Burglary, hitchhiking, head trauma: Death baffles cops

Police have revealed a man found deceased beside a vehicle near a North-West airport on Sunday morning had “blunt force trauma” to his head.

Police have revealed a man found near Devonport Airport on Sunday morning had “blunt force trauma” to his head.

A Tasmanian man, not from the Devonport area, is in custody assisting police with their enquiries.

The suspicious death of the man aged in sixties, who was also Tasmanian but not local, has baffled Devonport detectives.

Police received information about 5.50am Sunday morning there was a man lying prone beside a white Barina on Pardoe Rd, Wesley Vale, about 800m away from the Port Sorell roundabout.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, with Detective Acting Inspector Tony Stewart revealing he sustained “blunt force trauma” to the head.

A/Inspector Stewart said he believed the deceased and the man in custody were linked to a burglary in the hours prior at Port Sorell Rd transportation business.

It’s understood a vehicle, a white Getz, was stolen from the business.

The stolen vehicle was recovered by police at Mill Rd, near Devonport Airport.

A/Inspector Stewart said he believed the man in custody had abandoned the stolen vehicle at Mill Rd and then hitchhiked back to Pardoe Rd.

A/Inspector Stewart said police are urgently trying to speak with the person who gave the man in custody a lift from Mill Rd in the period before 6am, or any suspicious activity in the surrounding streets at the relevant time.

The man assisting police subsequently returned to the scene of the man’s death, where he was arrested, A/Inspector Stewart said.

While there was an “obvious criminal element” to what had occurred, A/Inspector Stewart said it wasn’t possible to say at this stage how the deceased died.

He said officers have an open mind, with the death possibly a medical incident wherein the man fell and struck his dead, or there was a car accident, although A/Inspector Stewart said there was no damage on the car which indicated there had been an accident.

A/Inspector Stewart said a post mortem of the deceased would shed more light on the incident.

No charges have been laid over the death.