{"id":919167,"date":"2026-10-07T08:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919167\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T08:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:04:12","slug":"detective-breaks-down-in-court-as-she-recalls-finding-beau-lamarre-condons-alleged-murder-victims-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919167\/","title":{"rendered":"Detective breaks down in court as she recalls finding Beau Lamarre-Condon\u2019s alleged murder victims | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"

A detective has broken down in court while describing the moment she found the bodies of two men allegedly murdered by former police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.<\/p>\n

Jesse Baird, 26, and his new boyfriend Luke Davies, 29, were shot dead in a Sydney<\/a> terrace in February 2024.<\/p>\n

Lamarre-Condon, Baird\u2019s ex and a then-police officer, has pleaded not guilty to murder, arguing the men died in two separate violent struggles after he entered the home disguised as a food delivery rider.<\/p>\n

His subsequent efforts to dispose of their bodies at Bungonia \u2013 200km south of Sydney \u2013 were indicative of his panic about the unexpected deaths, his lawyer has said.<\/p>\n

A detective who co-ordinated a search of Cella Farm, where Lamarre-Condon allegedly tried unsuccessfully to sink the bodies in a dam, told the alleged murderer\u2019s trial how she eventually found the remains of the two slain men eight days after the shooting.<\/p>\n

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Detective Senior Constable Christine Abela had been involved in searching the farm, where crime scene officers discovered a padlock had been cut, the jury heard.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege the lock was cut with an angle grinder Lamarre-Condon had asked his friend to buy on the drive from Sydney.<\/p>\n

Concrete blocks and gym weights were found at the edge of a dam on the farm, the jury was told.<\/p>\n

On 27 February, Abela was diverted to a Greek monastery about 20km away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a strong smell as soon as I got out of the car,\u201d she told a NSW supreme court jury on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scent of a decomposing body.\u201d<\/p>\n

The detective became emotional as prosecutor Brett Hatfield SC took her through her memories of the odour becoming stronger as she approached two blue and silver surfboard bags.<\/p>\n

The bags were covered with sticks, branches and stones, the detective said.<\/p>\n

\"EvidenceEvidence and testimony in week two of Beau Lamarre-Condon\u2019s trial \u2013 video<\/p>\n

The prosecution alleges Lamarre-Condon became infatuated with Baird after they broke off contact in November 2023, resolving to murder him.<\/p>\n

However, Lamarre-Condon\u2019s close friend Nicole Harvell told the court on Wednesday she could not remember any conversation with the ex-officer about Baird after the pair broke up for the final time.<\/p>\n

That was despite her being in almost daily contact with the now-31-year-old.<\/p>\n

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Senior Constable Harvell recalled trying to contact her friend when she saw media reports that he was under suspicion for the two men\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck Beau, are you ok?\u201d she texted to Lamarre-Condon\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n

She never received a reply.<\/p>\n

The sworn officer maintained under cross-examination the accused killer had months earlier told her about enlisting his mother to help him lie to Baird.<\/p>\n

Lamarre-Condon posted an Instagram story with a bunch of flowers and the caption: \u201cWhen he\u2019s in Melbourne but still sends you these.\u201d<\/p>\n

But publication was restricted to select friends that did not include Baird.<\/p>\n

The photo was designed to imply Baird sent flowers to the accused, despite the pair not being in a relationship at the time, Harvell said.<\/p>\n

When Baird discovered the ruse, Lamarre-Condon spent $160 on a bouquet identical to the photo to lie to Baird, the officer\u2019s friend said.<\/p>\n

Lamarre-Condon then sent a photo to Baird showing his mother with the fresh bouquet.<\/p>\n

The bouquet had a handwritten note to imply his mother had been the intended recipient and they were from her partner, who was in Melbourne, the jury heard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recall the accused telling me his mother had written that note,\u201d Harvell said.<\/p>\n

The trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A detective has broken down in court while describing the moment she found the bodies of two men…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-919167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}