A Nova Scotia man is accused of murdering a young woman whose remains were found stuffed in a hockey bag last May and another woman whose body was found on a trail in 2008.

Police pulled 21-year-old Laura Jessome's remains from Cape Breton Island's Mira River on May 25. A local woman had reported seeing something floating in the water behind her home.

On Nov. 21, 2008, residents found the body of Brett Elizabeth MacKinnon, 21, on a hiking and ATV trail outside Glace Bay.

Police arrested Thomas Barrett, 37, of Glace Bay, Thursday in Halifax. He's charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

He remains in custody.

Other suspects had already been charged in both cases.

Morgan McNeil, 21, is charged with second-degree murder in Jessome's death, and Robert Edwin Matheson, 49, and Brian Deruelle, 37, are accused of being accessories after the fact to murder.

John Hynes is charged with accessory after the fact to murder in MacKinnon's death.