NSW Police detective investigating alleged double murder reveals Beau Lamarre-Condon jail meeting

Homicide detective Sasha Pinazza has revealed the impossible choice she faced when confronting alleged killer Beau Lamarre-Condon in his Silverwater jail cell.

Homicide Detective Sergeant Sasha Pinazza drove away from Silverwater prison after meeting with alleged double killer Beau Lamarre-Condon, and burst into tears.

It was partly relief for the families of missing men Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29, who would soon get their sons’ bodies back, and partly tears of utter exhaustion.

But for the officer in charge of the state’s most high-profile alleged murder investigation in years, it was also reassurance.

“The day you lose your humanity is the day you should leave the police,” Det. Pinazza said.

“My team knows it’s okay to cry. I cried in the car after leaving the jail, I cried when I met the families.

“It’s healthy to cry.”

Detective Sergeant Sasha Pinazza met with the alleged murderer in jail. Picture: Richard Dobson

Alleged double murderer Beau Lamarre-Condon. Picture: Liam Mendes

Prior to Lamarre-Condon’s meeting with Det. Pinazza, 47, and her colleague Detective Chief Inspector Glen Browne four days after he surrendered to police, investigators were close to - and possibly only hours away from - finding the two bodies.

A forensic retrace of the alleged killer’s movements in the days after he allegedly shot dead the couple inside a Paddington terrace on February 21 with his service Glock had given police vital clues.

In fact, senior police sources told The Daily Telegraph there was an undercurrent of disappointment among some officers that Lamarre-Condon assisted detectives when he did, because it could mean that, if he is convicted of murder, he will likely get a reduced penalty.

Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. Picture: Instagram

But for Det. Pinazza, a 24-year veteran of the NSW Police Force, it is about the families she is fighting for.

So much so, that soon after she faced the media bleary-eyed from working around the clock searching for Luke and Jesse to announce their bodies had been found, she was texting the family of missing Sydney woman Jessica Zrinski.

“I didn’t want them seeing the news that night and (seeing) me on another case,” she said. “I just wanted them to know I hadn’t given up, we still have officers working while I’m elsewhere, and I wanted them to know that.”

Detective Sergeant Sasha Pinazza at NSW Police Force Headquarters in Parramatta. Picture: Richard Dobson

Ms Zrinksi, who was last seen on November 27, 2022 in the passenger seat of a car driving through the Blue Mountains, will play on Det. Pinazza’s mind until she finds the body. Just like all the missing persons cases she works on.

“Every day until you find them, you feel like you’re failing the family,” she said.

When Det Pinazza met the Baird and Davies families two days after their bodies were located inside surfboard bags on a property in Bungonia, she braced for hostility.

“It was extremely difficult because I thought … it could potentially be an adversarial environment,” she said.

“I understood there was community hostility because he (allegedly) breached that trust in the most monumental and heinous way.”

But it was also a significant motivator for Det. Pinazza and her team.

“A police officer (allegedly) involved was devastating for the two victims, their families and for every single police officer who goes to work and does their job with integrity and honesty,” she said.

“And that was a big motivating factor for us … we investigate people no matter who they are, and if you’ve taken a human life, we investigate without bounds or bias”.

A trace of Lamarre-Condon’s movements in the days after he allegedly shot dead the two men inside a Paddington terrace on February 19 lead police to a dam in Bungonia, south of Goulburn. But when a search failed to locate the bodies, Det. Pinazza said it hit her hard.

“When we realised no, they’re not there, it was devastating, it was overwhelming,” she said.

“But we only realistically allow ourselves to experience that momentarily, and that was definitely a dialogue in the office, it was a hurdle but we had to get back on it and find these guys”.

The downtime is minimal in the early days of a homicide investigation.

“You just investigate until you can go no further on that day, and if that means you are at work until 5am then you are at work until 5am.”

On the breaks she had to go home for sleep and a shower, Det Sgt Pinazza said her mind didn’t stop.

“You just want to go back to the job, because at that point, you just want to find Luke and Jesse.

And even after the bodies had been located and the accused was behind bars, Det. Pinazza didn’t take a break to catch her breath.

It was mardi gras weekend, where she was working in a specialist support role, and she wanted to be there to see Sandra Davies march in the parade in celebration of her son Luke.

“I said to her ‘If you are still in Sydney on the weekend, you need to go to mardi gras. It’s truly wonderful, it’s creative, it’s happy … and she said to me “Luke would be so proud”.

“She was so intent on honouring him that she mustered the strength and she did a beautiful job”.

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