Man found dead after arranging Grindr hookup

By Mike Hitch

Homicide detectives are appealing for information relating to the suspicious death of a man in NSW’s south. The unidentified 56-year-old from Canberra had arranged to meet with someone he met on the popular gay hookup app, Grindr, on the same day his body was discovered.

The deceased man’s body had been dumped in bushland in the small coastal town of Broulee and was found by a man walking his dog on Sunday afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the location near McNee Street following the discovery on February 2 at around 4.50 pm.

Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent, Danny Doherty said that initial inquiries suggest that the Canberra man had arranged to meet up with someone he met through the app that day.

Detective Superintendent Doherty also noted that Broulee’s small size means that it is likely that someone noticed something suspicious.

“Upon arriving in Batemans Bay, we believe this man may have been using the dating app, ‘Grindr’, to meet with another person before his body was found,” he said.

“This is a small community and we hope that someone may be able to assist our investigators — either through sightings of the car, or who also may have been using dating applications to meet people in the area.

“Someone may come forward who may have knowledge of this person, this area might be an area where people have met before, they may have knowledge of this man in the car that’s important.”

Doherty also confirmed that the man was known to have used a number of dating apps including Grindr and that police would use these apps to find out who he was talking to before his death.

Grindr is one of the world’s largest networking and hookup apps for LGBTQI men and is used primarily for anonymous sex.

The man had allegedly driven from Canberra to Batemans Bay on Sunday morning in a friend’s purple Honda Jazz car with ACT number plates, YFD 00H.

He was wearing blue jeans, a sleeveless dark blue fitted t-shirt and white sneakers when his body was found on the ground near power lines, a few metres away from the purple Honda Jazz.

There were no apparent signs of injury and police are waiting for the results of an autopsy which will be conducted in the following days to determine the cause of death, according to Nine News.

Police are also interested in speaking with anyone who may have dashcam footage of the man’s car as it travelled between Canberra and Batemans Bay.

If you have any further information to assist police, contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000