'This was a crime of passion,' Closing submissions in Barrie murder trial

Warning: Readers may find some details in this article disturbing or upsetting.

Closing submissions are underway on Thursday in the case of a Barrie man on trial for the death of a young mother 30 years ago.

Bruce Ellis, aka Robert MacQueen, is accused of fatally stabbing Katherine Janeiro in her Dunlop Street West apartment on Oct. 10, 1994.

He is charged with second-degree murder.

Crown attorney Mary-Anne Alexander told the court Ellis had been in an extra-marital affair with Janeiro that had ended badly.

Alexander alleged he got angry with Janeiro for telling his wife she was pregnant and spreading rumours he had contracted AIDS from an exotic dancer.

Last month, his ex-wife took the stand, telling the court they lived across the street from Janeiro's apartment and that Ellis often went to the young woman's place when the couple argued.

The Crown claimed Ellis took Janeiro's life in her bathtub while she was naked and vulnerable and moved her body to the bedroom, where she was later found.

A neighbour who often went to Janeiro's unit to borrow her phone found the 20-year-old's lifeless body face down on her bedroom floor and called the police.

During the trial, the court heard Janeiro had been buying and selling drugs and that several people had been in her apartment in the hours leading up to her body being found.

A witness took the stand to tell the courtroom that two men, Woody Theakston and Paul Daigle, were in Janeiro's kitchen rummaging through her cupboards before they fled the apartment.

The Crown said Theakston was in Janeiro's apartment looking for cough syrup for a friend and had a key to let himself in.

Daigle admitted to the court that when he realized Janeiro was dead, he and Theakston wiped their fingerprints from inside the unit. He also said he didn't call the police but later went to give a statement.

The defence pointed the finger at Daigle, suggesting he moved Janeiro's body from the bathroom to the bedroom. He denied any involvement.

Theakston has since passed away.

Alexander went on to stress Theakston had an alibi for when Janeiro was fatally stabbed.

The court also heard testimony from a woman who recounted seeing a man running toward Milligan's Pond the evening of the murder with a phone in his hands, the cord dangling.

The court had previously heard officers discovered Janeiro's phone had been ripped out of the wall and was missing.

The prosecution told the courtroom Ellis took the phone because he had paid for it, saying there was no way he was leaving it behind.

The phone was later found in a creek and confirmed as Janeiro's.

"This was not about drugs. This was not about cash. This was personal," the Crown argued on Thursday, adding, "This was a crime of passion."

Ellis, now in his 60s, has maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

The defence has yet to present its closing arguments.

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