Human remains have been found in the search for a missing Sydney couple, police in Australia said Tuesday, four days after an off-duty police officer who is said to have dated one of them was charged with their murders.
The New South Wales Police Force said in a statement that the bodies were discovered after investigators spoke with “a 28-year-old man” at “a correctional facility.”
Officers subsequently went to a second property in Bungonia, a town 124 miles southwest of Sydney, where “human remains were located,” the statement said.
“While the bodies are yet to be formally identified, they are believed to be that of Luke Davies and Jesse Baird,” the statement added. “A post-mortem examination will be conducted to confirm the cause of death.”
Last week, New South Wales police said a 28-year-old senior constable had been charged with two counts of murder in the disappearance of Baird, 26, a former television reporter, and his partner, Davies, 29, a flight attendant.
Local media identified the officer as Beau Lamarre, and a Beaumont Lamarre-Condon appeared Friday at a local court, where he was denied bail, according to online records. Lamarre-Condon is said to have dated Baird until recently.
The bodies were found in surfboard bags that police allege the killer used to carry them from Baird’s home in Sydney last week, Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said, according to The Associated Press.
Police suspected Lamarre-Condon first dumped the bodies last week at a property that officers later searched. But fearing that a traveling companion might reveal where they went, he returned alone on Thursday to move the bodies, according to the AP, citing police. The acquaintance, who has not been named, was unaware they were transporting bodies and was not an accomplice, police said.
Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty said police also found two surf bags at the scene that they allege were used to transport the bodies from Baird’s home in the Paddington area of Sydney, where the two men are believed to have been killed on Feb. 19.
The bodies were found near the entrance to the Bungonia property, and an attempt appeared to have been made to cover them with rocks and debris, Doherty said.
Organizers of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade, which is set to take place Saturday, have requested that New South Wales police not march in it as planned, saying it “could add to the distress within our communities.”
“Our community needs space to grieve the loss of Jesse and Luke who, before this tragedy, would have been here celebrating with us at the Festival,” they said in a statement Monday, adding that the officer accused in their deaths had participated in the parade in the past.
