Neighbours were shocked and puzzled to find out 84-year-old Pearl Brown was murdered in her Woodstock home last August.
Now, the man accused of killing her, Stephen Dustin, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
“I never dreamt that he would do what he did… He just didn’t seem to be that kind of guy to me,” said neighbour Gordon Lucas.
According to neighbours, Dustin had lived on and off with Brown as a tenant, but often missed rental payments.
Lucas and his wife Audrey knew both Dustin and Brown. They say although he was not living with her at the time of the murder, he was still a big part of her life and she treated him like a member of her extended family.
“I just can’t understand why he did what he did because she had been very kind to him,” said Audrey.
The couple wants Brown to be remembered for her kind heart and not the way she died.
“She thought of others more than herself,” Gordon said.
Dustin will return to court for sentencing on January 16.
