A teacher was allegedly strangled to death by a man she met through a dating app.
The man, who was 35 years old was found dead in his cell at a NSW correctional facility on Saturday afternoon.
According to the Corrective Services, staff members found him unresponsive and he was pronounced dead at around 4.04.
The incident is being investigated by the NSW Police and Serco. An inquest regarding deaths in custody is also being conducted.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the man, who was identified as Ashley Gaddie, was charged with killing a woman named Dannielle Finlay-Jones.
He reportedly went back to his single cell at around 3.15 pm. He was found dead a few minutes later.
Gaddie was in custody as his case regarding the death of Ms. Finlay-Jones made its way through the legal system.
The two met through an online dating site. They allegedly went on two dates before the evening of December 17.
The police stated that the two attended a social event at the Marsden Park pub, where Ms. Finlay-Jones introduced Gaddie as her partner.
After leaving the pub, the couple went back to Ms. Finlay-Jones’ friend’s house.
According to the police, she was last seen alive when she went to her bedroom with Gaddie. At around 3 am, a resident of the house heard what they believed to be a loud and violent sexual encounter between the two.
After going to check on the status of the couple, her friends noticed that they hadn’t heard from them since the previous night.
They then found Ms. Finlay-Jones dead on the bedroom floor.
The police stated that she suffered a bloody nose and multiple bruising on her face.
According to the documents presented to the court, the preliminary results of the post-mortem examination revealed that 31-year-old Finlay-Jones died as a result of strangulation.
The police noted that, in an attempt to hide from the authorities, Gaddie cut a hole in the bedroom’s flyscreen.
Emergency services were then called to the scene. However, they were unable to save the woman.
The police claim that Gaddie fled the scene without calling for help. For three days, the authorities could not find him.
He was eventually arrested on December 21 in Sydney’s Blue Mountains. The law enforcers surrounded the man at Fletcher’s Lookout, and he was apprehended.
A tense 12-hour stand-off with officers ended at midnight with his arrest at Fletcher’s Lookout.