A court has heard a man whose body was found wrapped in carpet in the backyard of an Adelaide suburbs home was suspected of being a "paedophile by people close to him".

Key points: The 39-year-old man charged with murder did not make an application for bail

The 39-year-old man charged with murder did not make an application for bail Defence lawyer Stacey Carter said the victim suffered blunt trauma to the head and strangulation

Defence lawyer Stacey Carter said the victim suffered blunt trauma to the head and strangulation The matter will return to court in 2020

A group of teenagers found the 53-year-old man's body at the Greenwith house in Adelaide's north-eastern suburbs on Monday morning.

A 39-year-old man whose name is suppressed was charged with murder and appeared in court today.

The court heard the victim could have been murdered up to a week before his body was found.

Defence lawyer Stacey Carter told the court preliminary investigations showed the victim suffered blunt trauma to the head and strangulation but a murder weapon was yet to be identified.

She said about 10 young people were present at the time the body was found but the reason they were at the property was yet to be established.

The accused stood silently in the dock, handcuffed but occasionally scratching his face during proceedings.

He has been remanded in custody and did not make an application for bail.

Police will undertake further investigation before the matter returns to court next year.

Previously, police said the accused and the victim were known to one another and the incident was not believed to be random.

After the body was initially discovered on Monday, neighbours expressed their shock.

"[I saw] an extra-large man wrapped up in a carpet," neighbour Emily-Rose Benson said.

"It made me feel sick. I've never even watched a horror movie.

"It was awful for me. It twisted my stomach."