INTRODUCING: The Case of Jesse and Luke

More than two years after the deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in Sydney, the trial of their accused killer Beau Lamarre-Condon is set to begin. The former police officer is facing two counts of murder and one charge of aggravated break and enter. Sydney reporter Jamie McKinnell joins Stocky to share the key details in the case so far. If you have any questions you'd like Jamie and Stocky to answer in future episodes, please email [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. The Case Of is the follow-up to the hit podcast Mushroom Case Daily, and all episodes of that show will remain available in the back catalogue of The Case Of.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  A killing in the night.

• 0:01Speaker 01

  Where's Simone?

• 0:03Speaker 00

  Twenty years later, police still haven't solved the case, and I want to know why.

• 0:09Speaker 02

  Did you kill Simone Swire? No, never.

• 0:13Speaker 03

  If you lied about one thing, you may lie about other things.

• 0:16Speaker 04

  Just because someone's lying doesn't make them a murderer.

• 0:19Speaker 00

  I'm Richard Baker. Join me to investigate Lies in Lismore, the new season of Unravel. Search for Unravel on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:29Speaker 05

  ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more.

• 0:45Stephen Stockwell?

  In early 2024, Sydney held its breath for a week while police searched for two missing men who were, unfortunately, eventually found dead. Now the trial of the former cop accused of murdering them is about to start. I'm Stephen Stockwell, introducing the case of Jessie and Luke. He's accused of shooting Jessie Baird and Luke Davies with his Service firearm. Police now allege Constable Beau Lamar Condon murdered the couple at a home in Paddington.

• 1:13Speaker 01

  This is just a terrible incident that's occurred here, the loss of these two young men. Now this is Mardi Gras time, and yet it's a community in mourning.

• 1:23Speaker 07

  The pain is ongoing. We don't have a lot of answers that we would love to have, just to help bring closure and bring peace.

• 1:31Stephen Stockwell?

  I remember seeing Jessie Baird and Luke Davies' faces on the news in early 2024, two smiling young men who police allege were killed by someone in their own ranks, Senior Constable Beau Lamar Condon. His murder trial starts on Monday, and in court when it gets underway will be ABC Legal Affairs reporter Jamie McKinnell, who will also be joining us throughout the trial to unpack all of the evidence as presented to the court. Welcome, Jamie.

• 1:57Speaker 03

  Thanks. Hey, Stocky.

• 1:58Stephen Stockwell?

  Really appreciate you joining us for this series, Jamie. It is quite a harrowing story, and it's a story that, you know, had quite a significant impact on Sydney, am I right?

• 2:10Speaker 03

  Yeah, it had a huge impact at the time. So back in February 2024, it was in the lead up to the Mardi Gras season. So this is a period of the year where Sydney is really gearing up for what is quite a joyous sort of celebration time of the year, and especially for the LGBTQ community. And because at the time, this was sort of, it first started as a missing person case and involved two young gay men who were a couple, it had a huge impact, not only on the community in Sydney, but particularly on the LGBTQ community, especially because of what time of year it happened. It sort of cast a shadow over Mardi Gras during that period.

• 2:50Stephen Stockwell?

  Hmm. Do you remember when you heard about it?

• 2:54Speaker 03

  The way we came across it was in the same way that newsrooms become aware of a lot of big court cases, way before they even come before a judge. It was through police issuing information about something that they were investigating. New South Wales Police put out a public appeal for information, and they said they were trying to locate two men aged 26 and 29 in Sydney. Those two people were Jessie Baird and Luke Davies. And over a period of days, following that public appeal for assistance, we learned a lot more about the situation.

• 3:25Stephen Stockwell?

  Yeah, because it did unfold over the course of, I think, just over a week. Is that right?

