TV star Jesse Baird's murder - everything we know from cop suspect to grim clues
The disappearance of Australian TV presenter Jesse Baird and his boyfriend Luke Davies has sent shockwaves through Australia and much of the world.
Their bodies have now been found days after the couple were reported as missing. Mr Baird's ex-partner - serving police officer and former celebrity blogger Beaumont Lamarre-Condon - has been charged with double murder.
Detectives have today said that he's revealed the locations of their remains. The case has left the people of New South Wales stunned, with it being the first case of suspected murder carried out by a police officer in decades, prompting a review into officers' access to firearms out of hours. Here, The Mirror takes a look at what we know so far about the murders...
Australian TV star Jessie Baird and his partner Luke Davies have been killed (jessebairddd/Instagram)On Monday, February 19, gunshots were reportedly heard by neighbours at 9.50am at Jesse's home in Paddington, says local news outlet Nine. An emergency services call was made from the victim's phone minutes later, however it disconnected before anything was said.
A search was launched for the Channel Ten star Baird and his boyfriend Davies when blood and a bullet casing were found at their home. Lamarre-Condon - who joined the police force in 2019 - quickly became the target of the detectives' manhunt after police learned he once dated Baird.
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Before becoming an officer, the ex-boyfriend was a celeb blogger who had met stars including Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and Miley Cyrus. New South Wales Police said a bullet matching Lamarre-Condon's work-issued gun was found at the crime scene and he did not turn up to work on February 20.
Australian police officer Beaumont Lamarre-Condon who has been charged with two counts of murder (INSTAGRAM/UNPIXS)
Beau Lamarre-Condon was a celebrity blogger before he became a police officer (youtube/@)On the Wednesday, police seized blood-stained clothes, a phone and credit cards from an industrial bin in Cronulla, 17 miles away from the crime scene, and a number of items from a house. Police are confident they have found the bodies of Jesse and Luke at a property in the town of Bungonia, four hours south of Sydney.
By the Thursday, police confirmed the disappearance of the couple and Det Supt Daniel Doherty revealed they had been hunting a white van - believed to have been used to "transport the bodies and dispose of the bodies" - and that the vehicle was finally located on Friday morning.
It was found in the southern Sydney suburb of Grays Point, near the Royal National Park. At 10.39am on the Friday, Lamarre-Condon handed himself in at Bondi police station. He was arrested, transferred to Waverley Police Station and in the afternoon charged with the murders of Mr Baird and Mr Davies.
NSW Police officer stands at a roadblock on Hazelton Rd, Bungonia in the Southern Tableland (MICK TSIKAS/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Search teams including divers had been scouring the rural area around Bungonia for days, but identified a new potential crime scene over the weekend when police began focussing their search on the Bungonia property.
On Tuesday, February 27, after previously refusing to cooperate, the senior constable allegedly told police the location of the bodies. In a press conference hours later, commissioner Karen Webb announced: "We are very confident that we have located Luke and Jesse."
Police say the corpses found "near the entrance to the property" had been partly hidden under rocks and debris. Two surf bags were also located that were allegedly used to transport the victims' bodies.
Lamarre-Condon, who appeared in court on Friday and was refused bail, has not commented on the charges against him. His case has been adjourned until April 23 with police citing a need to have time to prepare evidence. Outside court last week, his lawyer didn't answer questions.
Mr Baird had been a presenter and red carpet reporter on Network 10's morning show Studio 10 until the programme was axed in December last year. His boyfriend Mr Davies was a flight attendant for the airline Qantas. There are several photos of the happy couple on their respective social media pages which have been flooded with messages of condolences since their disappearance.
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