The body of a 30-year-old man was found hanging in an area of North Tyneside where a six-year-old girl was abducted from her home and sexually assaulted.
Lee Stephen Bayley, of Bewicke Road, Willington Quay, was discovered on Thursday afternoon, police said.
The death is not being treated as suspicious and a post mortem examination was taking place on Friday.
Officers from the abduction inquiry said it was too early to say if the death was linked to the abduction