Cold case murder trial of man charged with killing young mom begins

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Published Sep 03, 2024  •  2 minute read

MURDERED: Katherine Janeiro was murdered in 1994. The man charged with her murder went on trial on Tuesday. Photo by Barrie Police

Young mom Katherine Janeiro’s life ended in horror on a brisk October night in 1994.

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Now, almost three decades later the man accused of orchestrating her gruesome death is going on trial charged with second-degree murder.

Jury selection was slated to begin Tuesday for the upcoming trial of Robert McQueen, AKA “Bruce Ellis.” Proceedings will take place in a Barrie courtroom.

For more than 26 years, the stabbing of 20-year-old Janeiro went unsolved. Cops caught up to McQueen in January 2021 and he was initially charged with first-degree murder, lowered to second-degree in December 2022.

ROBERT McQUEEN AKA “BRUCE ELLIS.”

Worried friends found Janeiro’s body in her Dunlop St. apartment on Oct. 10, 1994. She had been stabbed to death, her body covered in blood and her face a mess of scratches.

At the time of the murder, her two-year-old daughter was visiting her grandparents.

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On the last night of her life, Janeiro reportedly had visited two downtown Barrie bars with the revelry lasting until the early morning hours. Detectives initially believed that robbery may have been the motive.

Taken from the crime scene was the vibrant young woman’s telephone which was eventually found six months after the murder in a creek not far from her apartment. While the device’s memory was intact, it revealed no clues.

Cops were desperate and called in the OPP for assistance and tech support. Provincial police took over the file in October 1999 before returning it to Barrie Police in 2012.

According to Barrie Today, citing files from the now-defunct Barrie Examiner, Janeiro grew up in Toronto in a happy, middle-class home as a beloved only child.

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When she was 16, she left home and relocated to Barrie. One year later, she gave birth to a baby girl.

Her parents — Dinora and Fernando Janeiro — have both passed away, never seeing a resolution in their daughter’s murder.

“She was so smart, happy and fun. A good heart and soul. All that for nothing,” her mother told the Examiner in 1994.

Cops have said new forensic tools and information led them to McQueen. Victim and accused were known to each other, police said.

At the time of the murder, the victim was allegedly involved in drug trafficking.

Detectives have said that McQueen was stunned when he was arrested.

“As you can appreciate, 26 years had passed. That’s a lot of looking over your shoulder, wondering if today is the day,” Barrie Police spokesman Peter Leon said in 2021.

None of the charges against McQueen have been proven in court and he has maintained his innocence. He has been out on bail since July 2023.

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