Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic descriptions heard in court that may not be suitable for some readers.
A provincial police detective was back on the stand Wednesday to provide further testimony about crime-scene evidence collected inside a homicide victim’s Barrie apartment almost three decades ago.
Det.-Const. Brad Deakos appeared in a Barrie courtroom again today as a witness, this time to face questioning by lawyers for the accused in the second-degree murder trial. He was also on the stand Tuesday to face questions from the Crown.
The trial entered its fourth day, with the jury hearing more details about blood stains and valuables left behind in the young mother’s home.
Katherine Janeiro, 20, was found stabbed to death in her Dunlop Street West apartment in October 1994.
Robert MacQueen, who is now 61 years old and also is known as "Bruce Ellis," is on trial for second-degree murder in her death. None of the allegations against him have been proven in court.
In 1994, Deakos was tasked with processing the crime scene, which included searching for, collecting and documenting physical evidence. Barrie police used the OPP’s services as it did not have the required resources at the time.
Deakos, who began testifying late Monday afternoon and continued through Tuesday, was questioned all day on Wednesday by defence attorney Mary Cremer, as he took the stand for a third straight day.
Janeiro’s daughter, Dawn, who was a toddler when her mother was killed, was present again in the courtroom’s gallery today, this time joined by family members, including the victim’s biological mother and an aunt, who comforted her from time to time as they listened to witness testimony.
With the Crown having wrapped up its questioning early in the morning, Deakos then faced cross-examination from Cremer.
Using evidence photos shown on TV screens in the courtroom and in printed handouts for the jury members, Cremer had Deakos describe items found throughout Janeiro’s living room and kitchen, including beer bottles, food on the kitchen table, and a pizza box.
Questions also focused on Janeiro’s wallet, which was found on the floor behind a framed poster leaning against the living room wall.
Deakos noted it was an "unusual area to find a wallet" and it "appeared to be hidden."
The wallet contained $1,253.86.
Cremer also asked Deakos about where blood was found — and where it wasn’t — throughout Janeiro’s apartment, near Anne Street.
Deakos noted a "number of areas with a number of stains," as he described blood in the apartment.
One of the locations where blood spots were found was the wall above the couch in the living room.
Cremer asked if there were blood spatters that were not swabbed as forensic samples, which could be dirt or something other than blood, as Deakos stated earlier in the week that someone "can’t confirm blood by eye."
A similar line of questioning revolved around the bathtub and toilet area, which had suspected blood stains.
Court heard that the detective’s notes said "probably blood" in some of these areas, which he wrote at the time of the initial investigation in 1994.
Cremer asked if it was fair to say these unsampled spots could be mould or dirt, to which Deakos answered yes, that it was possible.
The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday and is expected to last seven weeks.
Janeiro was found dead on Oct. 10, 1994. At the time, police said she had suffered multiple stab wounds. Her two-year-old daughter had been visiting family members at the time of the homicide.
Court heard the last time Janeiro had contact with anyone was around 4 a.m. on Oct. 10, 1994. Her body was discovered by a friend around 7 p.m. that night.
Court previously heard from the Crown that MacQueen had been in a relationship with Janeiro while he was married and living nearby on Dunlop Street.
During opening statements, the Crown said Janeiro had also had a "therapeutic abortion" on Sept. 16, 1994, less than a month before she was killed.
The Crown also described Janeiro as someone who "sold drugs for a friend."
In 2019, a woman contacted police to report she had seen a man running across Dunlop Street with a phone. She later identified MacQueen from a photograph.
MacQueen was initially charged with first-degree murder in January 2021, more than 26 years after Janeiro’s body was discovered in her apartment. The charge was reduced to second-degree murder following a preliminary hearing in December 2022. He was granted bail in July 2023.
According to news reports published by the former Barrie Examiner, Janeiro’s body was found lying on the floor, covered in blood with scratches on her face. She’d been at a pair of downtown bars most of Sunday night and early Monday morning prior to her body being discovered.
In March 1995, a week after police announced they were looking for the missing phone, it was found in a creek not far from the homicide scene. Its memory was intact, but police said it brought investigators no closer to finding her killer.
Janeiro left home at age 16 and moved to Barrie. A year later, she gave birth to a girl. About 10 months prior to her death, Janeiro had moved into the Dunlop Street apartment with her toddler.
Janeiro’s adopted parents, Dinora and Fernando, who had spoken to Examiner reporters about their daughter’s killing, have both since died. Dinora died May 18, 2012, in Toronto, followed by Fernando on Jan. 19, 2014, also in Toronto.
