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Body of mother Linda Connors found in bed in Sylvania, son arrested with crossbow

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A man arrested after the bloodied body of his mother was found in her Sydney townhouse had recently started hearing voices in his head and became very withdrawn, friends say. 

The body of Linda Connors, 55, was found in her bed inside the home she shared with her two sons in Sylvania, in Sydney's south, early on Monday morning. 

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'Suspicious' death of woman in Sylvania

Police are questioning a 28-year-old man after the body of his mother was found at a unit in Sydney's south. Vision courtesy Seven News.

It is understood the body was wrapped in a blanket with a significant head injury and covered in blood. 

Not long after she was found, police arrested her son Nathan White, 28, on the Princes Highway at St Peters and found a crossbow in his car.

"There was a crossbow taken out of the vehicle, but there are other items [that have] also been taken out of the vehicle that the older son was in," Miranda Local Area Command Superintendent Michael O'Toole said.

Mr White is speaking to police at Newtown police station.

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His brother, who found the body and raised the alarm on Monday morning, is talking to police at Miranda police station. 

Superintendent O'Toole said the brother was "very distraught" about what had happened.

A woman who knew Mr White since he was a child said he had become isolated over the past 18 months. 

He rarely left the house and his behaviour had changed from the young man she once knew. 

"Over the past 12 months he had just fully isolated himself," the woman, who asked not to be named, said. 

"Before that he was fine, he had normal conversations and everything.

"He had always been a pretty good kid growing up. He has had a hard life, he only had his mum. It was only mum and the two boys."

The woman said Mr White, who went to Sylvania High School, would often go to a local RSL with mates to play cards and have a drink but that had recently stopped. 

Kerrin Willis used to live in the same townhouse complex as the family. 

She remembered Ms Connors as a nice, quiet woman who kept to herself. 

"I never had a problem with her," she said. 

"She would get out the front of the house on the weekends and clean the front yard. She worked five days a week."

Both Ms Willis and the childhood friend said they noticed a shift in Mr White's behaviour five or six years ago after he was bashed over the head with a pool cue at a local pub. 

They also said Mr White had started hearing voices in his head recently.

A tow truck arrived at the scene on Monday morning to take away Mr White's silver Toyota Rav 4. 

Police could not yet say whether the woman died on Sunday - Mother's Day - or in the early hours of Monday.

No charges have been laid.