Divers sent to new site in search for Sydney couple
Miranda Forster |
Police divers will continue searching for the bodies of a young Sydney couple at a site in the NSW Southern Tablelands.
NSW Police investigating the alleged murders of former Ten reporter Jesse Baird, 26, and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, 29, set up a crime scene at Hazelton Rd at Bungonia, southeast of Goulburn, on Sunday.
“Divers from the Marine Area Command were called to the scene and have today been assisting with a search at the location,” NSW Police said in a statement on Sunday night.
The search is due to begin early on Monday morning.
Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, a NSW Police officer, has been charged with two counts of murder following the men’s disappearance.
Divers had previously been seen searching a waterway at Lambton, Newcastle.
Police believe the 28-year-old constable was in the Newcastle area the night before he handed himself in at an eastern Sydney police station on Friday.
Lamarre-Condon did not make a bail application when he appeared at Waverley Local Court on Friday and his matter was next set down for April 23 in Downing Centre Local Court.
The couple’s disappearance was deemed suspicious when blood-stained possessions belonging to both of them were found in a skip bin in the southern Sydney suburb of Cronulla on Wednesday.
The discovery led police to Mr Baird’s blood-smeared share house, about 30km away in inner-city Paddington.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb on Sunday asked the community for patience as police work to determine what happened.
“I can reassure Luke and Jesse’s loved ones, and the people of NSW, that we are working around the clock to find those answers,” she said in a statement on Sunday.
Ms Webb extended her “heartfelt condolences” to the families and friends of the missing men and said she shared “the sadness and shock about the alleged nature of Luke and Jesse’s deaths”.
Ms Webb also apologised to the families of gay hate crime victims, after a special inquiry into past investigations found officers were “indifferent, negligent, dismissive or hostile”.
Former Network Ten colleagues of Mr Baird paid their respects on social media while the AFL, for whom he was recently acting as an umpire, said their thoughts were with the men’s families and the umpiring community.
Mourners continue to lay floral tributes outside the Paddington terrace where police allege the murders took place.
Lamarre-Condon, who up until days ago had an active social media presence, joined the police force in 2019.
Photos posted online show the former celebrity blogger posing with dozens of A-listers including Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles.
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