Police suspect foul play after two bodies found on northern NSW property

Police suspect foul play in the deaths of two men whose bodies were found on the same property in northern New South Wales two weeks apart.

On September 13, the body of a 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 a 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.

Today, detectives arrested a 32-year-old man at Grafton Base Hospital.

Police say he is believed to have lived in Gurranang.

No charges have been laid at this stage.

"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.

Confronting scene

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."

Investigations ongoing

Police confirmed the 32-year-old man was receiving medical treatment at the hospital when he was arrested.

He was taken to Grafton police station and remains in custody.

Superintendent Schultz said 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.