HAMILTON – The accused killers of a Hamilton man who took them for a test drive in his pickup truck has heard from a fingerprint analyst who matched a print from the truck to one of those on trial.
Robert Felske, a forensic identification officer with Halton Regional police, says a fingerprint from the rearview mirror of Tim Bosma’s truck matched the right thumb of Dellen Millard.
The 32-year-old Bosma left his home on May 6, 2013 on a test drive of his pickup truck and was never seen alive again. His body was found more than a week later “burned beyond recognition.”
The Crown alleges Bosma was shot inside his truck and his body was burned in an incinerator.
Dellen Millard, of Toronto, and Mark Smich, from Oakville, Ont., have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Bosma’s death.
Felske says his 28-point analysis of the thumbprint found in Bosma’s truck “took me to the right thumb of Dellen Millard.”
Felske spent much of his time testifying Tuesday on the intricacies of fingerprint analysis. He added that another officer also did an analysis – without knowing his conclusions – and also said the print matched Millard’s.
Tim Bosma: A timeline of the police investigation
Earlier, court heard from Wayne De Boer, who lived in an apartment in the basement of the Bosmas’ house in rural Hamilton.
He described the night of the test drive as “odd” and “weird.”
De Boer, who began his testimony on Monday, described the two men who walked down Bosma’s driveway on May 6, 2013 as complete opposites.
De Boer said the “tall guy” was in charge of much of the conversation with Bosma as they spoke about the truck while he says the “other guy” stood back, didn’t speak and had his hoodie wrapped around his head.
Although he thought it was a strange interaction, he added he didn’t think much of it at the time.
After finishing a cigarette he was having with Bosma’s wife in their garage, De Boer said he went back to his apartment in the basement of the Bosma home in rural Hamilton and watched the Maple Leafs playoff hockey game.
Around 10:15 p.m., about an hour after Bosma left with the two men, De Boer said he received word from Sharlene Bosma.
“She texted and said Tim wasn’t back and she was getting worried,” De Boer told court.
He said he and Sharlene heard that the men were dropped off by a friend, who went to a nearby Tim Hortons while they went on the test drive.
De Boer said he got in his car and went to the coffee shop. There was no sign of Bosma or his truck, a black Dodge Ram 3500.
“I started driving home, called Sharlene and she asked if I could check a few more parking lots, and again seeing nothing, I returned back home,” he said.
De Boer then called his mother, who works for the Sarnia, Ont., police force, who told him to call police right away.
Sharlene Bosma then left to search for her husband at a nearby pub, he said, while he kept watch over the Bosmas’ two-year-old daughter. He said he urged Sharlene to call police en route to the bar.
Sharlene Bosma testified Monday that’s when she called police, who eventually met her at the bar. There was no sign of her husband there and she testified that her calls to his phone were going straight to voicemail and her texts went unreturned.
Neither witness identified the men who walked down the Bosmas’ driveway.
Another friend of Bosma’s, Jesse Kancer, testified he was at their house that night and helped spruce up the truck in preparation for the test drive.
Kancer said he was there when Bosma received a phone call from a man about test-driving the truck. He said Bosma told him two men were coming from the Toronto area that night. But he left before the two men arrived.
In the opening statement on Monday, Crown attorney Craig Fraser said police found gunshot residue as well as Bosma’s blood both inside and outside of his truck, and some of Bosma’s bones were located inside an incinerator.
Fraser said the incinerator was outside an airport hangar owned by Millard.