Bodies found in search for missing Sydney duo

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - SYDNEY — Australian police say two bodies have been found during the search for missing Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

"We are very confident that we have located Luke and Jesse," New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Karen Webb said.

Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, a police officer who once dated TV presenter Baird, was earlier charged with murder.

The bodies were discovered on a rural property in the town of Bungonia.

Police said that after initially refusing to cooperate with the investigation, Lamarre-Condon finally disclosed where the two bodies were located on Tuesday morning.

Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said the remains were found "near the entrance to the property" and that attempts had been made "to cover the bodies with rock and debris".

He added that police believe two "surf bags" were used to transport the deceased couple in a white van from Baird's inner city Paddington home, where it is believed they were killed.

Investigators found a bullet matchingLamarre-Condon's work-issued gun there last week, along with a "significant" amount of blood and upturned furniture.

Lamarre-Condon, who appeared in court on Friday and was refused bail, has not commented on the charges against him. He first joined the police force in 2019 and was previously a celebrity blogger.

Police began focusing their efforts on the Bungonia property — some two hours south of Sydney — after learning Lamarre-Condon had visited it in the white van believed to be carrying the pair's bodies with an acquaintance last Wednesday.

After severing a lock on a gate, Lamarre-Condon then left the female acquaintance there before driving the van onto the property and returning 30 minutes later, police say.

The case — which has gripped Australia — is believed to be the first suspected murder carried out by a New South Wales police officer in decades, and it has prompted a review into the out-of-hours access officers have to their firearms.

It has also led organizers of Sydney's iconic Mardi Gras parade to uninvite NSW police from this year's march, a decision which has sparked fierce debate online and disappointment from police.

Sydney's Mardi Gras parade has a complex history of both LGBTQ+ activism and police brutality after the first march in 1978 resulted in dozens of people being beaten and arrested by local officers.

In the decades since though it has been a unifying event, with uniformed police taking part every year since 1998.

Tributes have flooded in for Baird, a former presenter and red carpet reporter, and Davis, who worked as a flight attendant for Qantas.

"Obviously Jesse and Luke were very much an active part of the community and I look at their photos online and know they had a great life," Commissioner Webb said. — BBC