Canada - Katherine Janeiro, 20, murdered, Barrie, Ont, 10 Oct 1994 *arrest 2021*

http://barrie.ctvnews.ca/police-say-they-have-two-suspects-in-katherine-janeiro-murder-1.2046936


" Police say they’ve collected hundreds of pieces of evidence and have taken hundreds of witness statements.

Investigators are currently working closely with the Center of Forensic Science to re-examining some of the existing evidence. Police are hoping scientific advancements in forensic analysis will help lead to an arrest.

Experts in the fields of DNA analysis and DNA mixtures from Canada and the United States are assisting with the investigation.

Police believe there are people who are holding back key pieces of information out of fear and have also issued a $50,000-dollar reward for information that leads to an arrest in the case."

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http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2014/10/08/barrie-police-revisiting--janeiro-murder-case
"It was believed robbery was the reason behind the murder.

Barrie police initially investigated Janeiro's murder, but turned it over to provincial police in 1999. The OPP worked on the case for a dozen years and transferred it back to Barrie police February 2012, she said.

In 1994, the Examiner reported that woman's body was found lying on the floor, covered in blood with scratches on her face. Estranged from her boyfriend, she'd been at a pair of downtown bars most of Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Janeiro's telephone, which police believed may have contained her killer's number in its memory system, was stolen from the crime scene.

In March 1995, only a week after police announced they were looking for the phone, it was found in a creek not far from the murder scene. Its memory was intact, but brought police no closer to finding her killer.

Janeiro, whose nickname to her friends was 'Sport', left home at 16 and moved to Barrie with her boyfriend. A year later, she gave birth to a baby girl."

20 years is a long time to wait for answers, hoping this family finally get the closure they deserve and Janerio's killer is brought to justice.

From October 2014:

http://barrie.ctvnews.ca/police-have-two-suspects-in-katherine-janeiro-murder-1.2046936

Barrie Police say they have two male suspects in the 1994 murder of Katherine Janeiro.

Investigators say both suspects still live in Simcoe County and have been watched by police for the past four years.

However, police won’t say where or if the two men acted together to kill Katherine Janeiro.

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From October 2015:

https://www.barrietoday.com/local-news/cold-case-we-always-hold-out-hope-70617

"We're still aware of two suspects in the case," Gravel told BarrieToday in a recent interview...

Gravel notes there was probably a lot of fear at the time of the murder and hopes that fear has been alleviated with the passage of 21 years.

"We're looking for that little tidbit of information that may be the breaking point in this case."

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I think that watching the resolution unfold for cold cases is one the most fascinating topics on WS. The crowds may be thinner here, but the challenges faced by detectives are much greater, so that, ultimately, there is an extra measure of satifsaction when the case is finally solved.

I hope that truth will be revealed, with this case closed and off the books very soon.

January 7 2018
https://www.insidetoronto.com/news-...y-know-who-killed-barrie-s-katherine-janeiro/

[h=1]COLD CASE: Police believe they know who killed Barrie's Katherine Janeiro[/h]by Rick Vanderlinde

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It was a mild Sunday night on Oct. 9, 1994, when Katherine Janeiro was partying at bars in downtown Barrie.

Only 20 years old, the single mother of one was found dead in her basement apartment at 258 Dunlop St. W. less than 24 hours later.

She had been stabbed multiple times.

As the city police service’s criminal investigation team probed the circumstances surrounding the violent death, they learned Janeiro had invited some people she met downtown back to her apartment.
That decision may have been the fatal mistake that led to her death.

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During their initial investigation, officers discovered Janeiro’s home telephone had been ripped from the wall and was nowhere to be found. The theory was the killer got rid of the phone because their number might be locked in the memory system.

One month after the murder, police believed they got a big break when they found the telephone in a nearby creek. The memory system was intact, but the discovery brought detectives no closer to solving the city’s most notorious homicide in years.

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Investigators have sought the opinion of experts in various investigative and scientific fields, including DNA analysis and DNA mixtures, both here in Canada and the United States, the Barrie police website states.

But while science has been able to eliminate suspects in this unsolved mystery, it has yet to provide enough evidence to bring a suspect to court.

As in many unsolved homicides, investigators hope a witness will still come forward with that key piece of missing evidence.

Anyone with information on this homicide is urged to call the Barrie Police Homicide Unit tip line at 705-725-7025 ext. 2160, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).

