Two people were found dead at this Dartmouth, N.S., apartment building Friday. (CBC)

Halifax Regional Police are investigating what they believe to be a murder and suicide after the bodies of a man and a woman were found in a Dartmouth apartment.

Marguerite Maude Kenney, 60, was found dead along with her neighbour, 58-year-old Patrick Lee McGrath, after her worried daughter went to check on her Friday afternoon.

The daughter, who did not want to be named, told CBC News she went to check on Kenney at 7 Galaxy Ave. shortly before 5 p.m.

She said she knocked on Kenney's door and phoned her landline but got no response. She then tried her mother's cellphone and heard it ringing across the hall in a neighbour's apartment.

When no one answered that door, the daughter called police.

Officers arrived at 5 p.m. and found the bodies. Kenney, a mother of two and a grandmother of three, turned 60 last Friday.

Police spokeswoman Theresa Rath said a picture of what happened is beginning to emerge after investigators talked to several people who live in the area.

She declined to release details, including the cause of death and which person police think was the killer. Autopsies were planned for Saturday.

Kenney's daughter said she did not know the neighbour but said he often "bugged" her mother for food.

Police brought in a mobile command unit at 10:45 a.m. and continue to examine the scene and interview neighbours. The six-unit building is marked off with police tape and officers are restricting access.

Major crime investigators are on the scene.

With files from The Canadian Press