Man's body found in esky in far north Qld

Homicide detectives probing the suspected murder of a man in far north Queensland have found a man's body in a large esky.

Police say 32-year-old David Hickson has appeared in the Cairns Magistrates Court on Thursday charged with murder and interfering with a corpse.

He's due to reappear in the same court on December 17.

Several crime scenes have been set up in Cairns since his arrest on Wednesday night, including one at an Edmonton house where the body was found on Thursday.

It's believed the victim had recently moved to Cairns.

Cairns Regional Crime Coordinator Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar says information received about seven days ago led detectives to believe the dead man may have been missing and had possibly met with foul play.

"It's important to remember that he wasn't reported missing," he told reporters in Cairns on Thursday.

"This has come to the attention of the Cairns detectives and something we've followed up because we believe there was some suspicious circumstances."

He wouldn't divulge the information police had, but said the two men knew each other.

Det Insp Asnicar says police were investigating the possibility the dead man's body was moved.

He urged anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious, such as an "unusual" looking vehicle or "sounds of violence," in the Edmonton area over the past two to seven days to come forward.