Editor's note: The following story contains graphic descriptions heard in court which may not be suitable for some readers.
Police detectives, two of whom have since retired, were on the stand today at the Barrie courthouse as crime-scene photos and video evidence were presented in a 30-year-old homicide case.
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 the young mother's death. None of the allegations against him have been proven in court.
Const. Jim Yen and Det.-Const. Ted Lunstead, both retired Barrie police officers, along with Det.-Const. Brad Deakos, who is still working for the Ontario Provincial Police, testified on Monday.
Yen, who was the first officer who attended the crime scene that night, answered questions about Polaroid photos he had taken as part of the initial investigation at the crime scene.
Thirteen photos were displayed in the courtroom, showing the apartment as it was first found by police.
Janeiro’s naked body could be seen lying on her bedroom floor next to the bed frame. The mattress is leaning against a wall. Her body is shown face down with her left hand outstretched above her head, while the other hand is down along her right side.
Yen described the bedroom as in a “state of disarray,” but said it didn’t appear “ransacked," as MacQueen’s defence lawyer previously suggested it looked.
Photos also showed blood stains in the bathroom, located next to the bedroom, with spatter on the wall above the bathtub, on the floor and around the sink area. A pair of jeans and underwear could also be seen in the bathtub.
Lunstead, who was the second officer to take the stand Monday, recalled arriving at Janeiro’s apartment building after receiving the call. He was the second officer on the scene.
He testified to seeing a “hysterical” Christine Chayko, the teenage girl who discovered Janeiro’s lifeless body, outside of the building before he entered.
The final witness of the day was Deakos, who was tasked in 1994 with processing the crime scene, which included searching for, collecting and documenting physical evidence.
The Barrie Police Service used the OPP’s services as it did not have the needed resources back in 1994.
Deakos was questioned by assistant Crown attorney Mike Flosman as a video walk-through of the crime scene played on TV screens in the courtroom.
The 18-minute video, which was shot by Deakos, showed the state of the apartment along with Janeiro’s body on the floor.
Her bedroom had typical items for a young woman at the time, such as a “boom box” stereo and a Patrick Swayze poster on one of the walls.
Some of the jurors grimaced as Janeiro’s lifeless body appeared in the video.
Janeiro’s daughter, now in her early 30s, was the only person in the courtroom’s gallery. She looked down at the floor when her mother's body was shown on the screen.
The court session ended with the video evidence.
The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday 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. Janeiro's 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 Chayko around 7 p.m. later that night.
Court previously heard from the Crown that MacQueen was 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.”
The Crown claims MacQueen’s blood was found at in two locations inside Janeiro’s apartment at the time of her death — on a door jamb into the bedroom as well as above the couch in the living room.
As previously reported several years ago, Janeiro's telephone had also been stolen from the crime scene.
A woman contacted police in 2019 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, near Anne Street. The charge was reduced to second-degree murder following a preliminary hearing in December 2022 and MacQueen 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. Her death may have been the result of a robbery, police said at the time.
In March 1995, only 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 baby girl. About 10 months prior to her death, Janeiro had moved into the Dunlop Street apartment with her toddler.
