A friend of Beau Lamarre-Condon told his murder trial that he sent messages suggesting he might not speak to her again, shortly before Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were allegedly killed in Sydney.
Lamarre-Condon has pleaded not guilty to murdering Baird, a former television presenter, and Davies, a Qantas flight attendant, in Paddington on February 19, 2024. He was a New South Wales police officer at the time.
Messages sent before the alleged murders
The court heard that Lamarre-Condon contacted the friend, referred to in proceedings as Fiona Rosso, on the encrypted messaging app Signal on February 15.
He wrote: “Watch the movie salt burn [sic]. I see myself playing the lead role of the nerd. It’s a mind f—.” The following day, he sent another message telling her to watch the film.
Rosso had previously told the court that Lamarre-Condon was attending acting classes. About a week before the alleged killings, while she was helping him practise lines, he had asked whether she would help him bury a body. She said she believed he was joking.
On February 18, the day before Baird and Davies died, Lamarre-Condon tried to call Rosso on Signal before sending her a message at 8.46pm.
“If I don’t get to talk to you again I just want to let you know I love you so much and I value your friendship more than you’ll know,” he wrote. “Thank you for accepting [me] I love you so much xx”.
Rosso told the court she did not understand what the message meant.
In the early hours of February 19, Lamarre-Condon wrote that he would try to call her later and told her not to worry about him. When Rosso asked what “sign” the universe had given him, he replied: “No there is no sign I’m doing it.”
Minutes later, he added: “Also I’ve just gotten rid of all social media for now.”
Evidence about the days after the deaths
Rosso also gave evidence that Lamarre-Condon arrived unexpectedly at her home on the night of February 22, three days after the alleged murders. He used her phone and told her he needed to scrub blood from a van, while his own phone was on airplane mode so he could not be tracked, she said.
At 12.22am the following day, her phone sent a message to a number belonging to Lamarre-Condon’s mother, saying: “It’s ivy’s dad can you answer? Or are you having a hot chocolate?” The reply was: “Hot chocolate.”
Rosso said “Ivy” was the name of Lamarre-Condon’s dog and that she had neither sent the message nor reacted to it with a thumbs-up. She said Lamarre-Condon told her “hot chocolate” was code between him and his mother for a search warrant.
Lamarre-Condon handed himself in to police shortly after 10.30am on February 23, the court heard.
A covertly recorded prison conversation from December 2025 was also referred to in court. Lamarre-Condon told another friend he had been suicidal since late 2023 because of trauma from work.
He described himself as “upset like anyone is” after Baird ended their casual romantic relationship in November 2023, but said that within two or three weeks he “didn’t really give a f—king shit about him” and was “dating someone new in February”.
The prosecution alleges that Lamarre-Condon developed an obsessive and jealous infatuation with Baird, and killed Davies to remove a witness after Baird ended their relationship.
The defence says Lamarre-Condon acted in self-defence after entering Baird’s home in disguise to recover belongings. It argues that Baird died when Lamarre-Condon’s police firearm discharged during a struggle, while Davies shot himself during a second struggle.
The trial continues.
