Australian police find bodies in search for missing couple
Alex Stambaugh, CNN | 2/27/2024, 1:14 p.m.
Australian police have found two bodies in the search for a missing couple allegedly killed by a police officer.
New South Wales Senior Constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, 28, was charged last week with the murders of his former boyfriend Jesse Baird, 26, and Luke Davies, 29.
“We’re very confident that we have located Luke and Jesse,” NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb told a news conference on Tuesday.
Lamarre-Condon had provided information to help locate the bodies, Webb added.
The bodies, which have yet to be examined, were discovered in two surf bags covered in debris on a property in the NSW town of Bungonia, Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said.
Crime scene detectives were at the location investigating, Webb said.
“Each day, each hour was an agonizing wait, so I’m relieved for the families,” she said.
Davies, a flight attendant, and Baird, a former television presenter, were last seen at Baird’s home in the eastern Sydney suburb of Paddington on February 19. Fears for their safety rose after their bloodied belongings were found in a skip container in Cronulla, around 30 kilometers (18 miles) away.
Police previously said that a search of Baird’s home found blood, a “projectile” and a fired cartridge case that was matched to Lamarre-Condon’s firearm.
Police have been investigating the alleged murders for a week but were not able to speak to Lamarre-Condon until Tuesday after he received legal advice, according to CNN affiliate Nine News.
It said that the lead investigator, Chief Inspector Glen Brown, had gone to Silverwater jail for a meeting at 11 a.m. and that by 1 p.m., police in Bungonia had found the bodies.
Lamarre-Condon is due to face court on April 23 and remains in Silverwater jail.