Cranebrook date app victim lay dead in bed for eight hours

A young woman killed in Sydney’s west lay dead in her bed for almost eight hours before friends realised she was not just having a sleep-in with a new boyfriend she’d met on a dating app.

Forensic police comb over a window at the Cranebrook home where the woman’s body was found.

A young woman killed in Sydney’s west lay dead in her bed for almost eight hours before friends realised she was not just having a sleep-in.

A major manhunt is underway after the 31-year-old was discovered unresponsive inside a friend’s home on Borrowdale Way at Cranebrook, near Penrith, about 2.30pm on Sunday.

Police sources said early indications are the woman died from a severe head injury.

She had spent the night introducing her new boyfriend - who she initially met through a dating app - to mates at The Marsden Brewhouse in Marsden Park, before going back to her friend’s home in Cranebrook with him.

The next morning her friends thought she and the man were simply sleeping in, before deciding to check on them when it reached mid-afternoon and making the grim discovery.A late night dating app encounter gone wrong is being probed by police as the possible cause of a woman’s death in a western Sydney home over the weekend.

NSW Police have formed Strike Force Eynahm and have embarked on a manhunt.

Police are looking into whether the woman met her attacker online.

Of particular interest to investigators are the events that occurred between 4am and 5am on Sunday, as well as a front window that may have been used by a man to leave after their rendezvous.

Acting Superintendent John Nelson said there was no sign of forced entry and it was likely the woman let her killer into the house, after returning from a night out.

The Cranebrook home remained a crime scene on Monday.

Chief Inspector John Nelson said it did not appear to be a random attack. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

“She’s returned to the location in the early hours of the morning and at some point between then and 2.30pm, something has happened to this poor young lady,” Act Supt Nelson said.

“We don’t believe this is a random attack. Potentially our victim and the wanted person are known to each other.

“The information that we do know is that they’re known to each other, there’s not been an entry or break-enter,” he said.

Detectives and crime scene officers on Monday were focused on a window at the side of the house.

Police said the woman’s family had been notified of her death.

Neighbours who were interviewed said a vehicle seen on the street about 4am had been of keen interest to detectives.

Police said the woman did not live in the area.

“She’s from another part of Sydney, just staying out this way with friends,” Act Supt Nelson said.

He said the woman’s family, and the couple who found her, were “devastated”.