Wayne Millard Murder Trial - Dellen Millard Charged With Murder - #3

[deugirtni]

So WM was laying on his left side with his right arm under his head? And he was shot in the left eye with the bullet ending up in the right side of his brain? Seems to me that if he was on his left side, wouldn't his left eye be buried in his pillow? Or was his face looking upward? Because if he was facing up, and DM was standing on the right side of the bed where the gun was found, it would make sense that he would shoot him in the left eye (closest to him) and that the bullet would travel to the right side of his brain, as he would have been firing from left to right. Has there been any images or sketches released of how the body was found?

In your paragraph above: WM's left eye would have been closest to his pillow, NOT closest to DM, and don't forget that DM was left handed.. so for DM to have done it, IF WM was on his left side at the time, with left eye near pillow, and DM comes along, using his left hand, pointing towards the right back of WM's head.. it seems awkward there too, but not impossible for sure.
Hopefully the reconstructionist tomorrow will be able to shed some light on which position would have caused what kind of blood mess? It was said that WM had blood all over his face. Yet it was leaking out of his wound down onto the side of the bed. So how did it get all over his face if the gun was that close to his eye when it was fired? I don't understand enough about this stuff.

If WM was instead lying on his back when the shot was fired, how did he get to be on his left side?

 

[banting]

All this nonsense about the financial problems with the business IMO is a bit inflated. IMO Most of it is coming from DM the liar.

The others referred to finances as being a stress but most people in business will say that.

They didn't have enough time from hangar completion and licensing to declare it a failure.

DM showed his ignorance in the interview when he didn't understand the term "solvent" when asked "How solvent would your father be if the business didn't work out." He showed his ignorance not knowing he was a 50% owner hesitating to say he was the VP. He showed his ignorance stumbling the term "executor".

Simply, businesses borrow money all the time. RBC would not give a $3 million loan to a company they didn't check out and think would eventually be viable. IMO

DM probably didn't know anything of his father's other investments which isn't talked about but business savvy people often have other investments. IMO

Yes, I understand he sold inherited property as he was trying to do things without borrowing. But that doesn't necessarily indicate business ruin.

I think where DM felt the squeeze is his father might have put a limit on his spending and he didn't like it.

It's interesting that this picture of financial ruin mostly comes from what DM has said, not from looking at the accounting books.

WM told Woodward that he had $10m to fund the building and the first 2 years costs. At some stage WM must have realised he didn't have that much, possibly when the building costs overran and he was unable to make the payment due to the builder in June 2012 (although he did sign off on the incinerator at that time). The RBC loan would likely have been secured on the building and not necessarily on the future performance of the business. Woodward also agreed in cross that WM was having financial problems and had taken out a mortgage on his own home. The annual costs for 16 employees and servicing the debt was probably in the region of $1m.
I think DM knew about the problem earlier in 2012 when he asked for someone to invest $2m in the business. All he could see were mounting debts, and his cash resources being drained.
So the financial situation could be a reason for suicide but, from DM's point of view, also a motive for murder, he being the one most impacted in the future.

 

[Claroon]

Pillay is asking if there was examination done to see if there was embedded gunpowder in the hands, where there were some abrasions. Herath says no.
by Adam Carter 11:53 AM

Herath says there was no stipling around the wound -- which are abrasions caused by the firing of a gun.
by Adam Carter 11:54 AM

Wish they'd inspected and photographed DM's hands that night.

 

[JoS13]

No idea, but they would've had to have asked the neighbors if they'd heard anything, which of course, they didn't bother to do. This case just stinks. moo.

Yeah, I've been thinking that the neighbours would definitely have noticed activity - a gunshot (even if it was WM shooting himself there would have been a shot), and then also potentially a taxi pulling up and car doors, etc. Maple Gate is a cul de sac that backs on to a ravine, so there wouldn't be any other traffic noise and this was in the middle of the night in the middle of the week, so I imagine it would have been really quiet and any noise/activity would have woken up some neighbours? I wonder if anyone ever came forward to mention anything?

 

[deugirtni]

hostile witness likely and I'm not sure what she could have offered to the prosecution's case. If defence calls any witnesses, she is more likely to be a better witness for them.

