- Beau Lamarre-Condon accused of killing Mr Baird and his boyfriend Luke Davies
The lavish lifestyle of the private-jet loving influencer cop accused of murdering Australian TV presenter Jesse Baird and his partner has been revealed.
New South Wales (NSW) Senior Police Constable Beau Lamarre-Condon, 28, who is said to have been in a relationship with Mr Baird, was charged with two counts of murder after the journalist, 26, and his flight attendant partner Luke Davies, 29, disappeared.
Police believe the couple was shot dead in Mr Baird’s £1.5million rented home in the Sydney neighbourhood of Paddington on February 19 before they were stuffed into surfboard bags and transported to a rural property 124 miles away from Sydney.
Lamarre-Condon today revealed the location of the bodies of his alleged victims, ending an almost week-long high-profile search for the remains of Mr Baird and Mr Davies after their bloodied possessions were found in a skip.
The alleged killer had been a celebrity chaser and blogger before joining the police force and painted himself as a wealthy, jet-setting influencer who lived a life of luxury online, posing for pictures onboard of private jets and with luxurious bags worth thousands of pounds.
Photos posted on his now-deleted Instagram show him travelling in private planes sipping champagne next to an Hermès bag (valued at £5k-£31k), gallivanting around Europe in posh hotels, and riding a horse shirtless along a beach in a tropical destination.
Details of Lamarre-Condon’s lavish lifestyle were being pieced together as Mr Barid’s devastated family visited the crime scene in the remote area of Bundonia today. All looked solemn as they spoke to police, with several women wearing sunglasses.
Double-murder suspect Lamarre-Condon had been photographed with scores of stars including Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and Ben Stiller and just this month snapped a picture with Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker after following them in his car.
But it is unclear how the alleged killer accumulated the wealth that funded his exorbitant overseas trips and luxury cars, as he only earned a modest salary as a police officer.
An ex-cop who knew Lamarre-Condon during their time training at the police academy said the source of his wealth was a frequent discussion among his fellow students – and even teachers.
‘When we were making friends at the academy and adding each other on socials, [we saw] he had photos on his social media of him with Louis Vuitton bags and the like – photos with red carpets and him in a private jet,’ they told DailyMail Australia.
The ex-cop said she was aware Lamarre-Condon’s family lived in an expensive area of south Sydney, so she assumed he came from an affluent background.
However, she said Lamarre-Condon had told others he was an ‘influencer or blogger’ and the cash, travel and lavish lifestyle ‘came with the job’.
Lamarre-Condon had a following of about 24,000 followers before his account was shut down, which would have earned him between £5 and £260 for each sponsored post, according to 2023 rates.
A man who went on a date with Lamarre-Condon last year said he, too, was confused by how a junior cop, with an annual salary of between £41,000 and £46,000, could afford lavish holidays and expensive cars.
However, Lamarre-Condon did genuinely seem to be rich. A former acquaintance said he would wear designer clothes and ‘was always getting around with different luxury cars’.
He said the alleged killer cop was driving a Mercedes in 2018 – a year after he graduated from the police academy – but was spotted behind the wheel of a grey Tesla early this month when he chased and snapped a photo with Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker.
‘He was always quite secretive about where the money came from,’ the acquaintance said. ‘There were rumours he must have had a rich boyfriend.’
A murder investigation was launched on Wednesday last week when the couple’s bloodstained possessions, including a phone, wallet, credit cards and a set of keys, were found in a skip 19 miles from Mr Baird’s house.
Ballistics tests showed a projectile found at the home matched a pistol Lamarre-Condon signed out of a police gun safe on Thursday, February 15, and returned on Tuesday, February 20.
Police initially suspected Mr Baird had killed Davies after messages from his phone to his housemates told them he was moving across the country to the west coast city of Perth and asking them to put his belongings in storage.
Police allege Lamarre-Condon sent the messages to divert suspicion after Mr Davies died.
Police said yesterday morning that Lamarre-Condon had made ‘partial admissions to a female acquaintance’ the day after the alleged killings, according to NSW Police Force Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson.
Police allege the angle grinder was used to sever a padlock on a gate at the property before being replaced with the one bought at the hardware store.
Police allege Lamarre-Condon then disappeared in a rented van for half an hour, leaving the acquaintance on her own before returning to pick her up.
They returned to Sydney, but police allege the suspect bought weights at 11pm that night before driving back to Bungonia again, where they allege he may have then moved the bodies to a new location.
