On September 13, the body of a 79-year-old man was found inside a house on Summerland Way at Gurranang, about 25 kilometres north of Grafton. Yesterday, officers returned to the property as part of the investigation and discovered the body of a 59-year-old man.
Superintendent Joanne Schultz said the officers "did not anticipate what they found." The matter was referred to the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad, which established Strike Force Faneel.
This morning, detectives arrested a 32-year-old man at Grafton Base Hospital, where he was receiving medical treatment. He is believed to have lived in Gurranang. No charges have been laid at this stage. He was taken to Grafton police station and remains in custody.
"There's quite a lot of work to be done in terms of identifying exactly what has taken place, but the injuries are consistent with foul play," Superintendent Schultz said.
NSW Police confirmed both deceased men were known to each other. The 59-year-old man was visiting the property and appears to have died within the last 24 to 48 hours. Police have yet to establish the relationship between the 32-year-old man and the deceased.
Superintendent Schultz described the crime scene as "confronting" for officers. "Both clearly traumatic scenes and particularly for those officers that arrived on the scene yesterday and were not expecting to locate the 59-year-old male in the situation [where] he was deceased."
The property remains a crime scene, and detectives will be at the location for several days. Superintendent Schultz noted the crime scene had not been maintained prior to the discovery of the second body. "It will be quite a large investigation, obviously two people dying in these circumstances, it's significant," she said.