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A couple embrace at the Paddington residence of Jesse Baird in Sydney today
Australia

Australian police find bodies of missing TV presenter and his boyfriend after high-profile search

The families of the two victims are said to have received the news with relief and sadness.

AUSTRALIAN POLICE FOUND the bodies of a TV presenter and his boyfriend in a rural area outside Sydney today, after acting on information from a police officer charged with their murder.

“We are very confident we have located Luke and Jesse,” said the head of New South Wales police Karen Webb.

He noted that the families of the two victims had received the news with relief and sadness.

The discovery ends an almost week-long high-profile search for the remains of entertainment journalist Jesse Baird, 26, and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, 29.

sydney-australia-27th-feb-2024-nsw-police-search-bushland-with-a-police-sniffer-dog-in-the-royal-national-park-south-of-sydney-tuesday-february-27-2024-nsw-police-discovered-the-bodies-of-jess NSW Police search bushland with a police sniffer dog today Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

A 28-year-old serving police constable, who had been in a relationship with Baird, has been charged with two counts of murder.

“This information did come with the assistance of the accused,” said Webb.

Police believe the pair were shot at a home in central Sydney, before being loaded into surfboard bags and transported to a rural property about two hours’ drive from the city.

Ballistics tests showed a projectile found at the apartment matched that of a police-issue firearm.

The weapon was later found inside a police station safe.

Police allege the killings were “of a domestic nature” and not a “gay hate crime.”

The suspect had been a celebrity chaser and blogger before joining the police force.

He was previously investigated over the aggressive tasering of an Aboriginal man in 2020 after a video of the incident emerged online.

News reports from 2014 indicate that he came out publicly as gay by throwing a letter onstage at a Lady Gaga concert, which the star read out to a crowd that included his sister.

© AFP 2024