‘I can indicate that at 11pm that evening, weights were purchased from a department store by the accused and it is believed that he returned to that rural property overnight and during that evening, having acquired also two torches from the acquaintance,’ Mr Hudson said.
Lamarre-Condon was seen leaving the Bungonia area at about 4.30am the following day, police allege. He then allegedly travelled to the house of another acquaintance to use their hose to clean his rented van.
On Tuesday, February 20, Lamarra-Condon reportedly told the female acquaintance, who was described as a ‘long-term friend of the accused’ and an ‘innocent agent’, that he was involved in the death of two individuals.
But alarm was only raised after Mr Baird’s and Mr Davies’ bloodied possessions were found in a skip in the southern Sydney area.
The celebrity chaser-turned-police officer is said to have been booked in for an operation on his stomach last Tuesday, 24 hours after Mr Baird, 26, and Mr Davies, 29, were allegedly killed.
Lamarre-Condon is believed to have gone into hospital for day surgery last Tuesday – a day after the alleged shooting, Australian Radio 2GB reported.
The day after the surgery, Lamarre-Condon is alleged to have driven to Bungonia in an apparent bid to dispose of the bodies at one of several dams.
After this, police say he drove the van to Newcastle, 102 miles north of Sydney, to the home of police constable friend Renee Fortuna, where he allegedly borrowed a hose to clean the vehicle.
Early on Friday morning he returned to Sydney where he later handed himself into Bondi Police Station.
His rented van, which was caught on CCTV outside Mr Baird’s home on Monday night, was found in bush land in Bungonia last Friday.
This comes after the heartbroken family of Jesse Baird have arrived at the remote Australian bushland grave after cops searching for the missing TV star and his boyfriend found two bodies hidden in surfboard bags following a tip-off from the alleged killer.
The grief-stricken relatives of the entertainment journalist, 26, arrived at the crime scene in Bungonia, about 124 miles south-west of Sydney, in several cars as the sun set in Australia today.
Two cars escorted by police were driven into the crime scene in Bugonia as relatives arrived. Four of Mr Baird’s family members, seated in a blue car, were followed by another relative travelling alone in a black vehicle.
After arriving at the scene, officers took the group to the location where the couple’s bodies were found inside surf bags, covered in dirt and rocks, by a fence line in shrubbery.
Relatives spent about 15 minutes with Mr Baird’s body before driving away from the scene.
Meanwhile in Sydney, shattered friends of Mr Baird and Mr Davies gathered at Bronte Beach for a vigil.
‘We are very confident we have located Luke and Jesse,’ said the head of NSW police Karen Webb, noting the families of the two victims had received the news with relief and sadness.
‘This information did come with the assistance of the accused,’ Webb added.
This morning around 11am, Lamarre-Condon finally agreed to help police from his prison cell and told detectives where they would find the men’s remains, 20 minutes away from where police searched on Monday.
The grisly discovery at the property in Bungonia, a two-hour drive away from Sydney, follows police divers scouring several dams at another property nearby yesterday.
An earlier search of dams in the rural region of Bungonia on Monday was fruitless. ‘I am exhausted, I’ve barely eaten or slept,’ said Detective Sergeant Sasha Pinazza, the officer in charge of the investigation.
‘We went home last night, extremely deflated. But it’s not in our nature to give up. We rallied again this morning and have come across a wonderful result for the families.’
It’s understood the bodies were not in water when they were found today. The surf bags were located close to a fence-line, partially hidden by rocks and debris.
‘Whilst this news may bring some solace to the families, I know this will be incredibly heartbreaking for them,’ Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said. ‘Our sympathies are with them.’
Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty added: ‘About 1pm today, homicide squad detectives attended a location [in] Bungonia – about 20 minutes from the original search location – where they have located what they believe are the remains of Luke and and Jesse.
‘There were two surf bags that have been found, and some debris and other items of interest that (were) located.
‘We will allege he acted alone and he is the sole person responsible for the murders of Luke and Jesse. We will allege he is the sole person responsible for placing the bodies of Luke and Jesse at the current location.
He added: ‘Today it’s obviously a mixed emotion for the families – very sad day for them and we pass our condolences on to the Davies and the Baird families.’
The bodies of the couple have yet to be formally identified and a post-mortem will be held to confirm the cause of death, police said.
