Man arrested after two bodies found at same Gurranang property

A 32-year-old man has been arrested at Grafton Base Hospital as investigations continue into the deaths of two men whose bodies were found on the same property in northern New South Wales two weeks apart.

Police suspect foul play in the deaths of a 79-year-old man and a 59-year-old man, whose bodies were found at a property near Grafton. On September 13, the body of the 79-year-old man was found inside a house on the Summerland Way at Gurranang, 25 kilometres north of Grafton.

Yesterday, officers went to the same property as part of the investigation and found the body of the 59-year-old man. "They did not anticipate what they found," Superintendent Joanne Schultz said.

The matter was referred to the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad which established Strike Force Faneel to investigate the deaths. Police say the 32-year-old man, who is believed to have lived in Gurranang, was arrested at Grafton Base Hospital where he was receiving medical treatment.

"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 male is not from Gurranang. He was visiting the property and it appears that he died in the last 24 to 48 hours," Superintendent Schultz said.

"We've yet to establish the relationship with the 32-year-old male." Police said the property remained a crime scene and detectives would be at the location for several days.

Superintendent Schultz described the crime scene as "confronting" for the officers involved. "No-one likes to attend those sorts of situations," she said.

"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 32-year-old man was taken to Grafton police station and remains in custody.