World

Two bodies found in search for Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies - police sources

18:30 pm on 27 February 2024

Luke Davies, 29, and his partner Jesse Baird, 26. Photo: Supplied / Instagram

Two bodies have been found by the team searching for Sydney couple Luke Davies and Jesse Baird, police say.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb confirmed the discovery this afternoon after investigators established a crime scene at a second property at Bungonia, southwest of Sydney.

Commissioner Webb said that was where the bodies were found.

"Today is an important day in this investigation," she said.

"This afternoon detectives attached to Strike Force Ashfordby have located a second crime scene in Bungonia which is separate [to one] which they had been searching yesterday.

"We are very confident that we have located Luke and Jesse."

Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said police had located "two surf bags" as part of their investigations.

"We allege [they] were used to transport the bodies from the house in Paddington," he said.

Police said they understood the bodies were found near a "fence line, near the entrance to the property" in Bungonia.

"A driveway goes up to a property and a fence line there, and [the human remains were] off the side of the driveway, covered in, an attempt appeared to have been made to cover the bodies with rock and debris," Doherty said.

New South Wales senior constable Beau Lamarre-Condon has been charged with their murders, which police have alleged happened last Monday, 19 February, at Baird's home in Paddington.

Doherty said police would allege that Lamarre-Condon was the "sole person responsible".

Commissioner Webb said the discovery of the bodies "did come with the assistance of the accused".

Police have set up a crime scene at a second rural property at Bungonia in the Southern Tablelands.

Earlier today the search area was also expanded to the Royal National Park in Sydney's south.

Police divers spent four hours scouring dams at a rural property at Bungonia near Goulburn yesterday, while officers searched surrounding farmland.

Doherty said there had been a "relationship" between Baird and Lamarre-Condon.

"My understanding [was that] at some stage it was a relationship. There's been a lot of information, a mountain of information," he said.

"This has been a huge investigation. The scope has been far and ranging."

Doherty said the families of Baird and Davies would travel down to Goulburn.

"Arrangements have been made for the family to travel down to the Goulburn area and we'll provide that ongoing support as we need to," Superintendent Doherty said.

- This story was first published by the ABC.