The Toronto Star had a great article yesterday on the disappearance and death of Laura Babcock, and how the police conducted or failed to conduct their initial investigations. The case was handled by 22 Division, which also looked into the sudden death of Wayne Millard, another investigation which, in my opinion, raises serious questions and which I wrote about in April. That death in November 2012 was originally deemed a suicide, but some of the new facts that have come to light make it hard to understand just how this could have happened and why Wayne Millard’s body was released for cremation so quickly. Let me elaborate:
- The Toronto Sun reported more than a year ago that Wayne Millard was shot in the eye. This is, to say the least, unusual. (And given that this info. was leaked to the Sun by a police officer, it would seem to indicate that someone in the force wasn’t happy with the initial investigation.)
- Wayne Millard is alleged to have been killed with a trafficked gun. This info. was originally reported by the Hamilton Spectator and then backed up further by a report in the Toronto Star. How on earth did the original investigators miss this?
- A source who was on the scene at the Millard family home the night police investigated the death, said that those present included Dellen Millard, his mother and Wayne’s ex-wife, Madeleine Burns, and Dellen Millard’s ex-fiancee, who cannot be named due to a publication ban. As far as I can tell, these are the only people police initially questioned about Wayne Millard’s death. They did not talk to anyone at the multi-million dollar business he had just launched nor do they appear to have spoken to others with whom Wayne Millard had regular, even daily, dealings.
- Mark Smich had been living in the basement of the Etobicoke house Wayne and Dellen shared before Wayne’s death. It’s not clear whether police were aware of this or talked to Smich.
- Wayne’s family members were not told the cause of his death. A cousin and his aunt were not even notified he had died.
As much as there are many unanswered questions about the investigation into Laura Babcock’s disappearance, there are also questions about the Wayne Millard death, which need to be answered as well.
Dellen Millard, who has been charged with his father’s death, is pleading not guilty and none of the charges against him have been proven in court.
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AnnBrocklehurst.com 
Great update Ann! Another lingering question I have concerns Wayne’s fiancée.
I had read that Wayne was about to be married. Do we know who the bride-to-be was? Has she been interviewed by police? Did she know the facts surrounding Wayne’s death or was she told – as other relatives were – that Wayne died of an aneurysm?
Also – now that I read that the Madeleine Burns was at the home the night of the shooting the plot is starting to thicken! She had to know that Wayne died from a gunshot wound to the head. Did she misrepresent the facts of his death to Wayne’s siblings? I doubt that she would talk to you but you might be able to talk to the other relatives who could shed light on this.
Now that the OPP are in charge I wonder if they have tried to interview Madeleine? If not they certainly should!
Keep up the great work!
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Thanks, Kevin.
I have talked to at least a dozen people about Wayne and not one has heard about his supposed fiancee.
The only reference to her existence was in a Jim Junkin report, and I can’t help but wonder if he mixed up Dellen’s and Wayne’s fiancees.
There are one or two names on the “no contact” list for the Wayne Millard murder that could be the mystery fiancee but, for various reasons, I haven’t been able track them down.
I added the info about the family into the story (thanks, ed.). Wayne had no siblings, just some cousins and an aunt, many of whom weren’t even told he had died, let alone how. Certainly, Madeleine Burns would have had to have agreed to go along with the aneurysm story as she worked at Millardair and that’s what employees were told.
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Thanks for the reply Ann. You’re right that report came from Jim Junkin:
http://www.citynews.ca/2013/05/21/police-reopen-2-cases-tied-to-dellen-millard/
I wonder where Jim got his information. It could be that he got his information mixed up but from the report it does sound like he had very specific information saying Wayne “had just announced to his family that he was in love and about to be married”. If the Financee did exist this would give a powerful motive for murder as Dellen would no longer be the sole beneficiary of his father’s estate and could even have been frozen completely out by a new stepmother. If Jim Junkin is correct that Wayne had just announced that he was about to be married I can imagine that Dellen would have been frantic at the news.
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Yes, it does sound specific, but here’s what’s strange. As far as I know, Wayne didn’t attend family gatherings. He was a real loner.
The Millards I’ve spoken to don’t know anything about a fiancee.
So who’s this family he told? The Burns’s, his ex-in-laws? He and Madeleine were on pretty good terms, but he wasn’t attending gatherings with her clan from what I’ve heard.
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Wow Kevin, if true that would certainly be a strange twist in the story. Never thought of that angle 🙂
Thanks Ann for the updates.
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