Brampton woman remembered as ‘selfless’
Two have been charged with first-degree murder in death of 35-year-old Beata Paciorek
Friends of Beata Paciorek, a 35-yearold mother of two found murdered on Sunday night, are remembering her as a selfless, outgoing person.
Danny Foley, a childhood friend, held out hope that the Brampton woman was still alive right up until he heard that her body had been identified. Paciorek was found dead in the back of a U-Haul truck that she had been travelling in with a group of people on their way to Sudbury.
“Even when the guys got arrested, I had a little bit of hope.” He said he had known Paciorek for 20 years.
“I just recently came back to Ontario, and we were supposed to meet up in the next week or two and go out for coffee and catch up, but guess that’s not going to happen now.”
Police arrested Mike Madill, 28, and Amy Macdonald, 37, in the Sault Ste. Marie area on Saturday and charged them with first-degree murder, even though Paciorek’s body had not yet been found. Peel police said they began investigating Paciorek’s disappearance on Friday.
“Beata was just a very funny, outgoing, selfless person,” said Monica Alexandra, who is the godmother of Paciorek’s two children, a girl and a boy. “She was a great person.”
She said her friend had gone through many struggles, including dealing with multiple sclerosis.
Alexandra and Paciorek lived in the same building as kids and went to elementary and high school together, where they both knew Foley. Alexandra said she “pretty much grew up with that family.” The friendship endured for many years until Alexandra’s concerns about some of the decisions Paciorek was making caused them to go their separate ways, she said.
Foley mentioned some of the troubles Alexandra alluded to, saying Paciorek had “her issues” and had been involved with drugs at one point. He maintained that she was a “sweetheart.”
“That’s one girl that did not deserve to be hurt,” he said.
“When I look back to before Beata got involved with a certain crowd, she . . . wasn’t a selfish person at all,” Alexandra said. “No matter if she was down to her last dollar, she was always the type of person to give.”
“She always wanted to see the good in people,” she added. “But at the same time, some people aren’t able to see that, oh, that person is someone I shouldn’t be hanging around. A lot of us tried to help her, but there’s only so much a person can do.”
Just before midnight Sunday, police positively identified the body found earlier that night as Paciorek’s. Investigators believe an altercation took place on the side of the highway, during which fatal injuries were inflicted on the victim, said Lori Murphy, a Peel police spokesperson.
“I know she was trying to get her life back in order . . . for her kids,” Alexandra said. “It’s a shock that this happened to her, but, I don’t know, it’s so weird to explain but, you almost feel like it was expected, because the crowd that she was hanging around with wasn’t a very good crowd.”
“What I’m trying to do right now, is just hold onto all that good stuff before all that bad stuff,” she said. “Focus more on the Beata that I knew.” With files from Emily Fearon