Police probe robbery link to surfer's fatal stabbing

Police are probing a possible link between the seemingly unprovoked killing of a surfer and an armed robbery near the spot where the young man was stabbed to death.

Investigators are still looking for the person responsible for the apparently random attack on Kye Schaefer at Coffs Harbour, on the NSW north coast, early on Thursday.

The 21-year-old was stabbed multiple times in a car park on Ocean Parade while still wearing his wetsuit after he arrived to go surfing at the beach.

Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said many people would have been walking or driving through the area at the time of the stabbing and appealed for them to come forward with any information about what happened before the death.

"This is a 21-year-old who has been cut down in the prime of his life," he told reporters on Wednesday.

"His life has been savagely taken away from him in a random and unprovoked attack.

"This has been an incredibly sad incident and we're very committed to finding the answers for the family."

An online fundraiser for the Schaefer family had raised more than double its $10,000 goal as of Wednesday after receiving more than 200 donations to help pay for the young man's funeral.

"Kye will be profoundly missed by his family, friends and members of the community," the fundraiser's organiser said.

Detectives have appealed for information about a man seen riding a bicycle in the area at the time.

Police are yet to find the weapon used in the attack, but are investigating whether the death could be linked to other incidents in the area around the same time, including a nearby armed robbery allegedly involving a homeless man.

The 36-year-old has been accused of stealing fishing rods and two six-packs of beer from another man camping in the nearby jetty area.

"There was a man who was arrested about half an hour after the murder ... we keep an open mind about these things," Det Supt Doherty said.

Police previously said they were looking into whether Mr Schaefer came across someone breaking into his car before the stabbing.

A crime scene was also set up at a campsite in the jetty area after detectives identified "items of interest" there.

Mr Schaefer's stabbing further fuelled calls for tougher knife-search laws ahead of an announcement on Tuesday that the government planned to give police powers to use metal-detecting wands to scan for weapons in designated areas.