Beau Lamarre-Condon: Jesse Baird and Luke Davies ‘killed with police pistol’
Detectives are scouring locations in NSW as friends pay tribute to Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, allegedly killed by celebrity-fanatic-turned-cop Beau Lamarre-Condon.
Police divers have searched a waterway in the Newcastle suburb of Lambton for evidence after celebrity-fanatic-turned-cop Beau Lamarre-Condon was charged with the murder of the Sydney ex-television presenter Jesse Baird and his boyfriend Luke Davies.
Police allege Constable Lamarre-Condon drove a white Toyota HiAce van to a house in Karoola Road, Lambton, after firing his police-issued pistol at Mr Baird’s Paddington home, allegedly murdering to couple some time on Monday.
Since Friday police have been collecting evidence and photographing items in the street. There are multiple crime scenes between Newcastle and Sydney.
On Friday evening, a source said Lamarre-Condon has not been co-operating with police.
It comes as colleagues and friends of Jesse Baird, who up until the end of last year was a producer and host on Channel 10’s former breakfast program Studio 10, and Luke Davies, a Qantas international flight attendant, began acknowledging the pair following the news they had been allegedly been shot by Lamarre.
Veteran Channel 10 television reporter Hugh Rimington, paid tribute to his colleague on X.
“RIP my beloved young colleague, Jesse … condolences also to the family and friends of Luke Davies. Many tears tonight,” he wrote.
The AFL also paid tribute to Mr Baird, an AFL umpire, saying they were “deeply saddened to learn of the distressing news”.
“The entire AFL family’s thoughts are with both Jesse and Luke’s families, as well as our umpiring and broader team during this very difficult time,” the AFL wrote on X.
Jo Johnson, a friend of Luke Davies, wrote that he was an “incredible human”.
“Like no one I’ve ever met. I will cherish you forever … my god, we’ve had some amazing times together,” Ms Johnson wrote on Facebook.
Qantas is giving support to aircrew “understandably upset at the news”. A Qantas statement said “our thoughts are with family, friends and colleagues of our crew member at this very difficult time”.
Detectives are spending the weekend scouring locations in NSW for the bodies of the couple.
Motive probed
Officers will investigate whether it was Constable Lamarre-Condon’s intense resentment over his recent break-up with Mr Baird that drove him to allegedly enter a home in Paddington, Sydney, this week, fire bullets from his police-assigned Glock, and drive away with the bodies of his ex-partner and his ex-partner’s new boyfriend in the back of a Toyota HiAce.
Homicide Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said on Friday afternoon police would also focus on Constable Lamarre-Condon’s “efforts to conceal” the alleged murders, after it was revealed text messages were sent from Mr Baird’s phone hours after the alleged murder occurred.
Mr Baird and Mr Davies, a Qantas flight attendant, were last seen on Sunday night, before they went back to Mr Baird’s house at Brown St, Paddington, a few blocks from Oxford St and St Vincent’s Hospital.
Constable Lamarre-Condon’s service pistol was fired inside the house at some point during the day on Monday, Superintendent Doherty said, leaving behind a cartridge case later ballistically matched to a NSW police firearm. Police believe Mr Davies and Mr Baird both died in the home. At about 9.30pm, Constable Lamarre-Condon leased a white Toyota HiAce in the southeast Sydney suburb of Mascot. Superintendent Doherty said police would allege that vehicle was used to transport the bodies of the two men from the Paddington home to another location.
Officers were first alerted to the missing couple on Wednesday after their bloodied belongings – including some clothes – were found shoved in a skip-bin behind a Cronulla club. After tracking the belongings back to the Paddington residence, and being confronted with upturned furniture and large amounts of blood, the officers immediately established a crime scene.
Police searched the Balmain home of Constable Lamarre-Condon’s mother and stepfather on Thursday night. On Friday morning, officers travelled to Newcastle after he was seen in the area. By midday on Friday, Constable Lamarre-Condon had handed himself into the Bondi police station, been arrested and charged with two counts of murder. He was said not to be co-operating with detectives. He later fronted the Waverley Local Court. No application for bail was made.
Superintendent Doherty said a natural line of inquiry was to investigate the past lovers of the two men. “This was a very fast moving beast,” Superintendent Doherty said. “We are very quickly looking at all scenarios, keeping an open mind, but an obvious line of inquiry came especially with evidence that was coming through the crime scenes and then the hiring of the van.”
The van was found in the south Sydney suburb of Grays Point, where Constable Lamarre grew up, on Friday afternoon.
Superintendent Doherty said that Constable Lamarre-Condon’s gun was found in a suburban police station safe sometime after the alleged murders occurred on Monday. Asked what he made of text messages being sent from Mr Baird’s phone up until 11.24pm on Tuesday, Superintendent Doherty replied: “Who had attributed use of that phone is still to be established. A lot of information has come to hand. There’s a lot of evidence we still haven’t gone through, that includes phone data, vehicle movements and, most importantly, trying to find the bodies so we can provide those answers.”
Constable Lamarre-Condon, whose mother has been an unsworn NSW Police employee, is understood to have joined the force in 2018, stationed at Surry Hills as a probationary constable. He gained publicity in 2020 when video of him tasering a man in the face during an arrest went viral. He was cleared of wrongdoing.
Constable Lamarre-Condon was spotted outside the house in which US celebrity Kourtney Kardashian was staying in Sydney’s Bellevue Hill last week, attempting to have a photograph taken with her.
In recent weeks Constable Lamarre-Condon, who grew up in the Sutherland Shire, was also spotted in Rose Bay in a Tesla SUV, telling associates he had started a swimsuit line and was about to begin training with the Protection Operations Unit, the unit responsible for the security of politicians, diplomats and other dignitaries.
He made a name for himself in 2012 where he attended airports and premieres to have his photo taken with singers such as Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Adam Lambert and Miley Cyrus, and also ran amateur gossip blogs. In 2014 he “came out” to Lady Gaga, when he threw a note onto the stage during one of her concerts.
Mr Baird, who just months ago was on the couch of news and entertainment show Studio 10, had been due to officiate a practice AFL match on Thursday between Sydney and GWS Giants at Tramway Oval in Moore Park.
A senior staffer at Network Ten, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Mr Baird was a very popular staff member.
“He was enormously loved here,” the colleague said. “And I find it very hard to put that in past tense. He left here when Studio Ten closed up, but my understanding is that he was in talks with the broader (Network) Ten operation.”
The colleague said Mr Baird was “very concerned” about Constable Lamarre-Condon’s behaviour after their relationship ended a couple of months ago.