The trial of a Barrie man charged in the stabbing death of a young mother was confirmed by a judge Wednesday and is scheduled to go ahead in September.
Robert MacQueen is scheduled to stand trial on second-degree murder beginning Sept. 3 in the 1994 killing of 20-year-old Katherine Janeiro.
MacQueen was charged with first-degree murder in January 2021, more than 26 years after the body of the young mother was discovered in her Dunlop Street West apartment, near Anne Street. He was 58 years old when he was arrested. The charge was reduced to second-degree murder following a preliminary hearing in December 2022.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and MacQueen is presumed guilty unless proven innocent.
MacQueen was granted bail in July 2023.
Today’s trial confirmation in criminal assignment court, which was conducted by video conference, also set the dates for several weeks of motions to sort through, with a week of defence motions starting May 27, then two weeks of motions beginning June 10 and finally another week of motions set to begin July 2.
The judge in the case agreed to keep these court dates in place, despite a couple of submission deadlines which were missed by both sides, so as to stay on schedule to meet the Sept. 3 trial date, court heard.
Janeiro was found dead by friends on Oct. 10, 1994. At the time, police said she suffered multiple stab wounds. Her two-year-old daughter had been visiting her grandparents at the time.
The initial Barrie police investigation included help from the Ontario Provincial Police's forensic identification bureau. While the OPP took over the case in October 1999 to utilize an unspecified investigative technique, it was turned back to Barrie police in February 2012.
Police say investigators then tapped into newer forensic tools through the Centre of Forensic Sciences to re-examine some of the existing evidence.
MacQueen was charged on Jan. 13, 2021. Police at the time said new information had come to light about a year earlier.
Police have said Janeiro and MacQueen knew each other.
