Incinerator found on Millard farm ordered with 'unique' request, trial hears

The Eliminator, an animal incineration device, is shown at Dellen Millard's farm property on Roseville Road in North Dumfries. (Court exhibit)

Over the last few days of testimony, the murder trial of Dellen Millard and Mark Smich has heard testimony about ‘the Eliminator,’ an animal cremation device that investigators discovered on Millard’s farm in North Dumfries.

The Crown contends that the incinerator was used to burn the body of Tim Bosma, the Hamilton resident who Millard and Smich are accused of killing after abducting while taking his truck for a test-drive.

The trial has heard that 58 bone fragments were found in the device, and later determined to belong to a man under the age of 40.

Monday’s testimony largely focused on how the Eliminator, which is manufactured in the southern United States and can reach temperatures of 1600 F, allegedly ended up in Millard’s possession.

Among the witnesses was Bill Penn, who works for the firm that distributes the incinerators in Canada.

Penn testified that he received an email on June 19, 2012 – nearly a year before Bosma’s disappearance – from a man named Shane Schlatman, who said he was interested in buying one of the devices.

Schlatman, jurors heard, was an employee of Millard Air, an aviation company Millard took ownership of after his father’s death.

An email in which Penner listed prices for different models of incinerators, able to handle 250 or 500 pounds of remains was introduced into evidence, followed by a response from Schlatman saying he had passed the prices on to his boss and would follow up with a decision.

The following day, Penner received an order for the 500-pound unit, along with a request that it could be delivered on a trailer so it could be mobile – something he said none of his clients had ever asked for before.

“That was kind of unique, for us to go this route,” Penner testified.

Further emails show that the incinerator was delivered to Millard Air’s hangar at the Region of Waterloo International Airport in early July, 2012, with the total bill coming to a little more than $15,400.

Nowhere in these emails was it made clear what purpose the company had for ordering the device.

Following Penner’s testimony, court heard from the owner of the company that built the Eliminator.

Responding to a question from the Crown, Timothy Cook said that it would take “up to three hours” for the model of incinerator delivered to the hangar to cremate a 170-pound animal.

Cook also said that, unlike Penner, he had received requests for an incinerator to be mounted on a trailer – two or three times in 10 years, he testified, including once from a police drug task force.

The day’s first witness was Darryl Denny, the chief building official of North Dumfries.

Denny told the court about an application to build a drive shed – typically used to store tractors and other farm equipment – on Millard’s Roseville Road farm. The application was dated April 23, 2013.

Under cross-examination, Denny agreed with a defence lawyer’s suggestion that Millard followed all the proper rules and procedures when applying to build the structure.

Millard and Smich have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

Their trial continues Tuesday with more testimony from Cook.