Two people were charged with first-degree murder late Thursday afternoon in the death of Durward Jardine, 76, whose body was discovered at a Moncton motel on Tuesday.

Norman Robert Gratton, 46, and Rebecca Nicholas, 31, were back in a Moncton courtroom on Friday afternoon.

During his appearance, Gratton requested a 30-day psychiatric assessment, which was granted by the judge.

Both Gratton and Nicholas informed the court that they will be applying for legal aid to pay for their lawyers.

They will be back in court on Sept. 18 to enter a plea on their first-degree murder charges.

The two first appeared in a Moncton courtroom on Thursday evening for a special hearing.

Both were wearing police-issue white jumpsuits and had spent the day being transferred from Nova Scotia, where they were arrested on Wednesday evening on the Eskasoni First Nation.

The arrests were made after an RCMP officer saw one of the suspects in Nova Scotia, according to Codiac RCMP Const. Chantal Farrah.

"An RCMP member spotted the female suspect in a residence in Eskasoni. They surrounded the residence. And warrants of arrest were issued from the Moncton provincial court here and the arrests were made subsequently," she said.

The RCMP said Friday that Jardine's missing truck was found by the Antigonish RCMP. The truck was abandoned in the Sutherlands River area of Pictou County.

Meanwhile, Farrah said police don't believe the homicide was a random attack.

"At this time what investigators are releasing is that there is a connection between those three, they do know each other and they're facing charges now of homicide."

A village official in Jardine's hometown of Blackville, near Miramichi, described him as a quiet, gentle man and said the community is still in shock.