The Laura Babcock murder trial wrapped up today with final submissions from Mark Smich’s lawyer and the crown. The other accused, Dellen Millard, wrapped up his case yesterday.
When it was crown Jill Cameron’s turn to speak to the jury, she said the 45 words of Mark Smich’s rap song said it all. The song was written as Laura Babcock’s body was being burned at Dellen Millard’s hangar, she said. She ended up on ashy stone, the jury saw a picture of what the crown contends are her remains in the incinerator. She was last seen outside Millard’s home. Millard picked her up and brought her there on July 3rd and told Smich not to be outside. If you go swimming you can find her phone, Smich wrote. Her phone stopped responding to messages on July 4th, when Millard was near the lake.
Millard sent a photo to Smich on July 3rd, saying he’d rolled his first spliff. But the crown says he didn’t roll marijuana, he rolled Laura Babcock, not a rug or garbage like Millard suggested during his close. Why would you wrap a rug up like this? the crown asked.
Later on the 4th, after not sleeping for two days, Millard went out to rush order a new bed. Why, unless something catastrophic rendered the mattress unusable? Cameron asked.
Millard and Smich thought they were getting their incinerator at the beginning of July but it wasn’t working until the 23rd, in the meantime Millard was checking the smell of the barn. When his mechanic went to fill up the incinerator’s propane he noticed a rotting smell and saw ash and bone inside the machine.
Laura Babcock is dead. There is no trace of her after July 4th and she was always in touch with friends and family. She left her luggage, her money and her beloved dog behind and disappeared, the crown said.
“It doesn’t matter how they killed her,” Cameron said. “We may never know. They tried to cover it up by burning her body. They took photos. They kept her possessions as if collecting trophies. Fortunately for us, they didn’t do a good job of covering their tracks.”
Thursday the judge will start instructing the jury on the law and how they can go about their deliberations and looking at the evidence. He expects to finish his instructions Monday and then send the jury to decide a verdict.
