Detective describes early days of investigation into death of Tim Bosma

HAMILTON – One of the lead investigators into the death of Hamilton’s Tim Bosma, who was slain after going on a test drive with two men, described interviewing someone who went on a test drive a day earlier with a pair of men who seemed to fit their description.

Det. Greg Jackson of Hamilton police says the man, scheduled to testify later in the trial, told him about a test drive linked to the same phone number involved in Tim Bosma’s disappearance after he left his home to take two men on a test drive in May 2013 and never returned. His body was later found burned beyond recognition.

Jackson says the Toronto man who went on the test drive a day before Bosma’s disappearance told him about a tattoo of the word “ambition” on the wrist of one of the men as they drove his Dodge Ram truck on May 5, 2013.

Dellen Millard, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, from Oakville, Ont., have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Bosma’s death. Millard has a tattoo with the word “ambition” on his wrist.

The Crown alleges Bosma was shot inside his truck and his body burned in an incinerator.

Jackson says they tried to get finger and footprints from the Toronto man’s truck, but weren’t able to.

He says they used the tattoo to help them search for suspects, but found nothing locally.

So they fanned that information out to other police services in Ontario, Jackson testified today.

They were able to trace the phone number, Jackson says, to the one used to call both Bosma and the man who went on the previous day’s test drive to a shop in west-end Toronto.

The name on the bill of sale was Lucas Bate.

Jackson also described the phone interactions between Bosma’s cell phone and Bate. There were several calls between them, with Bate calling Bosma at 9:04 p.m. on the night he disappeared, Jackson said.

“At 10:01 p.m., Mr. Bosma’s phone was used – browser use – and by 10:02 the phone was off,” Jackson told court.

The last blip from Bosma’s phone, Jackson said, came when it pinged off a tower in Brantford, Ont., at 10:56 p.m.

On Tuesday, court heard from a fingerprint analyst who said a print on the rearview mirror of Bosma’s pickup truck matched Millard’s.

Robert Felske, a forensic identification officer with Halton Regional police, said the print he analyzed matched Millard’s right thumb.

On Monday, Bosma’s widow, Sharlene Bosma, told court about the night her husband disappeared, calling one of two men who came down her driveway just past 9 p.m. “sketchy.”

Her basement tenant, Wayne De Boer, also testified about that night and the frantic search he and Sharlene Bosma went on to try to find her husband before calling police.

Sharlene Bosma testified she called and texted her husband repeatedly starting around 10:15 p.m., but her calls were going straight to voicemail and her texts went unreturned.

In his opening statement, Crown attorney Craig Fraser said police found gunshot residue as well as Bosma’s blood both inside and outside his truck.

Fraser said they have video of the incinerator being used outside an airport hangar owned by Millard in the early morning hours after Bosma disappeared.

The Crown said two of Bosma’s bones, and many bone fragments, were later found in an incinerator outside an airport hangar owned by Millard.