The Katherine Janeiro murder trial ended earlier this month with the arraignment of the defendant, 61-year-old Robert MacQueen. found not guilty The young woman was stabbed to death in her Barrie apartment 30 years ago.

Janeiro, the mother of a little girl, was found dead in her home on Dunlop Street West, near Anne Street, on October 10, 1994.

Janeiro’s body was found lying on the ground, covered in blood from multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. He was at a pair of downtown bars most of Sunday night and early Monday morning before his body was discovered. At the time, police said his death may have been the result of a robbery.

Not much has been revealed about the life of Janeiro, who has been portrayed by both the Crown and the defense as a drug dealer, selling cocaine from his home for the leader of a notorious biker gang.

So who was Katherine Janeiro?

Janeiro left home at 16 and moved to Barrie. A year later she gave birth to a daughter. About 10 months before her death, Janeiro had moved into her Dunlop Street apartment with her toddler, Dawn Nelson.

“I knew her when she was with her common-law husband, and then they broke up and she lived alone in that apartment,” Julie Robles, who was a close friend of Janeiro’s in the 1990s, said after the hearing.

Robles, who was living in Toronto at the time, said he would visit Janeiro in Barrie almost every month. Robles referred to her friend as ‘Kathy’.

“Her parents would pick me up to babysit Dawn on the weekend because we’d gone to the bar or something. They were so nice. They’d pick me up and bring me home,” Robles said.

According to Robles, Janeiro met her partner in Toronto when she was 16 years old.

“Then she got pregnant and the guy was living just down the street from me and my family at the time. “He looked really nice,” he said.

Initially, when Robles visited Janeiro in Barrie, he would go to their home and stay there.

“He never came to the bar,” Robles said. “I don’t remember him ever coming to the bar; It was always me, Kathy and my friends. So I don’t know if that’s an issue for him or not.”

Robles said young Dawn was often absent when he visited. He also said Janeiro was “unhappy” and had broken up with her partner.

Robles said he never contacted Janeiro after her death.

“He never reached out and I never reached out to him,” he added.

Janeiro’s deceased parents were Portuguese, while Robles’ parents were Spanish.

“So after his death, his parents would come to my house or run into my parents at the grocery store,” Robles said. “They were crying about what happened.”

Before his death, Robles said Janeiro was on welfare and would receive a “baby bonus.”

“It didn’t work at all. He didn’t sell that thing (cocaine) until he was living in that apartment. And I only found that out when I went there that weekend in May 1994,” he said, having visited Janeiro before the Thanksgiving long weekend when he was killed.

“Because I’ve never done anything like this before, so I always kept my distance,” Robles said. “We came home from the bar that night and they were going to do a few lines (of cocaine). I excused myself and went to Dawn’s room to sleep. “I heard him tell his friends, ‘he doesn’t do any of this, he doesn’t touch drugs, he’s very good,’ and I left it at that.”

Robles said he knew Janeiro was selling drugs “several times” and that the business was conducted in his apartment.

“It’s almost like he was hiding what he was selling, but it eventually came out between the two of us… I guess for a little extra money. He never told me why he did it,” Robles added.

Robles said he remembered briefly encountering the trial defendant, MacQueen, in May 1994.

“I only met him once, going to the bar, and that’s it. He mentioned her here and there, but that… kind of fizzled out.” He talked about Janeiro’s romantic relationship with MacQueen.

Robles said he planned to spend time with Janeiro the weekend he was killed.

“I went that weekend…on Friday,” he said. “I took a day off from work and went upstairs. He wasn’t at home. He had one of those white message boards on his door and it said he was going to Orillia.

Robles assumed she was with a man named Doug, who was Janeiro’s boyfriend at the time of her death, “so I left because I was told he’d be back on Sunday or something.”

As Robles was returning home to Toronto, Janeiro had called and left a message saying, “Oh, come back, I’m back early.” But Robles said he decided to return to Barrie on a later weekend.

It was the early hours of Monday when Janeiro was killed.

“His mother called me after she found out,” Robles said. “When I woke up it was early Tuesday morning, definitely after 5am. “Her mother called me screaming ‘Kathy was dead, Kathy was dead’ and hung up on me.”

Robles said he tried to call back, but Janeiro’s mother did not answer.

“Then she called and was crying, saying he had died. I really couldn’t get much out of it at that point. I assume the police were there at that point, I’m not 100 percent sure,” Robles added.

“I was screaming. I couldn’t believe it… he seemed fine and happy to be with this new person, so I was devastated,” she said.

Robles said he took his friend’s death very hard, “especially in the days leading up to the funeral, which happened so quickly. It happened a few days later.”

Fast forward almost 30 years and Robles found himself in a Barrie courtroom watching the murder case unfold. Hearing details about his close friend during the hearing brought back memories for him.

“I knew most of it,” Robles said. “I knew 85 percent of what was said about selling drugs and similar things. He was just portrayed as that, just a drug dealer, and that wasn’t true. This was in the last few months of his life.

“I understand, the defense attorney has a job to do, but it seemed like it was his life and it wasn’t right.”

Although Janeiro partied at a young age, Robles described her friend as a “good mother” to her two-year-old child.

“Kathy loved him. “She was his pride and joy,” Robles said of Dawn. “We would take the odd day trip to Wasaga (Beach). I think I gave Dawn some photos from that day (during the hearing). I have photos of us together in that apartment. “He had toys, he was fed, and he got up when Dawn needed something.”

Meeting Dawn at the Barrie courthouse was “very tense,” Robles said during the hearing.

“I hadn’t seen him in 30 years,” Robles said. “He was almost three years old when this happened. He lived with his grandparents and lived just down the street from me. So when I went there to see him, I wasn’t sure how he would react, whether he would be happy or sad. It was very frustrating.

“But he welcomed me with open arms. He was extremely polite and calm. I’m proud to see how well he’s done, considering what he’s been through,” Robles added.

One day during lunch break at the hearing, he and Dawn “went over the photos and we were just talking. I apologized for not being around for 30 years, because maybe he had questions that no one else could answer, and maybe I did,” Robles lamented.

After MacQueen’s not guilty verdict, Robles reached out to Janeiro’s daughter.

“I gave him some space just in case,” Robles said. “He said he was just trying to process it and not be too bitter. Again very calm. It’s extremely difficult to see him go through this, see everything in detail that maybe he didn’t know about, and then come to this conclusion.

When asked what Janeiro would think of her daughter today dealing with the stress of such an ordeal, Robles was blunt.

“He was so proud of him. Kathy and Dawn were not to be taken captive. She says what she feels, but Kathy was probably more outspoken than Dawn, but Dawn holds her own very well, just like Kathy used to,” Robles said.

During the hearing, Dawn Nelson left the courtroom in tears immediately after hearing the not guilty verdict on October 9.

“I was two years old at the time of the murder and it was a life stolen from me and a life I could never share with him,” he said. BarrieToday About an hour after the verdict.

“To all the investigators and the Crown Prosecution Service, I am grateful for your hard work but I am disappointed and devastated by the decision.” Nelson added.

BarrieToday We reached out to Nelson for further comment on this story but did not receive a response prior to publication of this story.