Laura Babcock Trial Updates

Two men who employed 23-year-old Laura Babcock at an escort agency were on the witness stand at her murder trial today. Babcock went missing in july of 2012.

Mark Smich and Dellen Millard face first-degree murder charges, and Millard is representing himself, which means he is questioning the witnesses himself.

A video of Laura Babcock meowing as part of an inside joke, was shot on her phone by a friend shortly before she disappeared at the beginning of July 2012. In the month or so before that, court heard that Babcock had started using cocaine and working for an escort agency.

52-year-old richard Marcovitch worked the phones and drove girls to appointments for the agency, which was called last minute escorts. Babcock didn’t work there long, he remembered the time near the end of June when he took her to a hotel to pick up a pile of suitcases and bags, and Babcock’s beloved maltese dog “lacey.”

They then went back to the escort agency for several hours before Babcock was told to find somewhere else to stay, and she had a man pick her up.

The court heard escorts made anywhere from $200-$300 per hour, and the agency would take about half.

Dellen Millard submitted a couple of photos in court to show his friendships with Andrew Michelski, and with women other than his girlfriend.

He asked the witnesses several questions about why a woman would not be an escort on her own if she could make so much money. He was told escorts would charge less on their own, and would have no security.

The court heard Laura Babcock’s mother called the agency within weeks of her disappearance, having seen her ad for the agency. She was told no one had seen Laura since the end of June.

So far, the jury has heard from people who knew Laura Babcock and the two accused, Dellen Millard and Mark Smich, but they haven’t heard much physical evidence. That should change soon; tomorrow the court expects to call experts in cell phone technology.