35-year-old man found dead in Port Hope hotel following police call, SIU investigating

An Ontario Provincial Police crest is displayed on the arm of an officer during a press conference in Vaughan, Ont., on Thursday, June 20, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Lahodynskyj

TORONTO — The Special Investigations Unit is investigating the death of a man who was found inside a hotel room in Port Hope, Ont. Sunday, after Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers responded to a call of a “domestic nature” a day earlier.

In a news release issued Tuesday, police said that officers arrived on scene at a Comfort Inn located on Northumberland County Road 28, some 50 kilometres east of Oshawa, at approximately 4:15 p.m. on May 24.

When officers were in the hallway of the hotel, police said they engaged in a discussion with a man from one of the rooms. The man closed the door and the officers left, police said.

OPP officers and local police then returned to the hotel to arrest the man, police said. The man did not respond to the officer knocking on the door and the officers left.

Police arrived at the location for a third time at approximately 10 a.m. Tuesday and breached the hotel room to find the man deceased, according to the SIU.

The SIU said that three investigators and one forensic investigator have been assigned to the case.

Police are asking anyone with information related to the investigation to contact the lead investigator at 1-800-787-8529.

The SIU is called in to investigate whenever police are involved in a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.