HALIFAX -- A man and woman accused of stealing the car of a university student whose body was found on the side of a New Brunswick highway are due in court Friday after one of their cases was adjourned.
Victoria Henneberry, 28, was brought into cells at the Nova Scotia provincial court in Halifax on Thursday, but her case was put over to give lawyers more time to review the matter.
Henneberry, who did not appear in court, is charged with stealing Loretta Saunders's 2000 Toyota Celica, which was found Feb. 19 in Harrow, Ont., south of Windsor. Blake Leggette, 25, is facing the same charge and is also due in court in Halifax for a bail hearing Friday.
Defence lawyer Patrick MacEwen said outside court that the lawyers needed time to review the case since Henneberry was returned to Halifax late Tuesday after she was arrested in Ontario. Halifax police say they spoke with her the following day.
MacEwen had little to say about his client when asked how she was doing.
"She's in the same shape as anyone in her predicament is -- she's in custody and I'm sure she doesn't want to be there," he said.
Some of Saunders's friends and one of her brothers sat in the back of the courtroom for the brief hearing, but said nothing to reporters as they left the building.
The remains of the 26-year-old Saint Mary's University student were found at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the median off Route 2 of the Trans-Canada Highway, west of Moncton, N.B. She had disappeared from Halifax two weeks earlier.
Police said Wednesday they consider her death a homicide and have identified suspects. They said they anticipate further charges and are not looking for any suspects.
Const. Pierre Bourdages of Halifax Regional Police said Saunders's body is at the medical examiner's office in Saint John, N.B., to undergo an autopsy in the coming days. He said many pieces of information led police to the location close to the highway.
"The body was not found by a bystander, she wasn't found by someone driving in the area," he said. "The information that is before us helped us narrow down the area."
Saunders was last seen on the morning of Feb. 13 in the Cowie Hill Road area of the city. At a news conference Tuesday, her boyfriend said he last saw her while she was leaving his home to check on an apartment that he said she was subletting to Leggette and Henneberry.
Police say Leggette, Henneberry and Saunders knew each other, but wouldn't expand on the relationship.
Members of Saunders's family travelled to Halifax to make public appeals for help in finding the young Inuit woman, who was originally from Labrador.
Delilah Terriak has said her sister was set to graduate from university in May and was doing her thesis on missing and murdered aboriginal women.
