“Her friends' memories of her as a loving and vibrant woman have brought me closer to her."
Those poignant words come from Dawn Nelson, whose mother was stabbed to death in her Barrie apartment three decades ago, when Nelson was just a toddler.
In the wake of the weeks-long murder trial involving the 1994 stabbing death of Barrie resident Katherine Janeiro this past fall, and in the shadow of the recent passing of the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6, her daughter reflected on the mother she never knew, and offers hope for families of missing and murdered women.
Nelson was two years old when her mother was brutally killed inside her own apartment on Dunlop Street West. Janeiro was just 20 years old.
The accused in the trial was found not guilty of murder on Oct. 9 in a Barrie courtroom.
Nelson, who attended most of the court proceedings, learned of the events of the final days of her mother’s life, but says she knows there's much more to her mother's story than the brief, tragic chapter presented in court.
“Through the trial and my conversations with people who knew her, I've learned more about my mom's life and the person she was beyond the labels placed on her,” she said recently, after taking the time since the trial to process this new information and deal with the emotional fallout of the trial’s conclusion.
“Her friends' memories of her as a loving and vibrant woman have brought me closer to her,” Nelson added.
Julie Robles, a close friend of Janeiro growing up, also attended trial and later shared her memories of her with Nelson, as well as BarrieToday, an affiliate of BradfordToday and InnisfilToday.
Nelson described Janeiro as intelligent and bilingual.
“Both of us were proudly raised Portuguese,” Nelson said.
Janeiro was adopted as a baby.
“Not many people knew because it was a bit taboo back then, but her proud parents were Fernando and Dinora Janeiro,” Nelson said.
Janeiro “adored” Madonna and bands like Guns N' Roses and Metallica, “which I guess was typical for the late 1980s and early 1990s,” Nelson added.
“When I was little, I was gifted the tapes she made featuring those artists, helping to shape my taste in music,” she said.
Nelson said her grandparents and her mother had a great deal of love for each other, and were close.
“They were happy,” she said. “They travelled to Portugal and Disneyland, and they made lots of trips to the beach and Canada’s Wonderland. You name it, they did it all. She was their greatest gift in life.”
Nelson’s grandparents took pride in showing off her mother’s report cards and the awards she'd won.
“They wanted it all for her and thought they were protecting her by not sharing that she was adopted,” she said.
Nelson believes that if her mother was still alive, she would have met her "bonus family," her biological family members who wanted to connect with her, but never got the chance before she was killed.
“After her death, they adopted me," she said of her grandparents. “I was very loved, and I am grateful for all they gave me, but our home wasn't as colourful in comparison."
Nelson’s grandparents, who have since passed away, were traumatized and full of grief, guilt and anger.
“(It was) something I was too young to understand for a long time until it all caught up to me, too,” she said.
Toward the end of Janeiro’s life, Nelson said her mother’s path began to lead down a darker road.
“My mom's future was bright, but in the few short years highlighted during the trial, her outgoing personality led her to trust too quickly and overlook the dangers around her,” she said.
Unfortunately, finding out she was adopted later on in life set her out on a rebellious trend, Nelson added.
“At just 16, she was taken advantage of and failed by much older crowds of men and women, which ultimately led her down a tragic path,” Nelson explained.
Regardless of the trial’s outcome, Nelson maintains a strong opinion about the people who were close to her mother at the time of her death.
“They bear guilt through their silence and by association,” she said. “Justice for my mom is complicated, because the past cannot be changed, but I hope this story helps others understand her humanity, and not just the circumstances of her death.
“I also hope that even though we did not get a guilty verdict, the fact that there was a trial 30 years later offers hope for others whose loved ones were murdered or are missing in unsolved under-investigated cases,” Nelson added.
Nelson concedes her mother’s story will never be told in its entirety, “but I am ready to accept that and move forward as I carry her with me in my heart.”