• 3:30Speaker 03

  Yeah, so there was definitely a period where a lot of things came to light about the circumstances and what police were investigating. Jessie Baird and Luke Davies were last seen at a pre-Mardi Gras party. It was that time of year in Sydney where things were sort of getting ready for, you know, the Mardi Gras period. But at that point, things started to become more public when New South Wales Police said that these items had been found in a skip bin in Cronulla, which is a suburb in Sydney's south in the Sutherland Shire. And those items, they said, included possessions of Mr. Baird and Mr. Davies. And this was all on February 21, on the Wednesday of that week. So police said that that led them

• 4:14Speaker 03

  to go and investigate in Jessie Baird's home on Brown Street in Paddington, which is in the city's east. And this search for the two men continued for a while. On the Friday, the 23rd, Beau Lamar Condon, who was at that time a serving police officer, was arrested and charged with two counts of murder. But it wasn't until the following week, on the 27th of February, that two bodies were found at this rural area at a place called Bungonia, which is about 200 kilometres south of the Sydney CBD. And police said that they were found in surf bags.

• 4:47Stephen Stockwell?

  Okay, right. So we have, yeah, sort of nine, 10 days where, you know, this search is ongoing and police are trying to unpack what's going on and find out what's what's sort of happened in that situation before finding Jessie's and Luke's bodies. What can you tell us about Jessie and Luke?

• 5:04Speaker 03

  Well, Jessie and Luke were boyfriends. Jessie was a television presenter. He worked for Channel 10. And Luke was a flight attendant who worked for Qantas. And we also know that Beau Lamar Condon had previously been in some kind of relationship with Mr. Baird at some point. Now, Stocky, that's about all of the detail I think we can go into for now. No doubt this evidence that will be adduced during the trial will shed a lot more light on the nature and timing of things like relationships at different points that might become pretty important later on in the trial.

• 5:36Stephen Stockwell?

  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, yeah, at the point we're at of this trial, you know, jury being kind of selected for it on Monday, a very sensitive time. So we don't want to give away or talk about anything that may be prejudicial. So, yeah, need to play it very safe at this point. What are the charges that Beau Lamar Condon is on trial for?

• 5:54Speaker 03

  He's pleaded not guilty to two counts of domestic violence related murder, the alleged murders of Jessie Baird and Luke Davies. And the allegation is that that occurred on February 19 in 2024. He's also pleaded not guilty to and will be defending a break and enter charge. It's a charge of aggravated break and enter with larceny, so the theft of personal property. And in this case, that charge of break and enter relates to a wallet and mobile phone, which is alleged to have been taken in mid-August 2023, the year before, at the Brown Street Terrace in Paddington.

• 6:30Stephen Stockwell?

  Okay, right. So kind of six months earlier, I guess, than the alleged murders have taken place. You mentioned, Jamie, with the murder charges, the kind of the DV association there. What's that?

• 6:44Speaker 03

  Well, it's when a murder is alleged to have involved an element of domestic violence. So it means that it's alleged to have involved a current or former partner. So we have a murder charge which is causing a death with an intent. And then there is this additional context to a murder charge if it's in the context of DV. So it tells us that this alleged crime took place in a domestic relationship type of setting.

• 7:08Stephen Stockwell?

  Okay, great. Thank you. And I know that, you know, we're very close to the trial starting, so we need to be very careful with what we can talk about. But is there anything we can say about what's alleged to have unfolded in that that window that you described earlier?

• 7:22Speaker 03

  Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it at a very basic level at this point for now, before a jury obviously hears all the full evidence of what prosecutors are accusing Mr. Lamar Condon of doing. So the allegation is that Beau Lamar Condon used his Service firearm in the Paddington Terrace to shoot Jessie Baird and Luke Davies. But beyond that, Stocky, we're going to need to wait for everything to be laid out, starting from Monday morning, and for all of the evidence to be adduced in the trial.

• 7:50Stephen Stockwell?

  Okay, yep. This is a jury trial. They'll be being selected on Monday. Have I got that right?

• 7:56Speaker 03

  Yeah, it is a jury trial. So the first thing, or one of the first things the court will be doing is impaneling a jury. And that's the process of bringing in this really big pool or group of people who have been called for jury duty, picking the panel that will then become the jury in this trial. And it's not uncommon in longer trials for the jury to be made up of more than 12 people. And that's just in case sort of unforeseen things happen, like illness or a juror becoming unable to continue for different reasons. It means that if that happens, then they sort of have this reserve juror or jurors, and it avoids having to start all over again.

