Tara McDonald, the mother of slain schoolgirl Tori Stafford, and her common law partner were in a Woodstock courtroom on Thursday.

McDonald, 32, and her partner, 34-year-old James Goris, are facing drug and stolen property charges.

Woodstock Police Const. Steve McEwen says "Both those persons...were charged with possession of a controlled substance as well as possession of property obtained by crime."

The pair was arrested two months ago, along with 38-year-old Brandon Annis, after a search warrant for their home was executed.

Police say they recovered crack cocaine, marijuana, cash and some property believed to be stolen.

McEwen says "Well at the time, there were other investigations being conducted within the city, break and enters, and some of the property was believed to be linked to those investigations."

Some locals are concerned about what has been happening in their community.

Woodstock resident Brian Donlevy says "It's a nice community and you tend not to want those things in a small community like this and it's a fairly close knit community and people don't want to see that."

McDonald received a lot of media attention in 2009 when her eight-year-old daughter was abducted and murdered. One person is in prison in connection with the killing, and a second is still awaiting trial.

McDonald and Goris were in court for just a few minutes, represented by duty counsel.

They are expected to return to court in four weeks, but the court heard they want to schedule a resolution meeting with the Crown.