A woman is dead and her son has been charged with second-degree murder in Ottawa's eleventh homicide of 2017.

Rachelle Mair was found dead inside a Sandy Hill apartment complex at around 5:30 a.m. Friday, after police were called to the highrise at 85 Range Rd. near Templeton Street to deal with a disturbance.

When officers arrived they found a man in distress in a hallway, said Ottawa police Const. Marc Soucy. The man then led officers to a room where Mair's body was found.

The man was later arrested, police said.

Update: The suspicious death investigation by Major Crime is now a homicide investigation. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ottnews?src=hash">#ottnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/g2JMKvY7g9">https://t.co/g2JMKvY7g9</a> —@OttawaPolice

Steven Mair appeared in an Ottawa court Friday afternoon and was charged with second-degree murder in the death of his mother, said his lawyer, Jenny McKnight.

McKnight said Steven Mair was in his early 30s.

"It's all unbelievable. He's not doing well, I can put it that way," McKnight said.

'Traumatic injuries'

The distressed man was taken to hospital in stable condition, paramedics said Friday morning.

A neighbour told CBC News that he was almost naked and was yelling and screaming as he was loaded onto a stretcher and taken into the ambulance.

Paramedics said the woman had suffered "traumatic injuries" and was pronounced dead at the scene.

A forensic investigator in protective clothing enters the apartment building at 85 Range Rd. Friday morning. (Ashley Burke/CBC)

​Police initially said the death was suspicious before confirming Friday afternoon they were treating the case as a homicide.

A doctor with the coroner's office and a forensic pathologist were also on the scene Friday.

The investigation continues.

View a map of the scene here.