• 8:31Stephen Stockwell?

  What's the feeling in Sydney as this trial kind of gets closer, you know, days away at this point?

• 8:37Speaker 03

  Yeah, I think it's going to be one of the most followed trials of this year. This case has been really highly anticipated ever since, you know, two and a half years ago. And here we are, waiting for day one to get underway. It's something that, as we spoke about before, Stocky, it affected the Sydney community so much, and even the broader Australian community as well, that, you know, was watching this case unfold and has now got to a really critical point where someone will be placed on trial for two alleged murders. It's, I think it's fair to say that this trial will be attracting a lot of media attention. So we can probably expect a huge group of journalists and camera

• 9:18Speaker 03

  operators and people buzzing around the court building, not to mention, obviously, people who might just be curious. There's probably going to be a considerable number of people who want to go and watch this for themselves. And also, most importantly, relatives of Jessie Baird and Luke Davies, who probably want to be there to see this unfold for themselves.

• 9:39Stephen Stockwell?

  Hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'll be one of the people joining you in that courtroom on Monday, Jamie, as this trial gets underway. The case of will be your eyes and ears inside the courtroom with Jamie and I there throughout the week. And on Tuesday, we'll have our first episode of the case of Jessie and Luke. What are we expecting on Monday, Jamie? The jury being impaneled, openings, that kind of thing?

• 10:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, exactly. So everyone will be ready to go from Monday. The prosecution, the defence team and the judge, Justice Natalie Adams, will be overseeing this trial, and they'll all be ready to go. She will probably give some kind of opening spiel to the jurors once the jury's been chosen, running them through their role and who's who in the court and that sort of thing. And then after that, we'll get to the Crown Prosecutor's opening address. Now, that is where a lot of information about this case is going to come out, Stocky. We will learn all about things like the police investigation, witnesses, including key witnesses that the Crown might flag. It's really an overview of what the prosecution is alleging in this case. And what they're expecting jurors to

• 10:42Speaker 03

  hear in the trial, it's a foreshadowing of all of the evidence. But for the purposes of, you know, a juror watching that, but also us watching that, that will be the period in the Crown opening where we learn so much more, new information about this case that we have not known before. After that Crown Prosecutor's opening, the defence team can also give an opening if they want to. They don't always, but they can if they like to. And defence openings are usually a bit shorter, but it is a chance for the defence lawyers to flag in broad terms what the defence in the case will also be.

• 11:16Stephen Stockwell?

  Yeah, I find the openings incredibly illuminating when I'm diving into a new trial that we're covering on the case. So I feel like I learned so much about how the Crown is going to be presenting that case, how it says certain things unfolded, the allegations against key people at key times. So we'll be unpacking all of that in our episode on Tuesday next week on the case of Jessie and Luke. Jamie, I really appreciate you taking us through all of this, giving us this background as we dive into this new trial.

• 11:45Speaker 03

  No worries. Thanks, Stocky.

• 11:46Stephen Stockwell?

  If you have any questions about this, if there's anything you're kind of wondering about at this stage, you can get in touch with us, [email protected]. Jamie and I will be answering your questions once this trial gets underway. And we have our first episode in your feed on Tuesday. The best place to follow along with the case of is the ABC Listen app. So you can find us on there. Grab ABC Listen and you can enjoy the case of at your leisure. Lots of episodes coming out at the moment, not just the case of Jessie and Luke, but also the case of Alan Jones as well. So get yourself around that. If you are using another podcast app, then if you leave us a rating and review, it means other people can find us. And I'll be back in your feed very soon.

• 12:27Stephen Stockwell?

  The Case of Jessie and Luke is produced by ABC Audio Studios and ABC News. This episode was reported by Jamie McKinnell and presented by me, Stephen Stockwell. Our supervising producer is Greg Muller, and our executive producer is Claire Rawlinson. This episode was produced on the land of the Gadigal, and we're under your people.