Police search for Sydney couple’s bodies after suspected murders
Australian authorities are searching for a secluded property in pursuit of the remains of a television presenter and his partner, following their presumed murders last week.
Investigators assert that Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were slain by an active-duty police officer at a residence in Sydney last Monday.
The accused, Senior Constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who was previously romantically involved with Mr. Baird, faces charges of two counts of murder but has refrained from commenting on the allegations.
Police divers are scouring water bodies approximately 185 kilometers (115 miles) from Sydney’s metropolitan area.
They suspect that Mr. Lamarre-Condon, 28, may have left the victims’ bodies at the remote Bungonia property after relocating them from Mr. Baird’s residence using a white rental van.
On Monday, New South Wales Police disclosed that the suspect escorted “an acquaintance” to the Bungonia site last Wednesday.
Allegedly, Mr. Lamarre-Condon breached a gate lock, deposited the female companion at the property, then departed with the van before returning 30 minutes later.
She “wasn’t aware the bodies were in the vehicle” and has been cooperating with detectives, Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said.
He added that police were investigating whether Mr Lamarre-Condon had later returned and moved the bodies again.
The suspect had bought an angle grinder and weights from separate stores last Wednesday, the deputy commissioner said.
Mr Hudson also said that in the hours after the alleged killings, Mr. Lamarre-Condon had sent messages from Mr. Baird’s phone telling his housemates he was moving to Western Australia.
New South Wales Police have previously said a bullet matching Mr Lamarre-Condon’s work-issued gun was found inside Mr Baird’s house, along with a “significant” amount of blood.
The suspect was charged after taking himself to a Sydney police station on Friday.
The case is believed to be the first suspected murder carried out by a New South Wales police officer in decades, and it has prompted an independent review into police officers’ out-of-hours access to firearms.
Mr. Baird had been a presenter and red carpet reporter on Network 10’s morning show Studio 10 until the program was axed in December, while Mr. Davies was a flight attendant for Qantas.
Mr. Lamarre-Condon joined the police force in 2019 and was previously a celebrity blogger who had met stars including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, and Miley Cyrus.
