Laura Babcock was a vibrant and creative young woman whose life was tragically cut short at the age of 23. Described by friends and family as bubbly, outgoing, and full of fun, she was a loyal friend and a beloved daughter. Laura had graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in English and drama and dreamed of becoming an actress. In the months leading up to her disappearance in the summer of 2012, she was navigating a challenging period, couch-surfing after disagreements with her
parents over curfews and struggling with her mental health. Despite being diagnosed with anxiety, depression, and borderline personality disorder, she was actively seeking treatment and, according to friends, loved life and was not suicidal.
In early July 2012, Laura vanished from the streets of Toronto, Ontario. The last phone call she ever made pinged off a tower near the home of Dellen Millard, a man she had been romantically involved with intermittently for several years. Her sudden silence was alarming to her friends and family, with whom she was in constant contact, often calling them multiple times a day. For years, her family endured the agony of not knowing what had happened to her, a period her father would later describe as a "six-week funeral" stretched over years. Though her body has never been found, a police investigation eventually uncovered a sinister plot.
The investigation revealed that Laura was murdered by Dellen Millard and his friend, Mark Smich, on or around July 3, 2012. Prosecutors at their trial argued that Millard, the heir to an aviation fortune, was motivated to kill Laura to resolve a love triangle involving his current girlfriend, Christina Noudga, who was upset about Millard’s ongoing contact with Laura. Text messages revealed Millard had promised Noudga he would "remove her from our lives." The Crown's case detailed how the two men shot Laura and then, weeks later, burned her body in a large animal incinerator, which they called "The Eliminator," at a farm owned by Millard.
The trial, which concluded in December 2017, was an ordeal for the Babcock family. Millard, who chose to represent himself, prolonged their suffering. The evidence presented was horrifying, including a rap video made by Smich with lyrics about a "b—h" turning to "ashy stone." Ultimately, a jury found both Dellen Millard and Mark Smich guilty of first-degree murder. The conviction brought little relief to Laura’s family. In a powerful victim impact statement, they spoke of their profound loss and the hatred they now felt. "We always taught our children not to use the word hate," they wrote. "It is too horrible and destructive, but you men have made us hate."
Dellen Millard and Mark Smich were automatically sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years. This was the second murder conviction for both men; they were already serving life sentences for the 2013 murder of Tim Bosma, a man they killed after taking his truck for a test drive. The judge in Laura's case ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, meaning they will not be eligible for parole for 50 years. Millard was also later convicted of murdering his own father, Wayne Millard, in 2012.
The Babcock family had to fight a bureaucratic battle for nearly two years after the trial to have a death certificate issued for Laura, a painful reminder that her remains were never recovered. Her father, Clayton Babcock, expressed that while the verdict was justice, the pain of losing his daughter remained immense. "Without our Laura," he said, "our days will never be as joyful as they once were." The family hopes to move forward by trying to be happy, in a way they know Laura would have wanted.