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ARREST! bbm.
Jan 14 2021
Katherine Janeiro knew her alleged killer: police - BarrieToday.com
''More than two decades after Katherine Janeiro was found dead from multiple stab wounds in her Dunlop Street West apartment, a local man has been arrested and charged with murder.

Robert Bruce McQueen, 58, of Barrie, was arrested without incident Wednesday morning on Huronia Road.

McQueen made a court appearance by video today and is scheduled for another appearance on Monday. ''

''Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon told BarrieToday that Janeiro and McQueen knew each other, but he would not elaborate further on the extent of the relationship.

Wednesday's arrest came following a tip received in 2019 that Leon said "primarily involved McQueen."

Leon also stated that, as with any case like this, there are always other persons of interest detectives look closely at. McQueen had been known to investigators, he added.

Police had been looking closer at the Janeiro case in the past year.

“Interestingly enough, there was not a homicide in the city of Barrie last year,” Leon said. “That fact allowed homicide detectives to focus on some unsolved cases, the Janeiro case being one of them.”

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Barrie, Ont., police make arrest in 1994 homicide of Katherine Janeiro
"He was arrested yesterday morning without incident operating a motor vehicle in the south end of the City of Barrie," Peter Leon, Barrie Police Services spokesperson, told CTV News.

"I think he was surprised. As you can appreciate, 26 years had passed. That's a lot of looking over your shoulder, wondering if today is the day. Well, yesterday was the day," Leon said of the arrest.

On Oct. 10, 1994, friends found Janeiro's body in her Dunlop Street West basement apartment. She had multiple stab wounds.''

Alleged killer in Barrie cold case was known to locals as 'Bruce Ellis' - OrilliaMatters.com

• 
• ''When MacQueen's name began circulating on social media following his arrest, few people recognized him. However, he appears to be more widely known by an alias: Bruce Ellis.
  
  Bruce Ellis has lived in Barrie and the surrounding area for a long time. A post on one of three Facebook accounts shows Ellis moved to Innisfil in May 2020.
  
  While the last name 'MacQueen' doesn’t ring a lot of bells for some, the name Bruce Ellis did for others.
  
  A former Barrie resident named Paul, who didn’t want his last name published for fear of backlash to his friends and family, told BarrieToday he knew Ellis back when they were growing up.
  
  “I tried searching the name (Robert Bruce MacQueen) that was in the media on Thursday, but couldn't find anything,” said Paul. “When you showed me that pic and name I knew him right away. Bruce Ellis is how most people will know him.”

July 4 2022
''A preliminary hearing for a cold case homicide that struck a chord with Barrie, Ont. residents roughly 28 years ago got underway on Monday with the man accused appearing in court.

On Jan. 13, 2021, Barrie police charged 58-year-old Barrie man Robert Bruce MacQueen, who goes by the name Bruce Ellis, with the stabbing death of Katherine Janeiro.

The 20-year-old woman was found dead with multiple stab wounds on Oct. 10, 1994, in her apartment on Dunlop Street West.


"In any investigation, it is important that every piece of information received is always closely examined. You just never know which one holds the key detail you are searching for and will lead your team ultimately to arrest the person responsible," said Det. Kevin Scales, a case manager for the investigation.

The now 59-year-old Ellis was arrested in Barrie after police said new information had come to light, but investigators have yet to provide what led them to the accused.

At the time, Barrie Police Services spokesperson Peter Leon said he believed Ellis was "surprised" to be arrested more than a quarter of a century after Janeiro's death.

"That's a lot of looking over your shoulder, wondering if today is the day," Leon said of the arrest.''

''A Barrie man charged in a historic killing has been ordered to stand trial on second-degree murder, but has no date scheduled for trial.

Robert MacQueen was originally charged with first-degree murder two years ago in connection with the 1994 killing of Katherine Janeiro.

Following a preliminary hearing in December, he was ordered to stand trial on second-degree murder. He is scheduled to appear before an Ontario Superior Court justice again later this month, but no specific date has been set for trial.

The body of the 20-year-old mother was found on Oct. 10, 1994 in her Dunlop Street West apartment, near Anne Street. Her two-year-old daughter had been visiting her grandparents at the time.

Police have previously said Janeiro suffered multiple stab wounds and succumbed to her injuries prior to being found in her basement apartment by friends.

Janeiro’s death went unsolved for nearly three decades.''

MacQueen has opted for a jury trial. It is scheduled for seven weeks, starting Sept. 3, 2024, Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst confirmed during a court appearance this week.

Pre-trial motions are scheduled to take place next year in May, June and July leading up to the trial.