I agree... and for the Crown to invite MB to the stand would just be playing into the defence's hands. I'm sure the defence would love to hear all kinds of things from MB to contradict what the Crown is out to prove, and they would then be able to cross examine her without the need for DM to even provide a defence for himself. If DM wants her testimony, he needs to call her himself, make his defence, and be subject to all of the things that making a defence will mean for him. (ie his team would then have to make closing arguments first, rather than last; the Crown would be able to use bad character references for any witnesses the defence called, including DM himself if he testified in his own behalf). (At least that's how I understand it when an accused provides a defence, rather than passing up the opportunity.) jmo

 

[deugirtni]

Wish they'd inspected and photographed DM's hands that night.

I'm sure he would've washed it off by then anyway. Would have been good to at least check WM's hands though, since they had him right there. Then they at least could have spoken to whether or not the amount found on his hands was the amount that would be expected if it was self inflicted. jmo.

 

[deugirtni]

Yeah, I've been thinking that the neighbours would definitely have noticed activity - a gunshot (even if it was WM shooting himself there would have been a shot), and then also potentially a taxi pulling up and car doors, etc. Maple Gate is a cul de sac that backs on to a ravine, so there wouldn't be any other traffic noise and this was in the middle of the night in the middle of the week, so I imagine it would have been really quiet and any noise/activity would have woken up some neighbours? I wonder if anyone ever came forward to mention anything?

The accusations came half a year later.. so I'll bet that anything noticed by any neighbours wouldn't even have been considered by them, let alone remembered. But if a story had come out in the newspaper saying 'suspicious death', that sure would have sparked any memories there may have been. The more I hear in this trial, the more I can't believe how little was done for WM. jmo.

 

[Claroon]

I agree. I was also thinking that this whole plan was just way over DM's head to even conceive. DM's mind was stuck in petty theft of lawn equipment, vehicles, motorcycles, rocks, trees, etc., and wannabe-gangsta at the time. He was into flipping houses I believe I read somewhere? So maybe a few thousand or a few tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand here and there, every couple of years, maybe before costs?

But this plan was huge, which is why WM employed the services of qualified and experienced consultants to help them reach their goals. Nothing it seemed, was out of line. It seems like DM was nit picking on John Barnes about a silly fall arrest system for the employees, even though Barnes admitted he had given the wrong pricing/numbers.

John Barnes and the other fellow were supposed to get clients and investors, and they could NOT do that until DM got his trash out of there and stopped treating it like the communal hangout for deadbeats. Here they had a state of the art, brand new facility, supposed to be spanking clean for pilots serious about their aircraft.. and there he was with his drug dealing rapper friends and their stolen merchandise all over the place, with dirty bathrooms to boot. This was simply out of DM's league, and required actual work on his part.

Remember when DM went away to Vegas and elsewhere for about a month... because he was taking courses? I am assuming WM had insisted that he learn how to do some of the tasks involved in their new business? Wonder what ever became of *that* plan?
jmo

Exactly. You have written well. I believe he did go for the course, but was more interested in buying/stealing a camaro instead. See this from billandrew's timeline
Mar 20 10:26 am
Millard texts Schlatman: "Considering flying into Texas, and driving the camaro back as a life experience for roughly the..." (2/3)
Babcock Day 12: Falconer testimony

Mar 20 10:26 am Millard texts Schlatman: "...same cost as shipping it and experiencing nothing." (3/3) Babcock Day 12: Falconer testimony
Babcock, Millard, and Bosma Murders

 

[nettie_82]

Bullet's journey into Wayne Millard's brain described at son's murder trial | CBC News

 

[deugirtni]

Shows how close the gun was to his right hand when the trigger was pulled. For a while now (before this) I was thinking it was possible for the defence to say he could have fell over onto his right hand after pulling the trigger himself. With the soot there that seems much less likely.

That is a very good point about the soot found on the back of WM's *right* hand. That means there's probably zero chance that WM was on his back at the time of the shot.

 

[JoS13]

The accusations came half a year later.. so I'll bet that anything noticed by any neighbours wouldn't even have been considered by them, let alone remembered. But if a story had come out in the newspaper saying 'suspicious death', that sure would have sparked any memories there may have been. The more I hear in this trial, the more I can't believe how little was done for WM. jmo.

True, and actually maybe noise and comings and goings in the middle of the night were not unusual from that house, given DM's parties and "missions", etc... so maybe the neighbours were used to that kind of thing and didn't think anything of it.

