A serving police officer has been charged with murdering an ex-Network Ten reporter and his flight attendant partner as detectives continue their desperate search for the missing men’s bodies.
Beaumont Lamarre-Condon, who goes by the name Beau Lamarre, handed himself in at Bondi police station in Sydney’s east soon after 10.30am on Friday.
By 3pm, the 28-year-old senior constable was charged with two counts of murder following the disappearance of former Ten reporter Jesse Baird, 26, and Qantas attendant Luke Davies, 29.
The pair have not been heard from since Monday, triggering a police search for Lamarre-Condon, who previously dated Mr Baird.
The officer was initially not expected to appear in Waverley Local Court on Friday afternoon after his lawyer advised he was undertaking a forensic procedure.
Minutes later, Lamarre-Condon appeared in the dock, dressed in a black T-shirt and lpants.
He did not make a bail application but asked the magistrate to repeat the date of his next appearance, which was set down for April 23 in Downing Centre Local Court.
Lamarre-Condon was then led away by police officers.
The disappearance of the men has been dubbed suspicious since 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.
Homicide Squad Commander Danny Doherty said investigators found a discharged gunshot round at the home and that it had been matched to a NSW Police firearm.
CCTV footage captured from a neighbouring property showed a white van outside Mr Baird’s house shortly before the couple disappeared.
The van, a Toyota HiAce, was hired in Mascot on Monday night and Detective Superintendent Doherty said police will allege it was used to move the bodies of the two men to an unknown location after they were killed at the Paddington house.
Detectives have appealed for information about the movements of the van, which has NSW registration CW82PM, since Monday evening.
“We’re trying to get a timeline of movements, the locations where it’s travelled and anyone who’s been seen in the van from Monday night to this morning,” Det Supt Doherty said.
Officers also executed a search warrant and seized a number of items from a home at Balmain, in Sydney’s inner west, about 11.30pm on Thursday.
Neighbours heard shouting at Mr Baird’s Paddington home on Monday, before a large amount of blood was found at the property on Wednesday.
Det Supt Doherty said the charged officer had been in a relationship with Mr Baird until a few months ago.
Mr Baird’s family and friends had reported “worrying behaviour” in the relationship, but it had never been reported to police, he added.
The missing man’s WhatsApp account was active as late as Tuesday night, but police are unsure who had the phone at the time.
“Who actually had attributed use of that phone we’re still establishing,” Det Supt Doherty said.
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.
During a 2014 Lady Gaga concert, Lamarre-Condon threw a note at the singer describing her as his “saviour”.
Gaga read the note aloud, which said: “through your music, you have helped and will continue to set free many people … Gaga, you’re not just my idol but literally my saviour”.
Footage of the recently graduated officer tasering a man at close range in Darlinghurst went viral in 2020, prompting an internal review.
An investigation later cleared him of any wrongdoing.
Mr Baird previously worked as a presenter on the morning program Studio 10 and was recently acting as a goal umpire for AFL and VFL games.
Photos from his and Mr Davies’ social media accounts show the couple together at a Pink concert in Sydney during the week before their disappearance.
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