Crime & Justice

Australian police may have found bodies of TV presenter, boyfriend

Sydney, Australia, Feb 27 (EFE).- The Australian police said Tuesday they believe they have found the bodies of former TV presenter Jesse Baird and his boyfriend Luke Davis, allegedly murdered last week by a police officer in the southeast of the country.

New South Wales State Police Commissioner Karen Webb said in a press conference that the discovery occurred on a property in the town of Bungonia, about 185 kilometers southwest of Sydney.

“We are very sure we have located Luke and Jesse,” the commissioner said in Sydney, reporting that police have already notified the couple’s relatives of the discovery and will transport them to the crime scene for the formal recognition of the bodies.

Webb also ruled out that these are murders motivated by homophobia since they are thought to be linked to domestic violence.

The discovery of the bodies in Bungonia, where another property was searched Monday, comes after intense searches in the Royal National Park and in a sports field in the Cronulla neighborhood, both more than 26 kilometers north of Sydney.

As part of the investigations into this crime that has shocked Australia, authorities charged police officer Beau Lamarre, 28, who is believed to have been involved with Baird, with two counts of murder Friday after he turned himself in at a Sydney police station.

Police believe that Lamarre killed Baird and Davis with a firearm on Feb. 19 at the home of the former presenter, one of the popular faces of the Australian channel Network 10, in the suburb of Paddington, east of Sydney.

The accused then rented a white van, which has since been seized, to dispose of the bodies of the couple, whose belongings were found Monday last week in a rubbish container in Cronulla, in the south of Sydney.

The murder of Baird and Davis has caused great discomfort in the LGTB+ community and has motivated the organizers of the Mardi Gras parade to celebrate sexual diversity on Saturday night to ask the New South Wales Police to desist from participating with their floats at this event.

Webb said Monday in a statement the media attention of this case and apologized for the poor investigation of crimes against the LGTB+ community between 1970 and 2010.

Police began investigating Wednesday the disappearance of Baird, 26, and Davis, a 29-year-old flight attendant for the Qantas airline, after some of their belongings were found that day in a garbage container in Cronulla. EFE

wat/lds

Related Articles

Back to top button