WOODSTOCK -- The mysterious Christmas Eve death of 2 1/2 -year-old Rebbecca Haney took a dramatic twist yesterday when police charged the partner of the tot's mother. Melissa Babineau, 24, is charged with second-degree murder and causing an indignity to a dead body.

Adding further intrigue, police also charged Babineau's mother, Vanessa Babineau, 46, of Beachville, with being an accessory after the fact.

The charges come almost two weeks after the girl's body was found in the basement of the isolated farmhouse her mother, Misty Haney, shared with her partner and her children.

"It's a step toward Rebbecca being able to rest in peace," Paige Haney, the little girl's aunt, said of the charges.

For much of her short life, Paige cared for and lived with Rebbecca, relatives say.

Word of the murder charge did little to ease the pain her family is feeling, Paige added.

"Of course there's anger," she said, choking back tears. "It's all confusing. I don't know how anybody can do this."

Rebbecca's paternal relatives said little yesterday. Her grandmother, Kathie Brett -- whose son, Ray Alles, is Rebbecca's father -- declined comment when contacted at her Woodstock home.

"I really think we're going to respect the police at this time and not make a comment," she said, referring to the investigation.

Investigators told the family not to speak to the media.

Oxford OPP remain tight-lipped about details of the case, declining to elaborate on the charges.

"Part of the evidence that the investigators have been able to obtain gives them the reasonable, probable grounds to believe that these offences have been committed," said Const. Dennis Harwood.

Police would not expand on the charge of causing an indignity to a dead body.

The Criminal Code broadly defines the charge, but sources say it could mean a variety of things, including improperly disposing of a body or not notifying authorities of it.

Police have said the toddler's mother, her partner and the partner's three children -- eight, six and three -- were at home when police were called to the farmhouse near Embro.

Haney called police about 9 a.m. Christmas Eve after she awoke to find her daughter missing from her bed in the farmhouse in Zorra Township, northwest of Woodstock.

Police found the girl dead in a room in the basement of the house about six hours later.

Harwood said Haney and her family "remain devastated by the whole incident."

He said the family has been helpful in the police probe, nearing the two-week mark.

Babineau was arrested at a Woodstock residence Sunday and her mother at a Beachville home at the same time, police said.

Babineau and Haney had earlier lived together in Beachville, said a former neighbour.

The two women had moved into the farmhouse three weeks before Rebbecca died.

Police haven't released the cause of death, saying they're awaiting forensic test results from Toronto.

Melanie Williams, whom Misty used to babysit and who watched yesterday as the two defendants were led out of court to a police van, said the tot was Misty's pride and joy.

"She would have done anything for Rebbecca," she said. "Wherever Misty went, the baby went with her. She was so protective of her."

CHRONOLOGY

Dec. 23

- 7:30 p.m.: Misty Haney, 25, puts 2 1/2 -year-old Rebbecca Haney, her daughter, to bed.

Dec. 24

- 8 a.m.: Misty Haney awakens to find Rebbecca missing from where she had put her to bed the night before.

- 9:15 a.m.: Oxford OPP are called to the farmhouse on the 43rd Line in Zorra Township, an isolated rural area where Haney had moved three weeks earlier with her partner, Melissa Babineau, 24, and her three children.

- 3 p.m.: Police find Rebbecca's body in the house, calling her death "suspicious."

Dec. 25

- The child's body is sent to Hamilton General Hospital for an autopsy and samples are sent to the Centre of Forensic Science in Toronto for analysis to help determine the cause of death.

Dec. 26

- The autopsy is completed.

Dec. 27

- Police remain at the farmhouse, guarding the scene.

Dec. 28

- Police upgrade their probe of the suspicious death to a homicide investigation.

Yesterday

- Police charge Babineau with second-degree murder and causing an indignity to a body. Police also charge her mother, Vanessa Babineau, 46, of Beachville, with being an accessory after the fact.