Forensics teams will spend the night examining the site, which was identified after accused double-murderer Lamarre-Condon disclosed the location to police earlier today after seeking legal advice.
Commissioner Webb said detectives were led to the location of the bodies on Tuesday with the help of Lamarre-Condon after he was questioned in prison this morning.
She explained: ‘I’d like to say, also, that this information did come with the assistance of the accused, for which we’re very grateful and I’m sure the families are very grateful.’
But a grieving friend of Mr Baird accused Commissioner Webb of using inappropriate language to describe accused murderer Lamarre-Condon during her ‘trainwreck’ press conference.
Mitch Swanson wrote on social media: ‘Saying how GRATEFUL they are to [Lamarre-Condon] for revealing information is just another blow to his family and friends.
‘He deserves no form of thanks at all. The police handling of this is an absolute trainwreck.’
Mr Swanson later added that suggesting family and friends of Mr Baird were ‘grateful’ for Lamarre-Condon revealing the location was ‘a f***ed up thing to say’.
While police said Lamarre-Condon was in a relationship with Mr Baird that ended last year, one of the TV presenter’s close friends dismissed these suggestions last night.
‘Jesse briefly had an encounter with Beau. He was not his ex-boyfriend,’ TV producer Isaac Muller told the ABC’s 7.30 show. ‘They were never going out.’
Corey-Dean Thorpe, a good friend of Mr Baird’s who was previously in a relationship with him for five years, also denied the rumours Mr Baird and Lamarre-Condon were lovers.
He told DailyMail Australia that Lamarre-Condon had feelings for Mr Baird that were not reciprocated, and that Baird was eventually forced to end their friendship when the serving NSW Police officer posted videos on Instagram falsely suggesting they were a couple.
Last November, Mr Thorpe even assisted Mr Baird in drafting a text message to Lamarre-Condon telling the senior constable he had overstepped the boundaries of their friendship and they should no longer see each other.
The text concluded: ‘I would appreciate it if you could refrain from contacting me.’
Many shared their condolences online or attended a vigil for Mr Baird and Mr Davies in Sydney.
Mr Baird, alongside being a presenter for Channel 10, worked as a goal umpire in the Australian Football League (AFL). Following the discovery of Mr Baird’s body, the AFL released a statement in tribute to the much-loved official.
‘Jesse will be fondly remembered for his vibrant, fun-loving personality, his professionalism and his commitment to the next generation of young umpires through his mentorship of State League umpires, most importantly he will be remembered for the great, caring person that he was,’ AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said.
‘The entire AFL family extend our deepest sympathies to both Jesse and Luke’s families as well as our umpiring and broader team during this very difficult time.’
Mr Davies reportedly brought his fellow crew members to tears with his kindness on one of his last flights before his death.
Just three weeks ago, Mr Davies was on a flight from Sydney to Singapore alongside a dying man with dementia who was travelling to Switzerland with his wife to pay on final visit to his son.
The caring flight attendant spent the entire eight-and-a-half hour journey – including his break – with the man and his wife as they flew first-class.
‘The wife had told him [her husband] had severe dementia, and she was really saddened by it because she kept saying he was the most beautiful husband and kindest man, and she was losing him to this cruel disease,’ Qantas colleague Brooke Walters told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘She was getting exhausted because every 30 seconds he was losing his memory, like a goldfish, and Luke took it upon himself to care for them constantly.’
Ms Walters recalled how her friend made what should have been an extremely stressful experience as comfortable as possible. She also noted his love for travelling and how he was a joy to be around.
The couple’s deaths have shocked many Australians, notably within the LGBTQ community.
Organisers of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras asked police not to join the annual parade this Saturday, one of the city’s biggest festive events.
People needed ‘space to grieve’ for the couple, they said in a statement, with LGBTQ communities across Australia ‘devastated’.
The state’s police chief said officers had taken part in Mardi Gras for 20 years.
‘I would hate to see that this is the year we are excluded because of the actions of one person that is not gay-hate related,’ Webb said.
‘That would be a real travesty for this organisation to be excluded.’
Local media said negotiations were underway between police and parade organisers, with one option under discussion being to allow police to take part out of uniform.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said relations with the police had improved since the first Mardi Gras parade in 1978 ended with dozens of arrests.
‘But I understand that the queer community in Sydney in particular, are grieving what is an enormous tragedy,’ Albanese said.
‘My heart goes out to those who are grieving, from the family and friends of these two men who’ve really suffered.’
