IQALUIT - RCMP have charged a Cape Dorset man with the 2009 murder of Daisy Curley in Iqaluit.

Jeffrey Salomonie, 44, was arrested on a first degree murder charge in his home community on June 6, stated an RCMP press release.

"I believe they were friends and acquaintances," said Inspector Frank Gallagher, commanding officer of the RCMP V Division on June 9.

Gallagher said Salomonie had been a "person of interest" in the case along with other suspects.

Curley's body was discovered in her Iqaluit home on May 24, 2009. She would have been 36 years old in December.

In 2009, police cordoned off the neighbourhood and scoured it for clues along with a forensics team from Alberta. Her body was sent south for an autopsy.

RCMP then turned to the public for help through posters distributed and plastered around the city and advertisements in newspapers. Anyone with information about the incident or Curley's whereabouts from Victoria Day May 18, 2009 to May 24, 2009 was asked to call the RCMP or Crime Stoppers.

Daisy Curley's mother Ookalik issued a statement to the media on June 10.

"The blanket of despair has been lifted," she said, "I still have many questions and I will wait for answers."

She went on to thank the media, the police, individuals and elders who helped support her.

"I have learned to be patient; when no names came; to believe when trust was lost; and to have self control when I felt I didn't have control," she said.

Last November in Nunavut News/North she urged people to contact the RCMP if they had any information related to the case, or to contact her directly if they were reluctant to go to the police.

Gallagher said since January 2011, two retired RCMP officers from western Canada have been working full-time on the case.

"We brought in a fresh set of eyes," Gallagher said.

Money to pay for this came out of the unit's budget.

The territory has about half a dozen other "cold cases" which Gallagher said are being still worked on.

"We never stop investigating."

A court appearance for Salomonie has yet to be set and he remains in police custody.