helicopter parenting currently going on. If it truly doesn’t matter how we bring our kids up — because they’re going to do what they’re going to do — then why does everyone spend so much time nowadays obsessing over their offspring’s every move?

Earlier this week, on the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Tim Bosma, a case I have been writing about, I was interviewed by a radio host who described Madeleine Burns, the mother of one of the accused murderers, Dellen Millard, as the only sympathetic character associated with the defence. Since the public knows almost nothing about Burns and how she raised her son, I was struck by his reaction which seems to be quite a common one.

Why do you think he feels this way? Do you agree with him? Are you sympathetic to the situations of Madeleine Burns and Mark Smich’s parents? Do you feel they need to stand by their children, who are innocent until proven guilty? Can you imagine being in these parents’ shoes and what you would do? Or what do you think you’d do?

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Another one of the properties once owned by Dellen Millard, the accused murderer of Tim Bosma, has been put up for sale. This time it’s the Woodbridge condo that he transferred to his mother for one dollar shortly after he was arrested. The listing is here.

This means the only one of Millard’s properties not already sold or for sale is the Ayr, Ontario farm, which was searched last month in connection with the disappearance of Laura Babcock.

Oct 23 Update: The Riverside Drive property is no longer on the market.

Dec 30 Update: The Woodbridge condo has now been taken off the market as well. Please contact me an ann.brocklehurst@gmail.com if you know who occupied this condo in 2013 after Millard’s arrest.

Here is the letter of support Madeleine Burns wrote in support of her son Dellen Millard for his sentencing hearing:

MadeleineBurnsLetter