Police divers in Australia have been searching inland waterways for the bodies of a same-sex couple allegedly shot dead in Sydney a week earlier by a jilted police officer lover with his service pistol.
Police allege former television reporter Jesse Baird, 26, and his flight attendant partner Luke Davies, 29, were shot dead in Mr Baird’s shared house in the Sydney suburb of Paddington on Monday last week, New South Wales Police deputy commissioner David Hudson said.
Neighbours reported hearing one or more gunshots.
Senior-constable Beau Lamarre-Condon was charged on Friday with the murders of both. He has not entered a plea or applied for release on bail.
Lamarre-Condon, 28, had been in a relationship with Mr Baird that ended late last year.
Police suspect that Lamarre-Condon took the bodies in a rented van to a rural property in Bungonia, near Goulburn, around 125 miles south-west of Sydney on Wednesday.
Police allege he returned to the property on Thursday after buying weights from a department store that detectives suspect were used to sink the bodies in a waterway.
Police divers searched a number of reservoirs on farms in the Bungonia region on Monday.
“It’s our number one priority to try and locate Jesse and Luke to give the families some solace,” Mr Hudson told reporters.
Lamarre-Condon was following legal advice by refusing to speak to police, Mr Hudson said.
A bullet case found in Mr Baird’s home matched the pistol Lamarre-Condon signed out of a police gun safe on Thursday February 15 and returned on Tuesday February 20.
Police commissioner Karen Webb said the rules that allowed the police officer to allegedly use the gun in a violent crime while he was off-duty were being reviewed.
“It’s a failure if someone has used their service firearm in the manner that’s alleged, which is why it’s necessary to have a review,” Ms Webb said.
Police began suspecting a homicide on Wednesday when the couple’s bloodstained possessions including a phone, wallet, credit cards and a set of keys were found in a rubbish container 19 miles from the crime scene.
Police initially suspected Mr Baird had killed Mr Davies after messages from Mr Baird’s 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 now allege Lamarre-Condon sent the messages to divert suspicion after Mr Davies died.
Lamarra-Condon 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.