BRAMPTON — A Brampton man who abducted and murdered his estranged wife has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.

Macdermid Ermacora, 46, pleaded guilty Oct. 10 to second-degree murder in the killing of Raquel Junio, 42, on Aug. 18, 2011.

Junio had been dragged from her Deerfield Crescent house around 1:30 a.m. and forced into a pickup truck. Neighbours called police, sparking a massive search for the mother of two that ended two days later.

It was 5 ½ hours after her abduction that Ermacora and his pickup truck were found in a parking lot in the area of Queen Street East and Hansen Road, but Junio was nowhere to be found.

He was arrested and questioned by police as the hunt for Junio covered ravines and parkland around her home and the area where Ermacora was arrested.

It would be two days before Junio’s body was found – in a reedy pond in Palgrave, 30 kilometres north of Brampton, and east of Orangeville.

Ermacora was originally charged with first-degree murder.

As the intense search for the missing mother of two continued, her co-workers at Brampton thrift shop Talize were “worried sick” about her and planned a vigil to pray for her safe return. Her co-workers said they knew she was splitting up with her husband of four years, but she had never indicated she was worried or concerned for her safety, so they were shocked by news of what happened.

They said she was quiet, happy and loved her two children, a daughter and a son.