Hamilton police have arrested a second suspect in connection with the Timothy Bosma homicide investigation, and say he faces a charge of first-degree murder.
Police announced the arrest on Wednesday, the same day hundreds of mourners gathered at a memorial service to pay their respects to Bosma, whose burnt remains were found on a Waterloo farm.
Mark Smich, 25, of Oakville, Ont., is expected to appear in Hamilton court on Thursday morning, where he will face a charge of first-degree murder in Bosma’s death.
There was a heavy police presence at and around the Smich family home Wednesday.
Updating reporters at an afternoon news conference, Hamilton Supt. Dan Kinsella said Smich was arrested shortly after 10 a.m. in Oakville while on foot. He said Smich was known to police.
Last year, Halton Regional Police charged him with mischief under $5,000 after he was allegedly caught spray-painting an overpass. He was due to appear in court on that charge next month.
Police said Smich has been identified as the other person who accompanied Bosma on the test drive, alongside 27-year-old Dellen Millard, of Toronto.
Millard remains in jail, facing charges of first-degree murder, forcible confinement and theft over $5,000.
Bosma, a married father of one, disappeared on May 6 after taking two strangers on a test drive of a pickup truck he had posted for sale online.
About a week after his disappearance, police announced Bosma’s charred remains were located on Millard’s farm in the Waterloo, Ont., area.
Second vehicle identified
Investigators have said they believe Bosma was targeted in the crime, previously reporting he and his truck were followed by a second vehicle when departing for the test drive.
Kinsella revealed Wednesday that second vehicle was a dark blue GMC Yukon owned by Millard.
While police have yet to arrest the driver of the Yukon, Kinsella said he believes the public is not in any danger.
“I encourage that individual to turn themselves in,” Kinsella said.
More than 700 tips have been provided to police since Bosma disappeared. The motive behind the 32-year-old’s death remains unknown.
Bosma described as 'regular guy'
Meanwhile, speaking to a crowd gathered at a Hamilton, Ont. banquet hall for Bosma's memorial service Wednesday, Bosma’s wife Sharlene said that what happened to her husband could have happened to anyone.
“But for me, it didn’t happen to just anyone,” Sharlene said. “It happened to my husband and the father of our child.”
Sharlene said their daughter looks very much like her father, which she sees as a reminder that her husband will always be with her.
"(He was) a regular, average guy who loved his family and his friends, who worked hard," she said, fighting back tears. "It is difficult to accept that this regular average guy did a regular, average thing, which so many do on a daily basis, and it tragically cost him his life."
Sharlene described her husband as storyteller who was devoted to their two-year-old daughter. The service was held at the same banquet hall where the couple had wed three years earlier.
Mourners were dressed in white and purple, the couple’s wedding colours.
Pastor John Veenstra described the memorial service as a celebration of Bosma's life, but not an attempt to canonize him.
Veenstra said Bosma should be remembered as a regular guy who loved his family.
