New South Wales Police divers have scoured a small waterway in suburban Newcastle for evidence as a wider search continues for the bodies of a young couple who police believe were murdered in Sydney's east.
Jesse Baird and Luke Davies have not been seen since Sunday and police have charged a NSW Police constable, Beau Lamarre-Condon, with two counts of murder.
Police have said they believe the 28-year-old constable was in Newcastle on Thursday night prior to handing himself in at an eastern Sydney police station on Friday.
They say their priority is to locate the bodies of the two men and establish a timeline of movement in relation to a white van which was hired from Mascot on Monday evening.
A section of a street in Lambton, Newcastle, remained taped off on Saturday morning.
Two divers were seen on hands and knees searching a nearby waterway.
Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty from the Homicide Squad revealed on Friday that a projectile and casing found in Mr Baird's Paddington home has been matched ballistically to a police-issued handgun.
Police allege the men were killed in the home, where a significant amount of blood was discovered, and say a "strong" line of inquiry is that the police handgun was discharged at that property.
But Detective Superintendent Doherty said causes of death were not yet established.
Mr Lamarre-Condon, a former partner of Mr Baird, has offered no assistance to police as they try to locate Mr Baird and Mr Davies, according to Detective Superintendent Doherty.
Case 'deeply concerning'
Sydney MP Alex Greenwich said there were a number of "urgent questions" for police to answer, including about the protocols around the use of police weapons.
Detective Superintendent Doherty said the gun in question was being further examined after being found in a gun safe at a suburban police station, but would not disclose dates, or times of when the weapon was checked back in.
Today, Mr Greenwich said many people remained "deeply concerned" about the case.
"The police need to be 100 per cent transparent on the timeline that surrounded the accessing of the weapon, when it was accessed, how it was held, and why checks were not put in place," he said.
"There are some deeply concerning aspects of this case and deeply concerning aspects that sit with the NSW Police to provide answers to."
Friends of Mr Baird and Mr Davies have expressed disbelief and shock, describing them in social media posts as loving and positive young men.
A GoFundMe campaign set up to help the family of Mr Davies, a Qantas flight attendant, had raised some $45,000 in its first day.
Colleagues of Mr Baird, a former Channel 10 presenter, say they are "utterly shattered".
"Jesse was a man who just absolutely shone in everything that he did," colleague Hugh Riminton said.
"He was just great fun, he just beamed out this kind of life and delight about everything that was going on."
Riminton said until Friday's news conference from police, there had still been hope but also disbelief that he was missing.
"With the announcement of the murder charges, everyone was just instantly and utterly shattered that this man that we knew so well, who had so much life and so much energy, that he's gone," he said.
The investigation began when bloodied clothes of Mr Baird and Mr Davies, along with some possessions, were found by a worker in a skip bin at Cronulla.
The hired white van was found in Grays Point, in Sydney's south, on Friday and police have appealed to the public to help them establish its movements.
Beau Lamarre-Condon's case will return to court in April.
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2024-02-24 06:44:43Z
CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTAyLTI0L2RpdmVycy1uZXdjYXN0bGUtd2F0ZXJ3YXktc2VhcmNoLWJvZGllcy1sdWtlLWRhdmllcy1qZXNzZS1iYWlyZC8xMDM1MDc0MzLSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAzNTA3NDMy
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