Police confirm a body found in New Brunswick is that of a missing Oak Haven woman and that her son has been charged in her death.

Investigators say Matthew Linus Tucker was arrested Thursday, a few hours before two hunters found Dorothy Tucker’s body in a wooded area of St. David Ridge.

Tucker is charged with second-degree murder in his mother’s death. The 34-year-old Oak Haven man was brought into St. Stephen provincial court Friday morning.

Police confirm they arrested Tucker early in their investigation, but didn’t have enough evidence to lay charges.

“We had information to arrest him at the time but we didn’t have enough information to hold him on the disappearance on Ms. Tucker or to lay a charge. That’s why he was released,” says RCMP Cpl. Chantal Farrah.

“Now, our investigators worked around the clock, they furthered evidence, the public called with tips and information we followed up on.”

Investigators seized three vehicles in connection with the case earlier this week and Farrah says they had gathered enough evidence to make an arrest Thursday, shortly before Dorothy’s body was found around 3:30 p.m. in St. David Ridge, located roughly 10 kilometres from her home.

Police and forensic units remained on site all night, securing the scene and gathering evidence. Police were also stationed outside Dorothy’s home Friday.

Farrah says an autopsy is being carried out to determine how she died.

“Now I think the community will be coming together and hopefully support Dorothy Tucker’s family and try to continue to move on,” says Farrah.

Dorothy, 53, was reported missing on Nov. 10 and investigators said early on that foul play was suspected in her disappearance.

Police, ground search and rescue crews, and an RCMP helicopter conducted an extensive search in the area after she vanished.

Dorothy’s body was discovered a day after her family released a statement, urging anyone with information to come forward.

They did not appear in court Friday morning when Tucker was brought in.

Tucker has been remanded to the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre until his next court appearance on Dec. 17.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore