Human remains found in search for murdered Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies
Human remains were located in dark-coloured board bags, covered in debris in a bush grave during the search for murdered Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies as their devastated families arrived at the scene. Here’s what we know so far.
NSW
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In dark-coloured surfboard bags covered loosely in rocks and debris, the bodies of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were found in a bush grave after their accused killer Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon gave police the clues they needed find the couple.
Within two hours of NSW Police homicide detectives meeting with Lamarre-Condon, 28, and his lawyer at Silverwater prison on Tuesday morning, police raced to Jerrara Rd at Bungonia, in the Southern Tablelands, armed with the clues they’d been given, and located the two bodies they had worked around the clock to find.
One of the first calls was to the dead couples’ families who were waiting in Sydney for the news which was met with “mixed emotions”.
On a day when the state’s top cop Commissioner Karen Webb was already under fire for faux pas during media interviews, she thanked alleged killer Lamarre-Condon.
“This information did come with the assistance of the accused for which we are very grateful and I’m sure the families are very grateful,” Commissioner Webb said.
She also thanked the dogged work of homicide investigators and the public who had passed on every bit of information they had to come to this result.
“It has been a huge investigation and I’m very proud of the work that all the detectives and police across this organisation have put into this investigation to get where we have come today.”
The final resting place of Mr Baird, 26, and Mr Davies, 29, on a fence line at a private farm was about 20 minutes from where a fruitless search was carried out on Monday under the belief by police that Lamarre-Condon had disposed of the bodies in a dam at a private property on Hazelton Rd sometime last Wednesday night.
A tired and emotional lead detective sergeant Sascha Pinazza, who said she hadn’t slept or eaten for days and apologised for not having had media training, said she was grateful to give Mr Baird and Mr Davies’ families some answers.
Det Sgt Pinazza, who headed up the team of homicide detectives tasked with investigating the alleged murders and finding the bodies, admitted she was disappointed when police were forced to pack up the first search without finding any trace of the pair.
“We went home last night extremely deflated, but it’s not in our nature to give up, so we rallied again this morning and have come across a wonderful result for the families,” she said, while choking back tears.
Mr Baird and Mr Davies were allegedly shot dead by Lamarre-Condon with his police-issued Glock inside a Paddington terrace about 9.50am on February 19.
Their deaths were only discovered when blood-soaked clothing and personal items were found dumped in a skip at Cronulla two days later, prompting a massive missing person probe which quickly turned to alleged double murder.
At 11am on Tuesday, detectives met with Lamarre-Condon inside the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Sydney’s west, where he has been held in custody since he was charged last Friday and refused bail.
Lamarre-Condon had obtained a lawyer who agreed to detectives’ request to meet.
“(Police) attended Silverwater jail and spoke to the accused.
As a result of that, he provided assistance to the investigation and was able to provide a location of where Luke and Jesse were,” Homicide boss detective superintendent Danny Doherty said.
“And as a result of that, about 1pm today, homicide squad detectives attended a location at Bungonia, about 20 minutes from the original search location, where they have located what they believe are the remains of Luke and Jesse.
The bodies were hidden inside surfboard bags which police will allege they were placed in at Mr Baird’s Paddington terrace on Monday, and used to transport them in the back of a rented Toyota Hiace van 200 km from Sydney.
Supt Doherty said some “items of significance” were also found along with the bodies in the bags and that an attempt appeared to have been made to conceal them with “rocks and debris”.
“A driveway goes up to a property and a fence line there and it’s off the side of the driveway,” he said of the bush grave on Jerrara Rd.
Under the devastated gaze of their families who rushed to the area when the bodies were found, crime scene specialists and the NSW Coroner examined the bodies.
Supt Doherty said the condition would not be known until that process had been undertaken, but he confirmed police were still confident Lamarre-Condon was the only person responsible for the alleged murders.
“We will allege he acted alone and he is the sole person responsible for putting the bodies of Luke and Jesse at the current location,’ Supt Doherty said.
“What we’ll allege is that the accused went to the first property at Bungonia, as has been outlined, then he did go back to the property which was the first property that was searched and moved the bodies to the current location.”
Police allege Lamarre-Condon got “spooked” when the female acquaintance who travelled with him on Wednesday may have become suspicious after he left her at the gate for 30 minutes and drove onto the property where police say he initially dumped the bodies.
NSW Premier Chris Minns passed on his sympathy to the Baird and Davies families, and to everyone who had been so invested in the tragedy.
“For everyone who loved Luke and Jesse, this has been one of the toughest weeks imaginable,” Mr Minns said.
“Our heart goes out to everybody hurting right now.”
“We only hope they can find some peace and closure in the certainty of this sad news”.
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