 

[banting]

The accusations came half a year later.. so I'll bet that anything noticed by any neighbours wouldn't even have been considered by them, let alone remembered. But if a story had come out in the newspaper saying 'suspicious death', that sure would have sparked any memories there may have been. The more I hear in this trial, the more I can't believe how little was done for WM. jmo.

More from MM:
Meneses says she saw Millard with a gun -- a "western-looking gun, with a wooden handle "and a tube."
Is she referring to a silencer?

 

[Claroon]

I'm sure he would've washed it off by then anyway. Would have been good to at least check WM's hands though, since they had him right there. Then they at least could have spoken to whether or not the amount found on his hands was the amount that would be expected if it was self inflicted. jmo.

I was referring to the possibility of DM having abrasions (which would not wash off)- "stipling around the wound -- which are abrasions caused by the firing of a gun."

 

[deugirtni]

More from MM:
Meneses says she saw Millard with a gun -- a "western-looking gun, with a wooden handle "and a tube."
Is she referring to a silencer?

no she means the barrel, long tube part of the gun itself. moo.

ETA I am saying this as if I know, but it is only because that is what I would've called it too, that I say this.

 

[musicaljoke]

How could the Crown even imagine that the woman would tell the truth on the stand?

Maybe the Crown just wanted her out of the courtroom for the duration of the trial. There might have been some mother-son dynamic that they wanted to avoid. Ditto for the other two trials.

 

[deugirtni]

I was just thinking about how ghastly those photos in court must have been today, and thinking about.. a dad shooting himself in the eye like that, in the home shared with his beloved only son/child. First of all, it would substantially decrease the home's property value, and he'd know this. Secondly, was he THAT inconsolably depressed that he would leave that sight for that very beloved person to find? And thirdly, would he not have a glimmer of a thought that potentially this could be perceived as murder as opposed to suicide, and so therefore, wouldn't he have left a note, just to ensure his son was absolved?

 

[deugirtni]

Maybe the Crown just wanted her out of the courtroom for the duration of the trial. There might have been some mother-son dynamic that they wanted to avoid. Ditto for the other two trials.

Maybe, although I don't remember MB being a potential witness for the Crown in the LB case?

 

[MistyWaters]

WM told Woodward that he had $10m to fund the building and the first 2 years costs. At some stage WM must have realised he didn't have that much, possibly when the building costs overran and he was unable to make the payment due to the builder in June 2012 (although he did sign off on the incinerator at that time). The RBC loan would likely have been secured on the building and not necessarily on the future performance of the business. Woodward also agreed in cross that WM was having financial problems and had taken out a mortgage on his own home. The annual costs for 16 employees and servicing the debt was probably in the region of $1m.
I think DM knew about the problem earlier in 2012 when he asked for someone to invest $2m in the business. All he could see were mounting debts, and his cash resources being drained.
So the financial situation could be a reason for suicide but, from DM's point of view, also a motive for murder, he being the one most impacted in the future.

I agree, there were definite indications of a dire financial situation, either a reason for suicide or murder.

One, a witness testified funds were borrowed for wages and tools is an indication the company has no available resources to carry operating costs. If borrowed from a bank, they get real edgy when there’s no income to repay. Two, no signed contacts, no cashflow almost a month after receiving Transport Canada certification. Three, the hanger was built as a MRO on the prospects of grand plans that Kitchener-Waterloo airport was about to take on a major expansion, which never did occur.

Committee puts brakes on Waterloo International Airport expansion

 

[deugirtni]

I was referring to the possibility of DM having abrasions (which would not wash off)- "stipling around the wound -- which are abrasions caused by the firing of a gun."

Oh, I'm sorry! I was confused about that statement, because one second RP is asking about hands, but the pathologist seemed to answer in regard to the face. Also, I didn't recall the pathologist mentioning anything about abrasions on WM's hands. Does anyone recall whether anything was ever mentioned in regard to any markings on DM's hands on the night he found his dad?

Jun 13 2018 11:54 AM
Herath says there was no stipling around the wound -- which are abrasions caused by the firing of a gun.

Jun 13 2018 11:53 AM
Pillay is asking if there was examination done to see if there was embedded gunpowder in the hands, where there were some abrasions. Herath says no.

 

[Claroon]

More from MM:
Meneses says she saw Millard with a gun -- a "western-looking gun, with a wooden handle "and a tube."
Is she referring to a silencer?

if so that would make it even more awkward I'd think